Traveller Duty & Allowance Calculator
Work out what you can bring into South Africa duty-free and what you will owe on the rest.
Last reviewed: Source: SARS — Arrival in SA
What you can bring in free
Customs doesn’t charge from the first rand. Three steps apply, in this order.
- The first R5 000 of shopping is free. No customs duty, no VAT. Once every 30 days. Crew get R700.
- The next R20 000 is taxed at a flat 20%, with no VAT on top. This one carries over: use R6 000 on one trip and R14 000 is left for your next trip inside the 30 days. You can ask to pay the normal rates instead if that comes out cheaper. It doesn’t apply if you’re arriving from Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia or Eswatini.
- Anything above that is taxed at the normal rate for that item, plus VAT.
Alcohol, tobacco and perfume have their own allowances, measured in litres and grams instead of rands. Those are the ones people get wrong.
The rules sit in Schedule 4 to the Customs & Excise Act, under rebate item 407.02. You never need to quote that to anyone. The codes in the table below are there so you can check our figures against the SARS documents at the end of this page.
Alcohol, tobacco and perfume
| Item | Free allowance | SARS code (for checking) | Extra alcohol/tobacco tax? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wine | 2 L | 407.02/22.00/01.02 | Yes |
| Spirits & other alcohol | 1 L | 407.02/22.00/02.02 | Yes |
| Cigarettes | 200 units | 407.02/24.02/01.04 | Yes |
| Cigars | 20 units | 407.02/24.02/01.04 | Yes |
| Pipe / cigarette tobacco | 250 g | 407.02/24.03/01.04 | Yes |
| Perfume | 50 ml | 407.02/33.03/01.04 | No |
| Eau de toilette | 250 ml | 407.02/33.03/01.04 | No |
The allowance is not a limit
Most people read these numbers as a cap. They aren’t. They are the amount that comes in free, and going over doesn’t tax everything you’re carrying.
- Stay under and you pay nothing.
- You may carry more. Nothing gets taken off you for being over.
- You only pay on the part above the line. 400 cigarettes is 200 free and 200 taxed, never 400 taxed.
- Landing exactly on the number is free. 200 cigarettes costs you nothing; the 201st is the first one you pay on.
What going over costs you
The extra is taxed on its own and cannot borrow from your shopping allowance. Wine, spirits, tobacco and perfume carried above the free amounts are all charged at the normal rates. SARS’s guide is direct about it: the extra “may not be claimed under the duty-free allowance”.
So your R5 000 and the 20% band cannot absorb an extra bottle of perfume. Those are for your other shopping.
Alcohol and tobacco also carry excise, an extra tax on top of customs duty and VAT. It is what makes a bottle of spirits dearer here than the shelf price suggests. Perfume and eau de toilette don’t carry it, so going over on those costs customs duty and VAT only. Either way you pay something, and neither touches your shopping allowance.
How much of it gets taxed
Not the whole purchase. Only the share sitting above your free amount, worked out by quantity:
what you get taxed on = what you paid × (the amount you’re over ÷ the amount you have)
One 250 ml bottle of perfume, bought for R900
You cannot split one bottle, but it is still worked out on volume. You are not taxed on the full R900.
- What you have
- 250 ml
- Free allowance
- 50 ml
- Over the allowance
- 200 ml
- The sum
- R900 × 200 ÷ 250
Three litres of wine, bought for R450
Wine carries excise, so the litre over the line pays customs duty, excise and VAT. It is charged at the normal rates for wine and does not come off your shopping allowance.
- What you have
- 3 L
- Free allowance
- 2 L
- Over the allowance
- 1 L
- The sum
- R450 × 1 ÷ 3
Should you take the flat 20%, or the normal rates?
You may ask, before the officer starts working out what you owe, to be charged the normal rates instead of the flat 20%. Say it too late and the choice is gone. Decide before you reach the counter.
The two work differently:
- Flat rate. One 20% charge, no VAT on top.
- Normal rates. The customs duty for that item, plus 15% VAT. The VAT isn’t charged on your price: customs adds 10% first, then the duty, then charges VAT on that total. So it comes to a bit more than 15% of what you paid.
