President Jacob Zuma has signed the health promotion levy (sugar tax) into law and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has announced that it will begin collecting it from April 1 2018. The levy falls under the Rates and Monetary Amounts and Revenue Laws Amendment Bill as passed in Parliament on December 5 and signed by Zuma this week. The levy, which is part of government’s efforts to prevent and control non-communicable diseases and to combat obesity, has been set at 2.1c/gram of the sugar content that exceeds 4g/100ml. This means the first 4g/100ml are levy free. SARS said in a statement that the Customs and Excise Act provided for a health promotion levy on sugary beverages that had been manufactured in or imported into SA. Imported products will be taxed when they are cleared for home consumption and locally manufactured products will be taxed at source. "Licensing and registration of manufacturers of sugary beverages will take place from February 2018. Only commercial manu...
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