South Africa plans to impose a temporary VAT on low-value imported goods to help local companies cope with the impact of multinational e-commerce platforms on the country's retail market. According to the plan, South Africa will impose a temporary VAT on low-value imported packages on top of the current 20% tax rate from September 1 this year, until the 20% import tariff is imposed on November 1 this year.

At present, South Africa has implemented preferential tax policies for imported goods with a value of less than 500 rand (1 South African rand is approximately 0.39 RMB). Low-value imported goods only need to pay a unified tax of 20% at the import stage, and no longer need to pay import tariffs and 15% value-added tax.