What Is South Africa's New Traveller Declaration?

What changed on 1 July

The form is not new. SARS, the country's tax and customs service, started testing it in 2022 at three airports: Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. Over time it reached every airport, land border and harbour. What changed on 1 July 2026 is simple: filling it in is now the rule, not a choice.

There is a law behind it. SARS changed the customs rules so the online form is now the main way to declare. The old paper forms are gone, replaced by two new ones: a traveller form and, if you have something to declare, a goods form. You can still use paper, but only if the system is down or there is no internet.

The form also feeds a shared government system that checks for risks, such as money laundering. For most people, though, it is just one more quick step before a trip, a bit like an online visa.

Who needs to do it

Almost everyone who crosses the border. That means South Africans, people who live here, and visitors. It covers both arriving and leaving, by plane, car, boat or train. An adult fills in a form for each child, or for anyone who cannot do their own. So a family of four sends four forms.

The main exception is people just passing through. If you change planes and stay in the transit area without entering the country, you do not need one.

Cape Town airport alone had a record 11.1 million passengers in 2025. Of those, 3.3 million crossed an international border, so they are the ones this form is for. Add Johannesburg, Durban and every road crossing, and the form will be filled in tens of millions of times a year.

How to do it

The steps are quick. Use whichever way suits you: the SARS website, the SATMS app from the Google, Huawei or Apple stores, the SARS MobiApp, a scan-to-declare QR code, or a self-service kiosk at the port.

What you can bring in

Filling in the form does not mean paying. Most people pay nothing, because normal belongings and small buys are under the limits. The amounts below are per person. You cannot share them, and you get them once every 30 days if you were away for at least 48 hours.

Read it from the left. The first R5,000 of new or used goods is free, with no duty and no VAT. From R5,000 to R25,000 you can pay a flat 20 percent, with no VAT, on up to R20,000 more. Above R25,000, normal duty plus 15 percent VAT applies to the whole value. If you drive in from Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia or Eswatini, your free limit is higher, at R25,000.

Drinks, tobacco and perfume

These are separate from the goods limit, and only for travellers over 18. Go over, and you pay tax on the extra.

One catch: the free limit still counts even if you buy at a duty-free shop when you land. And when you leave, you can register things like a laptop or camera, so no one questions them when you come back.

Cash rules

Money is where people slip up, because it has its own limits. You must declare cash, and things like traveller's cheques, if you carry more than R100,000, or the same value in another currency. This is shared with the financial-crime unit, and the form asks where the money came from and why.

Foreign cars

If you drive in, there is a matching rule that started a bit earlier, on 1 June 2026. Every foreign car must be listed on the same system and given a Temporary Import Permit at the border. This is true even for cars from nearby countries in the same customs union, because a car registered abroad still counts as foreign.

The rollout was big. Nearly 39,000 foreign cars were signed up, with more than 38,900 permits given out by the start. Like the traveller form, the permit is free. List your car, get a reference number, and show it at the border.

What if you don't

There is good news and a warning. The good news: SARS says you will not be turned away just for not filling in the form early. Staff and kiosks can help you at the border, and paper is allowed if the system is down.

The warning: declaring honestly is the law, not a favour. If you hide goods or cash, or lie on the form, you can face delays, lose the goods, pay fines, or worse, under customs law. The safe habit is simple: if you are not sure, declare it and let the officer decide.

Common questions

The bottom line

For most travellers, this is a small extra step, not a hurdle. It is free, it takes a few minutes on your phone, and if you carry only your own things you pay nothing and walk through the green channel. It only bites if you carry a lot of new goods over R25,000, or cash over R100,000, and choose not to say so. Do it before you fly, keep the email, and know your limits, and you will hardly notice the change.