Photo by: Bloomberg
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) is seeking to introduce a track-and-trace marker technology in the cigarette industry, which will enable it to monitor the journey from cigarette manufacturing plants to points of sale and/or import or export trades.
This is aimed at curbing revenue leakages emanating from illegal and unethical practices in the illicit economy.
This non-intrusive technology is expected to boost the monitoring and control of duties and taxes in this industry.
A study undertaken by market research firm Ipsos, in 2018, found that almost eight-billion cigarettes a year are sold illegally, resulting in a loss of more than R7-billion to the fiscus.
A tender for the provision of a production management and a track-and-trace solution for cigarettes has been published on Sars’ website.
“South Africa experiences significant losses in excise revenue as a result of a global increase in the manufacturing, supply and sale of illicit excisable products. The illicit economy ranges from an underground economy, which operates outside the rules and regulations of the country, to organised crime and includes the illicit trade of products,” Sars notes.