South Africa VAT Refund from SAR

[Ed Lally]

Hi, Last year, for the second year in a row, my wife and I went to South Africa to hunt, tour and do some mission work. I elected to take a few extra animals and I also elected to do a little compensatory shopping and purchased something nice for my wife. On leaving the country, I filled out the appropriate SAR (South Africa Revenue) forms for a refund of the VAT (Value Added Tax) that I paid on the items purchased. SAR gave me a "prepaid" VISA Card and told me that our claim would be processed in a few months and the account linked to the card would be funded with our VAT refund at that time. It is now 6 months since that promise and we are still waiting. Since the VAT is 15%, this is not a small amount of Money. This year, when we return to South Africa, any compensatory spending will be done in the States after our return. Once more, the gov of ZA screws things up for the people of ZA.