Excise and manufacturing

Excisable goods directory

Excise consist of various taxes imposed on goods manufactured in South Africa by the SARS Customs & Excise department.

These taxes can be expressed as a percentage of the value of the goods, or a set unit cost (such as 20c per kilogram).  The percentage or unit cost is called the rate of Excise duty. The rates of duty applicable to manufactured goods are listed in the South African tariff book according to tariff (HS) code.

Use this Excisable goods directory to determine whether the products you manufacture incur Excise, and the rates of Excise duty applicable:

The tariff book

The South African tariff book is broken into various schedules listing different types of taxes and rebates.

The sections listing Excise are:

  • Schedule 1 Part 2A and 2B – Excise Duty Listings that apply to locally produced and imported goods that incur Excise tax.
  • Schedule 1 Part 3A-F – Environmental levies on goods that are a threat to our natural resources.
  • Schedule 1 Part 5A and 5B – Levies on fuel and petroleum products.
  • Schedule 1 Part 7A – Health promotion levies on sugary beverages.

Your tariff code

To find rates of Excise duty applicable to your products in these schedules, you will need your tariff or HS code. This is a standardised numerical code that is used to classify goods for the sake of import, export and trade statistics. You can see the structure of tariff code below. If you do not have the South African tariff code(s) relevant to your imports, please consult our tariff code directory by clicking here.

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It is important that you use the correct tariff or HS code to declare your excisable goods as the Excise duty tax payable is linked to it. Using the wrong code could results in hefty tax penalties.

If you are concerned about the accuracy of your tariff code, you can either sign up for our online training course in HS codes and tariff code determination, or get a professional tariff classification report done.

Once you have your tariff code you can consult our excisable goods directory using the following steps:

Excisable goods directory

Step 1. Find your tariff code in Schedule 1 Part 2A and 2B

The schedules of the Tariff book are intimidating document if you’re not sure what you are looking for, but since you know your tariff code you can simply scroll down until you find it in the Tariff Subheading column (shown in the yellow box below). Tariff codes are listed in numerical order.

Alternatively, press “Control F” on our keyboard and type your tariff code into the search box that appears at the top of your screen.

Here’s an example showing a search for tariff codes under heading 3304 using a search box:

Excise directory
Click here for Schedule 1 Part 2A Click here for Schedule 1 Part 2B

Step 2. Take note of your Excise duty rate

You’ll find the rate of Excise duty applicable to your product in the column indicated by the blue block above. This is the rate of Excise tax you must pay SARS before your goods may be sold on the local market.

Step 3. Check the remaining schedules listing Excise duty

Depending on your product, there may be a different or additional levy payable on manufacturing it.

Use the buttons below to access the various schedules listing other Excise duties and levies. You can use the search function explained in step 1 to search the first four digits of your tariff code in each schedule. If your tariff code does not appear in one or all of these schedules, the relevant Excise taxes and levies do not apply to your product.

Schedule 1 Part 3A Schedule 1 Part 3B Schedule 1 Part 3C Schedule 1 Part 3D Schedule 1 Part 3E Schedule 1 Part 3F Schedule 1 Part 5A Schedule 1 Part 5B Schedule 1 Part 7A

Still not confident your calculation is correct?

This Excisable goods directory serves merely as a guide. Trade Logistics does not take any liability for any incorrect interpretation of this information because we don’t know your product like you do.

For a more thorough insight into Excise tax, sign up for our online training course in duties, VAT and excise for import and export.

View our online training courses

Find your tariff (HS) code with our tariff code directory

tariff code directory
Go to tariff code directory

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