Advanced Occupational Certificate: Excise Officer

Purpose

The purpose of this qualification is to prepare a learner to function as an Excise Officer.

An Excise Officer ensures that excise duties are levied from entities licensed to manufacture excisable goods, carries out inspections in warehouses, and inspects the premises of manufacturers of goods to ensure that the correct excise duties are being paid.

A qualified learner will demonstrate the following key attributes: problem solving, ethical decision making, interpreting, and communicating information and applying essential methods and procedures.

A qualified learner will be able to

• Manage excise account returns in terms of submissions and payments.
• Conduct inspections and supervisions with regards to excise processes and procedures.
• Conduct excise audits and diesel refund audits.

Rationale

The Customs and Excise Amendment Act 2014 was published in the Government Gazette (no 37863) in July 2014. This Act (already signed) will come into effect on a date yet to be determined by the President. Systems and capacity need to be in place prior to this Act being affected. The training of Excise Officers is crucial in this regard and required to ensure readiness and compliance to this Act in terms of excise related activities. The need for this qualification is because currently there is not a registered qualification on the NQF for Excise Officers.

In South Africa, excise resides under the South African Revenue Services (SARS). Since the Act was published in the Government Gazette, extensive work has been taking place around drafting the Rules under the new Act to ensure excise procedures are efficient, predictable, and transparent. Excise duties and levies are imposed on certain categories of products to ensure a constant stream of revenue for the State, with a secondary function of discouraging consumption of certain products considered harmful to human health or to the environment. The revenue generated by these duties and levies amount to approximately ten per cent of the total revenue received by SARS. This qualification will therefore benefit society and the economy as well as the Public Sector by providing Excise Officers working for SARS with the skills and knowledge to ensure the correct levies and duties are determined and paid.

Typical learners are SARS employees and recruits or employees of the other members of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), i.e. the Republic of Botswana, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Namibia and the Kingdom of Eswatini, working in excise. SARS is the only employer of Excise Officers in South Africa. Learners entering this qualification will exit with an NQF Level 6 qualification which will also enable them to work for the other members of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).

Professional registration is not a requirement for this occupation. This qualification will contribute to the full development of the learner by providing recognition, further mobility, and transportability within the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and to further specialise in a specific specialised area of excise.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

RPL for Access to Training

Learners may use the RPL process to gain access to training opportunities for a programme of learning, qualification, part-qualification or skills programme if they do not meet the formal, minimum entry requirements for admission. RPL assessment provides an alternative access route into a programme of learning, qualification, part-qualification, or skills programme.

Such an RPL assessment may be developed, moderated and conducted by the accredited Skills Development Provider which offers that specific qualification/part qualification/skills programme. Such an assessment must ensure that the learner is able to display the equivalent level of competencies required for access, based on the NQF level descriptors.

RPL for Exemption

For exemption from modules through RPL, learners who have gained the stipulated competencies of the modules of a programme of learning, qualification, part-qualification or skills programme through any means of formal, informal or non-formal learning and/or work experience, may be awarded credits towards relevant modules, and gaps identified for training, which is then concluded.

RPL for Access to the External Integrated Summative Assessment (EISA)

A valid Statement of Results is required for admission to the EISA in which confirmation of achievement is provided that all internal assessment criteria for all modules in the related curriculum document have been achieved.

Upon successful completion of the EISA/FISA, RPL learners will be issued with the QCTO certificate for the qualification, part-qualification or skills programme. Quality Partners are responsible for ensuring the RPL mechanism and process for qualifications and part-qualification is approved by the QCTO.

Entry Requirements

An NQF Level 4 qualification.

This qualification is made up of compulsory Knowledge, Practical and Work Experience Modules

Knowledge Modules

• 335101-003-00-KM-01, Ethics and Workplace Requirements, NQF Level 3, 8 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-KM-02, Business Communication and Customer Service, NQF Level 3, 3 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-KM-03, Customs and Excise Statutory Offences, Legal Proceedings and Liability of Specific Persons for Offences Committed, NQF Level 5, 2 Credits.
• 335101-000-00-KM-04, Legal Framework and Procedures for Internal Administrative Appeals and Dispute Resolutions, NQF Level 5, 3 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-KM-05, Excise Officers' Scope of Work, NQF Level 5, 4 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-KM-06, Legal Framework and Procedures for Submission of Accounts/Returns, NQF Level 5, 4 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-KM-07, Legal Framework and Procedures for Pre-Warehouse Inspections, NQF Level 5, 4 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-KM-08, Legal Framework and Procedures for Excise Audits, NQF Level 6, 8 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-KM-09, Legal Framework and Procedures for Diesel Refund Audits, NQF Level 6, 8 Credits.

