Why do I need a customer Tax ID to ship to South Africa?

Standard regulations for exports to South Africa

Personal identification details of the recipient should be sent when you are shipping items or parcels to South Africa. One particular is the Tax ID. It is a unique number every citizen has and also helps to confirm if referring to the recipient. Most recipients mistaken their personal ID is the Tax ID but this is actually different. Customs check the recipient’s details when the goods clear customs around the issue of taxes owed on the incoming item and this is what Tax Id is for. If can’t be provided number, you should provide the recipient passport number.

On the other hand, if you are sending to a UK citizen to South Africa, you can provide their passport number instead.

Before Customs release the goods, they check the number first and must match up with the details of the recipient. We will show the details of this number below and what each part of the Unique ID signifies.

Your item might be processed for return if you failed to provide this information or held by South African customs which will truly cause not only you but also your receiver an inconvenience or long delays. Beforehand, please confirm with the person you are sending to located in South Africa, that they can provide this information to you to reassure before you book it can be added to the details of your booking and it will be checked when the parcel arrives in South Africa.

Booking an order with DropBox2Go

We will provide the customs documents needed to ensure it clears Customs, but, you will need to fill them out on the booking form correctly and once done, your parcel is good to go. No need to do it manually on the day of collection which will further cause you stress due to time constraints. As soon as the form is completed print out and attach to the outside of the box in a clear plastic wallet, clear envelope or one clearly marked FAO Customs.

What is the Recipient Unique ID Reference?

The South African personal identification number is 13 digits long with only numeric characters and no white space, punctuation or alpha characters.

It is defined as YYMMDDSSSSCAZ:

YYMMDD represents the date of birth (DoB);

• SSSS is a series of number recorded with the same birth date (where females are assigned sequential numbers in the range 0000 to 4999 and males from 5000 to 9999);
• C is the citizenship with 0 if the person is an SA citizen, 1 if the person is a permanent resident;
• A is 8 or 9. Prior to 1994, this number was used to specify the holder’s race;
• Z is a checksum digit.

Using ID Number 8001015009087 as an example, it would read as follows:

This ID number indicates that a male citizen was born on 1 January 1980; he was the 10th male to be registered (assuming that the first male to be registered on that day would be assigned the sequence number 5000).

Alternatively, if the recipient is not an SA resident, you can get their national insurance number or their passport number. This identification details is still required.

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First Time Using

I First tried using dropbox2go and I'm glad I did. It's Very efficient and convenient to use. Plus the customer service is very helpful and accommodating too. Highly recommended.

Chloe Newton

DropBox2Go is Great

On time delivery for less. Very smooth and helpful service. I shall definitely use this company again.

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