Smartphone imports in SA: what you should know

When new gadgets get unveiled they are often announced with prices in US dollar. It is tempting to convert these prices straight to Rand, but this would not give an accurate impression of what it would cost in South Africa.

One of the reasons a direct conversion isn’t a good comparison is because US prices are quoted without any taxes being considered.

Importing cellphones, for example, attracts not only value added tax (VAT), but an ad valorem duty too. This is according to DHL and FedEx in South Africa, who were answering questions MyBroadband put to them about importing smartphones and accessories.

The 7% duty and 14% VAT is also not calculated on the actual value of the item, FedEx explained.

Since the South African Revenue Service (SARS) considers cellphones a luxury item, it first adds 15% to the value, and then calculates the relevant taxes.

As an example, FedEx showed the following calculation for a hypothetical R10,000 device:

Both FedEx and DHL handle customs clearance on behalf of their clients, which attracts a processing and disbursement fee.

Unlike the actual devices, cellphone parts and accessories only attract VAT and no additional duty. Similar to cellphones, SARS also adds the 15% luxury item mark-up for accessories before calculating VAT, FedEx said.

Gadget aficionados planning on bringing in a large consignment of smartphones for themselves and a group of friends should be aware that there are restrictions on the number of phones an individual can bring in.

According to DHL, a private person is not allowed to bring in more than 5 phones at a time. Any more than that and you need to apply to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), DHL said.

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