Asked to pay a customs or port release fee? How clearance really works in South Africa

Duty and VAT on goods entering South Africa are declared by the importer and paid to SARS itself, through eFiling or an electronic funds transfer to a SARS account (SARS, customs payments). A request to wire a "release fee" to a private account, or to a party you cannot trace back to your own shipment, before the goods will move is not a step in that process — and SARS has published its own alert about people who pose as its Customs officials and request payments to release parcels, saying plainly: "This is a scam" (SARS-SCAM-376). If the demand reached you as a call from someone claiming to be a customs official, or as a message relayed through your buyer, here is how clearance actually works, so you can tell a normal step from one that doesn't belong in it at all.

Who is responsible for declaring and paying customs duty and VAT?

The importer must declare to SARS what has entered the country — not whoever calls about the shipment. The declaration can be lodged by the importer itself or, on its behalf, by a licensed clearing agent or a registered agent. SARS requires "any person (excluding a registered agent)" who lodges a Customs Clearance Declaration "for reward on behalf of another Customs Client type", or who "provides a service that includes the clearance of goods", to "license as a Customs clearing agent in terms of Section 64B of the Act" (SARS, clearing agents).

A separate role, the "registered agent", is someone located in South Africa who acts on behalf of a foreign principal — a party outside the country, which may be you as the exporter — and SARS is explicit that this is not the same as a licensed clearing agent. A nominated registered agent "is liable for the fulfilment of all obligations imposed on either the importer, exporter or licensed remover" it acts for, and may itself complete and submit the Customs clearance declaration on behalf of that foreign principal (SARS, registered agent). Every party involved — the importer or exporter and their clearing or registered agent — has to be registered or licensed with SARS beforehand (SARS, Goods Declaration).

Which side of your contract carries duty and VAT as a cost is set by your trade terms — see How import duty and VAT are calculated in South Africa.

Where does a customs payment actually go?

Duty and VAT themselves are paid to SARS, and SARS names the ways it accepts payment: "eFiling, Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT)". Cash deposits at a bank branch are no longer available as a payment option, and credit and debit cards "can only be used for payment of duties and/or VAT for travellers" (SARS, customs payments).

An invoice can still legitimately reach you, including one that carries the duty and VAT your trade terms put on you. It comes from a party already handling your shipment — your forwarder, courier, licensed clearing agent or registered agent — on a reference you already have. A licensed clearing agent is the party SARS licenses to lodge the declaration "for reward on behalf of" its client (SARS, clearing agents).

A charge called a port or terminal fee rather than a customs one is judged the same way: what makes it real is not its name but where it comes from. A company you have never dealt with can still be the right one — the clearing agent on the South African side may have been appointed by your buyer rather than by you. What fails the test is a party you cannot trace back to your own shipment through a channel you already had, or a request to send the money to a private individual's account.

Has SARS itself warned about fake "release fee" demands?

Yes — on 18 March 2025, in its own words. SARS wrote that it "has received reports about individuals fraudulently posing as SARS Customs officials, requesting payments to release detained parcels. This is a scam", and advised the public "not to divulge any personal information, codes, or make any payments" (SARS-SCAM-376).

A second alert, on 15 April 2025, is about a different call: people are told "that they have been flagged for sending suspicious packages internationally" by callers who already hold "their names, email addresses and identity numbers". SARS's answer there is about contact rather than about a fee — "SARS Customs will not call people to request any of this information", and if a client has ordered or sent a parcel, "the company that handled the initial transaction will engage with their client" (SARS-SCAM-377). Both alerts are about parcels and about calls to people in South Africa, and SARS says separately that if goods arrive via the post, "a different process is followed" (SARS, imports) — so neither alert describes a commercial clearance arranged through your buyer. The shape to watch is simply this: a payment demanded to make goods move, by a party you cannot trace back to your own shipment through a channel you already had — whoever the caller claims to be, and whether or not a parcel is involved.

What should I do if someone asks me to pay a release fee?

Pay nothing into a private individual's account, and pay nobody you cannot trace back to your own shipment through a channel you already had. Don't keep the conversation going either: SARS advises the public "to refrain from engaging with these calls" and to report suspected scams "to the police and SARS immediately" (SARS-SCAM-376); in the April alert people "are advised to end the call immediately" (SARS-SCAM-377). SARS publishes the address for its own side of that report: new scams go to phishing@sars.gov.za (SARS-SCAM-376).

Before you pay anyone, confirm — through a channel you had before the demand arrived — that they are the forwarder, courier, licensed clearing agent or registered agent already handling your shipment. A company you have never dealt with can still be the right one; a channel that exists only inside the demand never is. If the caller claims to be from SARS, the April alert above already answers that: SARS Customs does not phone people to ask for the personal details those callers already hold, and where a parcel is genuinely involved "the company that handled the initial transaction will engage with their client" (SARS-SCAM-377).

B2B.Africa never asks you to pay a buyer, a tender committee or an agent.

For the full map of related patterns, see Trade scams aimed at exporters to Africa. If a payment or a shipment has already gone, see where to report it — your bank if you paid, your own police either way, and the South African channels.

This is general information, not legal advice.