{"id":668943,"date":"2023-02-28T12:26:48","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T10:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=668943"},"modified":"2023-02-28T12:30:14","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T10:30:14","slug":"new-travel-pass-rolling-out-to-all-airports-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/668943\/new-travel-pass-rolling-out-to-all-airports-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"New &#8216;travel pass&#8217; rolling out to all airports in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has announced that the new online traveller declaration system that grants a travel pass via email is planned to be implemented at all airports in the country.<\/p>\n<p>The new system was successfully trialled from 29 November 2022 as phase 1 of the project at King Shaka International Airport, SARS said.<\/p>\n<p>The next phase of the implementation is to roll out the system at all airports, starting with:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cape Town International Airport on 28 February 2023<\/li>\n<li>O.R. Tambo International Airport on 23 March 2023<\/li>\n<li>Other airports in the second and third quarters of 2023<\/li>\n<li>Land ports, namely Beit Bridge and Skilpadshek, after that.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Cape Town Seaport is also in line to implement the system during the last quarter of 2023, SARS added.<\/p>\n<p>Although it will have a widespread implementation, the new system will continue on a voluntary basis during the pilot phase until further notice, SARS said.<\/p>\n<p>The pilot project results will be applied as SARS rolls out the system in line with customs legislation.<\/p>\n<p>The new system introduced by SARS is a web-based application that allows travellers to pre-declare goods they have acquired and pay the applicable taxes upon entering or leaving the country.<\/p>\n<p>It requires travellers to declare various goods, including products purchased or acquired abroad, repaired or remodelled goods, and anything that is prohibited or controlled by law.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Travellers who are travelling with children or infants will also need to complete a declaration on their behalf.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Beyers Theron, the director of customs and border control at SARS, said when the first pilot was launched, travel cards and declaration documents were becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, all visitors to South Africa are required to fill out a paper-based Traveler Card (TC-01) at the airport if they have any items to declare, said the director.<\/p>\n<p>SARS aims to change this by introducing an online system to streamline the process and make it more efficient.<\/p>\n<p>This shift to an online declaration process is expected to provide a smoother experience for travellers at any entry or exit point in South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Under the revenue service&#8217;s aim to further modernise and tax a firm stance against tax non-compliance, the new declaration system forms part of its new SMART border project.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wealth\/668903\/the-average-take-home-pay-in-south-africa-right-now-18\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The average take-home pay in South Africa right now<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The next stage of the new online declaration system is coming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":641631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26,3246],"class_list":["post-668943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline","tag-sars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668943"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":668969,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668943\/revisions\/668969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}