The flat rate carries no VAT, so it wins on anything with much duty on it. The tipping point is around 3% customs duty. Below that, the normal rates cost less.
| What you bought | Typical customs duty | Flat 20% | Normal rates | Better choice |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laptop, phone, tablet, camera | 0% | R2 000 | R1 650 | Normal rates |
| The break-even point | ~3% | R2 000 | R2 000 | Either |
| Footwear | ~30% | R2 000 | R5 100 | Flat 20% |
| Clothing | up to 45% | R2 000 | R6 825 | Flat 20% |
A R15 000 laptop, on your first trip in 30 days
Your first R5 000 is free whichever option you pick, so the choice only bites on the R10 000 above it. Laptops carry no customs duty, leaving just the VAT, which lands below the flat 20%.
- Your free allowance
- R5 000, free either way
- Left in the 20% band
- R10 000
- Customs duty at 0%
- R0
- Value VAT is charged on
- R10 000 + 10% = R11 000
- VAT at 15%
- R1 650
- Flat rate would have been
- R2 000
It runs the other way on clothing. The same R10 000 at 45% duty costs R4 500 in duty and R2 325 in VAT, so R6 825 against R2 000 at the flat rate.
The rough rule: electronics lean towards the normal rates, clothing and shoes lean towards the flat 20%. If you are carrying both and your shopping comes to more than R25 000, you also pick which items the allowances go against. Put them on whatever is taxed hardest.
Two rules that can take your allowances away
The 48-hour rule
If you were out of South Africa for less than 48 hours, none of the allowances apply. Not the R5 000, not the 20% band, and not the wine, tobacco or perfume allowances. A day trip across the border gets you nothing free.
That last part gets reported wrong a lot. People see that the alcohol and tobacco allowances are “in addition to” the shopping allowance and read it as meaning the 48 hours doesn’t apply to them. It does. What is extra is the allowance, not an exemption from the rules.
What you remember is an estimate. SARS has its own record of when you left and came back, and that is the one that counts. If you were anywhere near the 48-hour line, keep your boarding passes.
The 30-day rule
The R5 000 free allowance is once every 30 days. Use it and it is gone until 30 days have passed. The alcohol, tobacco and perfume allowances work the same way, on their own separate 30 days.
The R20 000 at 20% carries over instead. Pay the 20% on R6 000 this trip and R14 000 of it is still waiting for your next one.
What happens above R25 000
R25 000 is the two amounts added together: R5 000 free plus R20 000 at 20%. It counts your shopping only. Alcohol, tobacco and perfume are not part of that figure.
Going over does not cost you the allowances. You get to choose which items they go against and which get charged the normal rates. Spend them on whatever is taxed hardest. This calculator applies them in the order you entered the items.
Arriving from Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia or Eswatini
These countries share a customs area with South Africa, so different rules apply:
- No customs duty at all.
- Shopping up to R25 000 comes in VAT-free, still subject to the same 48-hour and 30-day rules. Crew are capped at R700, as on any other arrival.
- No 20% band. That one is only for arrivals from elsewhere.
- Above R25 000 you pay VAT only, charged on what you paid, without the 10% customs normally adds first.
Other allowances
- Your own things, taken with you. Anything you took out of South Africa comes back free, but you have to show it is the same item. If you travel with a laptop, camera or drone, register it at the customs office before you leave. That is what protects you on the way back. You do it in person at the airport.
- Handmade goods from the region. Handmade items from SADC or SACU countries come in free of duty and VAT, up to 25 kg in total, once every 30 days. This is the one allowance you may use for goods you intend to sell.
- Things you are bringing in temporarily: work equipment, samples, goods for an exhibition. You may have to leave a deposit, refunded when the goods leave again. ATA carnets are handled separately.
Cash
You may carry up to R100 000 in or out without asking permission first. That is rands and foreign currency added together, plus anything that works like cash, such as travellers’ cheques. Above it you have to declare. Cash is a separate rule and does not affect what you owe on your shopping.
The online traveller declaration
Since 1 July 2026 you have to complete an online declaration on SARS’s Traveller Management System before you travel, within 24 hours of leaving. You do that on SARS’s own site.
