FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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No, tax emigration deals solely with your tax residency status with SARS and does not affect your South African citizenship. You retain your South African citizenship and the right to return to the country.
Once you have successfully ceased your tax residency, you are only required to file a tax return if you have income from a South African source, such as rental income from a property or dividends from a local company.
When you cease your tax residency, SARS deems you to have sold all your global assets (excluding immovable property in South Africa) to yourself at their market value on the day before you ceased residency. This can result in a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) liability, commonly known as “exit tax.”
Under the new rules, you can access your retirement annuity or preservation fund as a lump sum after you have ceased your tax residency and maintained non-resident status for at least three consecutive years.
While the term “financial emigration” was previously a formal process with the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), the process has now been replaced with a formal SARS tax emigration process. The focus is now on ceasing your tax residency with SARS.
SARS determines your tax residency using two tests: the “ordinarily resident” test (a subjective assessment of your primary home and intentions) and the “physical presence” test (an objective assessment based on the number of days you spend in South Africa over a specific period).
No, tax emigration deals solely with your tax residency status with SARS and does not affect your South African citizenship. You retain your South African citizenship and the right to return to the country.
Once you have successfully ceased your tax residency, you are only required to file a tax return if you have income from a South African source, such as rental income from a property or dividends from a local company.
When you cease your tax residency, SARS deems you to have sold all your global assets (excluding immovable property in South Africa) to yourself at their market value on the day before you ceased residency. This can result in a Capital Gains Tax (CGT) liability, commonly known as “exit tax.”
Under the new rules, you can access your retirement annuity or preservation fund as a lump sum after you have ceased your tax residency and maintained non-resident status for at least three consecutive years.
While the term “financial emigration” was previously a formal process with the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), the process has now been replaced with a formal SARS tax emigration process. The focus is now on ceasing your tax residency with SARS.
SARS determines your tax residency using two tests: the **”ordinarily resident”** test (a subjective assessment of your primary home and intentions) and the **”physical presence”** test (an objective assessment based on the number of days you spend in South Africa over a specific period).
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