The History of the Policy Shift A quick recap for newcomers to taxation of South Africans abroad is that after a near two decade policy of giving an employment tax exemption to South Africans performing employment services abroad, there was a material policy shift by National Treasury and SARS, first to completely remove the exemption…
WHY SOUTH AFRICAN EXPATRIATES MUST BE FULLY COMPLIANT With the effects of COVID-19 hitting the National Treasury where it hurts the most, in the pocket; SARS has introduced auto-assessments. This means tax returns will be completed automatically on behalf of the taxpayers using third-party information. How will it work? From August this year, SARS has…
Looking at global statistics and for those following international news, it appears South Africans can be grateful for not being hit as hard as other countries by Covid-19; yet. In saying that, South Africa is unlike the United States and countries in Europe that are better equipped to shield its subjects from the ramifications of…
SARS EYES OFFSHORE ASSETS, FOREIGN INCOME AND BANK ACCOUNTS Following SARS’ media statement on 5 May 2020, it is clear that revenue collection is under immense pressure with an expected collection shortfall of between 15% – 20%. With the number of taxpayers able to contribute to the fiscus dwindling, SARS will have to look to…
With the first provisional tax payment being due on 31 August 2020, there is some confusion regarding whether expatriates are deemed to be provisional taxpayers by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) or not. Reabetswe Moloi, Expatriate Tax Attorney at Tax Consulting SA, says that an expatriate may be regarded as a provisional taxpayer if…
On 5 May 2020, the Commissioner for SARS made a profound media statement, which gave a detailed account of projected revenue collection in light of the COVID-19 crisis, but also gave valuable insight of what we can expect from SARS in coming months. The most important aspects of the address can be unpacked as follows:…
Following the most recent presidential address, it is clear that South Africa’s borders are going to remain closed for non-essential travel, at least for the time being. This being among the plethora of commitments and measures put in place to prepare for the spread of the coronavirus and save lives. South Africa is not alone…
INCLUDING CHANGES FOR CARS, THE CURFEW AND WORKERS Government has published more than a dozen new directives around South Africa’s lockdown regulations since the official introduction of level 4 restrictions on Friday (1 May). These directives seek to clarify issues around the new restrictions as well as how the new rules will impact specific sectors…
Here comes the rain again With 1 March 2020 being the sunrise of the expatriate tax, the first tax payment will become due 31 August 2020. With the first provisional tax payment being due on 31 August 2020, there is some confusion regarding whether expatriates should be provisional taxpayers or not. This confusion is, of…
SOUTH AFRICAN EXPATRIATES The amendment to the expat tax exemption that came into effect 1 March 2020 will have a tremendous impact on both employers and employees respectively. We have consulted with some of the largest corporate groups in South Africa as well as in places such as Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius and the…