Total number of credits for Knowledge Modules: 44

Practical Skill Modules

• 335101-003-00-PM-01, Monitor and Track Submissions, NQF Level 4, 3 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-PM-02, Monitor and Track Payments, NQF Level 4, 5 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-PM-03, Verify Auto Triggered Cases, NQF Level 6, 6 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-PM-04, Conduct Pre-Warehouse Inspections and Educate Clients, NQF Level 5, 5 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-PM-05, Conduct Excise Supervisions, NQF Level 5, 3 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-PM-06, Conduct Excise Audits, NQF Level 6, 5 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-PM-07, Conduct a Diesel Refund Audit, NQF Level 6, 5 Credits.

Total number of credits for Practical Skill Modules: 32

Work Experience Modules

• 335101-003-00-WM-01, Processes for the Identification of Excise Submissions and Payments Due, NQF Level 5, 11 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-WM-02, Processes for Conducting Excise Supervisions and Inspections, NQF Level 5, 7 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-WM-03, Processes for Conducting Excise Audits, NQF Level 6, 32 Credits.
• 335101-003-00-WM-04, Processes for Conducting Diesel Refund Audits, NQF Level 6, 32 Credits.

Total number of credits for Work Experience Modules: 82

1. Apply legislative and policy requirements to access and manage excise account submissions and payments.
2. Conduct pre-warehouse inspections and supervisions of excise processes and procedures applying legislative and policy requirements.
3. Audit excise accounts and diesel refunds and identify, analyse and solve problems applying appropriate legislative provisions.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 1

ELO1: Apply legislative and policy requirements to access and manage excise account submissions and payments.

• Evaluate excise submissions and payments of returns, applying applicable legislative provisions, and formulate appropriate recommendations on how to proceed.
• Correctly assess and verify auto triggered cases with respect to the potential risk identified applying applicable legislative provisions.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 2

ELO2: Conduct pre-warehouse inspections and supervisions of excise processes and procedures applying legislative and policy requirements.

• Evaluate warehouse compliance for licensing and identify risks and shortcomings by applying applicable legislative provisions.
• Outline ethical conduct regarding processes and requirements for various types of supervisions in the context of applicable legislative provisions.

Associated Assessment Criteria for Exit Level Outcome 3

ELO3: Audit excise accounts and diesel refunds and identify, analyse and solve problems applying appropriate legislative provisions.

• Evaluate an excise audit report for conformance with the required provisions as per the legal framework and standard operating procedures for conducting excise audits.
• Evaluate a diesel refund audit report for conformance with the required provisions as per the legal framework and standard operating procedures for conducting diesel refund audits.

Integrated Assessment

Formative Assessments

Formative assessments are conducted throughout the training of learners. A range of formal, non-formal, and informal ongoing assessment activities are used to focus on teaching and learning outcomes to improve learner attainment.

Formative assessments are conducted continuously by the facilitator to feed into further learning, to identify strengths and weakness, and to ensure the learner's ability to apply knowledge, skills and workplace experience gained.

Formative Assessments are conducted by the accredited Skills Development Provider (SDP), and a variety of ongoing assessment methods may be used, for example, quizzes, assignments, tests, scenarios, role play, interviews. Continuous feedback must be provided.

Summative Assessments

Integrated Assessment involves all the different types of assessment tasks required for a particular qualification, part-qualification or occupational skills programme, such as written assessment of theory and practical demonstration of competence. To achieve this, the Internal Assessment Criteria (IAC) for all modules as found in the QCTO curriculum document must be followed.

An accredited SDP should implement a well-designed, formal, relevant, final internal Summative Assessment strategy for all modules to prepare learners for the EISA. These assessments evaluate learning achievements relating to the achievement of each module of the relevant components of the qualification, part-qualification or skills programme.

Internal Summative Assessments are developed, moderated and conducted by the SDP at the end of each module or after integration of relevant modules, e.g. applied knowledge tests, workplace tasks, practical demonstrations, simulated tasks/demonstrations, projects, case studies, etc.

The results of these final formal summative assessments must be recorded. These results, which include the Statement of Work Experience results, where applicable, contribute to the Statement of Results (SoR) that is a requirement for admission to the EISA. An SoR, using the template provided by the Quality Partner, is issued by the accredited SDP for qualifications and part-qualifications. The SDP must produce a valid Statement of Results for each learner, indicating the final result and the date on which the competence in each module, of each component, was achieved. Learners are required to produce this SoR, together with their ID document or alternative ID document, at the point of the EISA.

External Integrated Summative Assessment (EISA)

The Quality Partner is responsible for the management, conduct and implementation of the External Integrated Summative Assessment (EISA), in accordance with QCTO set standards. Competence in the EISA is a requirement for certificating a learner.

For entrance into the EISA, the learner requires a valid Statement of Results issued by the accredited institution indicating the attainment of all modules for the Knowledge, Practical and Work Experience modules.