There are two separate questions here, and businesses routinely answer only the first. One: are you registered with SARS as an importer? Two: do these particular goods need an import permit before they may enter the country? You can be correctly registered and still have a container stopped because of the second.
Who has to register with SARS
SARS states that any person — local or foreign — who imports goods into South Africa must register as an importer.
You will see various thresholds quoted online — a rand value per year, a number of shipments per year. Those figures do not appear on the SARS importers page. We have deliberately left them out of this guide, because acting on a threshold that turns out not to apply to you is a worse outcome than registering when you did not strictly have to. If you are importing commercially, plan on registering.
What the application rests on
Registration is supported by records you should already have in order:
- Your company or close corporation registration from the Companies Registrar
- Your tax registration letters
- Banking details
- Proof of address, and a recent phone account
- A certified copy of the identity document
This is why import readiness usually fails before customs is ever involved: if the CIPC record is behind or the tax registrations are not in order, the importer application stalls. Foreign importers must additionally nominate a registered South African agent before approval.
Clearing under someone else's code
Some first-time importers are offered the option of clearing under a third party's code. It moves the goods, but the customs record then belongs to somebody else — not to you. If you intend to import as a business, get your own registration so the import history, and the paperwork, is in your name.
When you also need an import permit
Import permits are issued by ITAC, and they are a separate question from SARS registration. Only a minority of tariff lines are under import control — of roughly 6,650 tariff lines, about 276 are controlled. But the categories that arecontrolled catch a lot of SME imports.
The used-goods rule
ITAC requires an import permit for the importation of all used or second-hand goods. This applies to such items regardless of category. Waste and scrap also require permits.
This is the single most useful thing to know before you buy machinery abroad. Used equipment is one of the most common SME imports precisely because it is affordable — and it is the category most likely to be stopped, because the buyer assumed that a machine is a machine.
Most new goods are not controlled
The flip side is worth stating plainly, because it saves people worrying about the wrong thing: most new goods are exempt from import control. Controlled categories include things like radioactive material, certain chemicals, arms and ammunition, gambling devices and new pneumatic tyres — but the general run of new commercial goods is not under permit.
ITAC gives an average turnaround of three to five working days on applications, so where a permit is needed it is a scheduling item, not a barrier.
Do these in the right order
- Get the company records current — registration and tax letters are the foundation of the importer application.
- Register with SARS as an importer, in your own name.
- Establish whether the goods are controlled — new or used is the first question to answer, not the last.
- Apply for the ITAC permit if needed, before the goods ship.
- Confirm the tariff code and the landed cost before you pay a deposit. See what importing actually costs.
Every step above is cheap while the goods are still at the factory, and expensive once they are on a ship.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need to register with SARS to import?
- SARS states that any person, local or foreign, who imports goods into South Africa must register as an importer. If you are importing commercially, treat registration as required rather than optional.
- Do I need an import permit as well?
- It depends on the goods. ITAC requires an import permit for all used or second-hand goods, and for waste and scrap. Most new goods are not under import control - only a minority of tariff lines are.
- I am buying a used machine from overseas. What does that mean for me?
- It means you need an import permit. The used-goods rule applies to all used or second-hand goods regardless of category, and it is the most common reason a machinery import is stopped.
- How long does an import permit take?
- ITAC gives an average turnaround of three to five working days for applications. That is short enough that there is no good reason to skip it, and long enough that it should be started before the goods ship.
Next steps
If the paperwork is right and the goods still stop, the reason is usually value or classification — read why goods get held at customs, and who pays.