This calculator does not submit anything. It works out an estimate. It cannot file a declaration for you, and no third-party tool can either.
What this calculator doesn't do
Customs duty depends on exactly what an item is. A phone and a jacket are charged differently, across thousands of categories. We don’t hold those rates yet, or the excise rates on alcohol and tobacco. Where your answer needs one, this calculator says so rather than guessing. The officer at the airport works out the final amount.
Sources
Frequently Asked Questions
No. It is the amount that comes in free, not a cap. You may bring in more than 200 cigarettes or more than 2 litres of wine, and nothing gets taken off you for being over. Only the amount above the allowance is taxed. The free part stays free.
Shopping up to R5 000 comes in free of customs duty and VAT, once every 30 days. You also get separate allowances for 2 litres of wine, 1 litre of other alcohol, 200 cigarettes, 20 cigars, 250 g of tobacco, 50 ml of perfume and 250 ml of eau de toilette. Those run on their own 30 days, and you still need to have been away at least 48 hours to get them.
The extra is taxed on its own, at the normal rates for those goods. Your R5 000 free allowance and the 20% band cannot cover it; those are for your other shopping. Alcohol and tobacco also carry excise, an extra tax on top of customs duty and VAT, which perfume does not. So going over costs more on spirits than on perfume, but you pay something either way.
By quantity, so you are never taxed on the whole purchase. If you bought one 250 ml bottle of perfume for R900, the first 50 ml are free and the other 200 ml are taxed: R900 × 200 ÷ 250 = R720. This applies even to a single bottle you cannot split, because it is worked out on volume.
If you were out of South Africa for less than 48 hours, nothing comes in free. Not the R5 000, not the 20% band, and not the alcohol, tobacco or perfume allowances. A day trip across the border gets you nothing. That last part gets reported wrong a lot: people see that the alcohol and tobacco allowances are extra and assume the 48 hours does not apply to them. It does.
After your first R5 000 comes in free, the next R20 000 of shopping is taxed at a flat 20%, with no VAT on top. It carries over: if you used R6 000 of it on a trip earlier in the 30 days, R14 000 is still there. You can ask to pay the normal rates instead if that comes out cheaper. It does not apply if you are arriving from Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia or Eswatini.
The flat 20% is one charge with no VAT on top. The normal rates are the customs duty for that item plus 15% VAT, and the VAT is charged on your price plus 10% plus the duty, so it comes to a bit more than 15% of what you paid. The flat rate carries no VAT, so it wins on anything with much duty on it. The tipping point is around 3%. Laptops, phones and cameras usually carry none, so on R10 000 in the band (your R5 000 comes off free first) the normal rates cost about R1 650 against R2 000 at the flat rate. Clothing and shoes carry 20-45%, where the same R10 000 could run to R6 825. Ask the officer before they start working out what you owe.
R25 000 is the two amounts added together: R5 000 free plus R20 000 at 20%. It counts your shopping only, not your alcohol, tobacco or perfume. Going over does not cost you the allowances. You get to choose which items they go against and which get charged the normal rates, so spend them on whatever is taxed hardest.
Yes. Those countries share a customs area with South Africa, so there is no customs duty at all. Your shopping comes in VAT-free up to R25 000, still subject to the same 48-hour and 30-day rules, and the 20% band does not apply. Above R25 000 you pay VAT only, charged on what you paid without the 10% customs normally adds first. Crew are capped at R700, as on any other arrival.
Up to R100 000 in either direction without asking permission first. That is rands and foreign currency added together, plus anything that works like cash, such as travellers’ cheques. Above it you have to declare. Cash is a separate rule and does not affect what you owe on your shopping.
No. Since 1 July 2026 you have to complete an online declaration on SARS’s own site before you travel. This calculator works out an estimate. It cannot file a declaration for you, and no third-party tool can either.
It is an estimate. Customs duty depends on exactly what an item is, and we do not hold those rates yet, or the excise rates on alcohol and tobacco. Where your answer needs one, this calculator says so rather than guessing. The officer at the airport works out the final amount.