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When must an importer submit an Advance Payment Notification to SARS?
When must an importer submit an Advance Payment Notification to SARS?
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A SARS Advance Payment Notification, or APN, applies to an intended advance foreign-exchange payment over R100,000 for goods to be imported into South Africa where the Balance of Payments, or BOP, category is 101 and the sub-category is 01 to 10. SARS says payments made in terms of an import undertaking are excluded. The notification is made through eFiling before an application to an authorised dealer for the payment, or before the authorised dealer makes the payment under a financial instrument, such as a letter of credit.
SARS says the importer concerned, or the entity that will finance the payment, must make the APN. The person initiating the eFiling step should therefore establish the commercial roles before submitting: the importer and financing entity can be the same, but they are not necessarily the same entity.
The APN is a payment-notification requirement. It does not replace Customs importer registration, a Customs import declaration, goods clearance, a permit or the authorised dealer's own requirements. Plan it as one controlled step in the import-payment process.
What this means in practice
The time to assess the APN is before a payment instruction is released, not after a supplier has chased the money or a bank has started processing it. The finance, procurement, logistics and Customs teams should have a simple escalation rule: where a proposed advance import payment is over the SARS threshold, is classified under BOP category 101 sub-categories 01 to 10, and is not under an import undertaking, stop and check whether an APN is needed before instructing the authorised dealer.
SARS requires the importer to be registered with Customs. Its current eFiling guide says that where the importer is not registered, eFiling asks the person to register as an importer before an APN can be submitted. This makes Customs registration a practical prerequisite for an APN, not a task to leave until a payment deadline.
The APN record also needs consistent commercial facts. SARS's guide calls for information including the importer customs code, contact details, authorised dealer, currency and estimated rand amount, country of export, supplier, description, number of consignments and at least one evidentiary document. Obtain these from source documents rather than estimating them from an informal request.
Step-by-step
- Identify the proposed payment and notifier. Confirm the goods are to be imported, identify the importer and decide whether the importer or the entity financing the payment will make the notification. Record the intended notifier and its authority before using eFiling.
- Test the published scope. SARS says the APN applies to advance foreign-exchange payments over R100,000 for BOP category 101, sub-categories 01 to 10. Confirm the payment's BOP classification with the authorised dealer or appropriate specialist, and confirm it is not a payment made under an import undertaking. Do not decide this solely from a supplier invoice description.
- Confirm eFiling and importer registration. SARS says an APN user must be registered as an eFiling user and as an importer. Use the registered importer and Customs code that correspond to the transaction. If eFiling indicates that Customs registration is missing, resolve that issue first rather than using another entity's profile or Customs code.
- Gather complete transaction facts. SARS's APN guide requires contact information, an authorised dealer, currency details, estimated rand amount, country of export, supplier name, reason description and consignment information. Check the information against the purchase order, contract or invoice.
- Prepare supporting evidence. SARS requires at least one evidentiary document. Select a contemporaneous document that matches the supplier, value, currency and goods description. The separate evidence guide on this site explains the document fields in more detail.
- Submit through the proper eFiling route. SARS's guide directs the registered importer to the Customs menu, Advance Payment Notification and Submit New Advance Payment Notification. Work in the correct organisation or tax-practitioner portfolio, and review any pre-populated information before submitting.
- Preserve the APN reference and payment trail. Give the APN reference to the authorised dealer only after the information has been reviewed. Record the APN, payment request, supporting documents and any authorised-dealer confirmation together.
- Manage changes before payment. SARS says an APN error must be amended after confirming that the related payment has not yet been transferred by the authorised dealer. If the payment will not proceed, follow the current SARS cancellation route and preserve the reason and supporting record.
Documents and records to keep
- Current importer registration and Customs code.
- BOP category and sub-category confirmation, plus the basis for concluding that the payment is not under an import undertaking.
- A record showing whether the importer or financing entity made the APN and its authority to do so.
- Purchase order, contract, pro-forma or commercial invoice supporting the payment.
- Supplier details, country of export, payment currency and estimated rand calculation.
- Authorised-dealer details and any letter-of-credit information.
- Submitted APN, reference number, uploaded evidence and eFiling confirmation.
- Payment instruction, bank confirmation, amendment or cancellation record where relevant.
Important limits and exceptions
Do not use the APN as evidence that SARS has approved the import, the supplier contract or the customs treatment of the goods. It is a notification step associated with advance import payments. Import declarations, Customs duty, valuation, classification, permits and exchange-control obligations remain separate matters.
SARS states that authorised dealers must record, validate and report the APN when the payment is concluded, and that they will make advance import payments on confirmation of a valid SARS APN. A reference copied incorrectly or inconsistent with the payment evidence can therefore create an operational delay. Reconcile the data before the payment reaches the bank.
The current SARS information says an APN must be obtained for each relevant advance payment. Do not reuse an APN reference for a different supplier, amount, shipment or payment. Where several payments relate to the same shipment, follow SARS's current related-APN process rather than improvising a reference.
When to get tailored advice
Get Customs, banking or exchange-control advice where the BOP category is unclear, the payment may be under an import undertaking, the contract includes staged payments, a letter of credit, a substitute payer, related-party financing, a mixed supply of goods and services, or the payment is close to the threshold. Seek urgent help if the authorised dealer says payment has already been transferred, the APN details are wrong or the transaction requires cancellation.