Carbon tax payment requirements for SARS

Your company’s installed capacity is above the allocated threshold for your industry which means that you have had to report your GHG emissions to, and register with, the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF) before 31 March 2020. So now what?

Your company will have to make a payment to SARS, based on your emissions reported to DEFF at a rate of R120 per tonne of CO2e for the 2019 period.

There are two steps involved to ensure that you can make payment to SARS:

Step 1

The first step is the licencing of your emission generating facilities with SARS (usually before 31 July annually but due to the coronavirus pandemic, this deadline has been extended to 31 October 2020 for the 2019 period). This needs to be done immediately.

The licensing procedure is as follows:

1. Download from from SARS website

  • The Carbon Tax licence procedures fall under the Customs and Excise branch of SARS
  • Two forms will need to be completed, namely, DA185 and DA185.4B2

2. Submission of forms

3. Supporting documents

  • Certified copy of the registration certificate of the business
  • Certified copy of identity or passport documents of individuals, partners, all members of close corporation, and trustee/all directors of the company
  • Confirmation of physical address of the company
  • Confirmation of business or applicant bank details
  • Resolution or consent on a company letterhead
  • Letter of authority/Power of Attorney for person submitting applications on behalf of a company/director.

 

 

The forms and supporting documents should be submitted at the nearest Customs and Excise office. The following branches will be in charge of the carbon tax licensing applications:

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  • Alberton
  • Pretoria
  • Cape Town
  • Durban

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  • Port Elizabeth
  • Bloemfontein
  • Upington
  • Stellenbosch

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Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, alternate arrangements have been made to send this application to carbontax@sars.gov.za for the time being.

No licence fee is applicable and licenses should be renewed on an annual basis. Only the DA185 and DA185.4B2 forms will need to be submitted each year for renewal of the licence (this needs to be done 30 days prior to the expiration of the preceding licence). The supporting documents only need to be submitted for the initial submission.

Step 2

The second step with regards to SARS is the creation of a carbon tax levy account (to be done on 1 October 2020).

This process will need to be done via SARS eFiling for each facility through the ‘Excise Levies and Duties’ option:

The DA180 form comes with six annexures and completion notes:

  • DA180.01A.1 – Fuel Combustion (Stationary)
  • DA180.01A.2 – Fuel Combustion (Non-Stationary)
  • DA180.01B.1 – Fugitive (Oil and Natural Gas)
  • DA180.01B.2 – Fugitive (Coal Mining and Handling)
  • DA180.01C – Industrial Process
  • DA180.02 – Carbon Tax Allowances
  • Completion notes to DA180 carbon tax account

Your company will be required to fill in all relevant fields pertaining to your operations. These forms can be downloaded from SARS.

You can also obtain further information regarding the submission of the annual carbon tax environmental levy account in this link, including frequently asked questions.

Carbon tax liable companies should aim to start the account preparation process on 1 October so that if there are any teething problems with any of the systems, there will be sufficient time to rectify these errors.

Once your account is created and information entered on the SARS eFiling platform, you will be able to make payment of your carbon tax liability to SARS.


If you need assistance with any of the above, please contact Teegan Govindasamy at Teegan.govindasamy@climateneutralgroup.com

Teegan Govindasamy | Carbon Advisor

Teegan works with companies to help them understand and furthermore minimise their carbon tax liability in South Africa.

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