Times Of Swaziland: BLUE BOOK, LICENCE DISC SOLD IN DURBAN

BLUE BOOK, LICENCE DISC SOLD IN DURBAN
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BY STANLEY KHUMALO  on 14/07/2018 01:22:00


MBABANE – The country will continue to be broke. This follows that local
documents used to generate revenue for the country are now fraudulently sold in
South Africa in a new scam.
This scam sees documents, such as those used in the registration of cars, like
the blue book, registration tax discs and registration plates being sold in
Durban.
A blue book is a document that identifies the registration number of the
vehicle, owner of the car, model of the car, the vehicle identification number
(VIN) and  other particulars that  describe it better.
The sale of these revenue generating documents, deprives the country of millions
of Emalangeni, generated from the collection of tax during the registration
process of imported vehicles.
Ordinarily, when an import car is registered in the country, the Swaziland
Revenue Authority (SRA) collects 14 per cent  Value Added Tax (VAT) and  also
charges 25 per cent duties, which is a contribution to the Southern African
Customs Union (SACU) pool by the country.
The contribution to SACU enhances the percentage accumulated by the country
quarterly from the union. This money contributes to the country’s coffers as
the annual budget for government relies on these contributions among other
sources of revenue.
The sale of the documents in South Africa was recently discovered in Durban.
This is where an import car was sold to a South African national despite that
these vehicles are illegal in that country.
Durban is the ‘hot spot’ for grey imports, since car dealers use the city as
the port of entry.
A report by the South African Police Service (SAPS) stated that Durban was the
port of entry last year for about 70 000 grey Japanese imports, supposedly for
export to the country and other SADC countries including Namibia, Lesotho and
Mozambique.
In this particular incident, the import car was registered and affixed local
registration plates. The owner was then assigned a local registration book,
known as the blue book.