Financial emigration – what does it mean?
Are you thinking of leaving South Africa in search of a new home address and greener pastures? In between packing up your house and belongings, don’t forget to start the ball rolling on wrapping up your finances through financial emigration.
Why is financial emigration important if you’ve already emigrated from South Africa?
The purpose of financial emigration from South Africa is to wrap up your South African estate for emigration purposes. This includes declaring all your assets to the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), whom approves the transfer of assets to another country. Once your financial emigration is approved, you can transfer your assets from South Africa any time you want, without any additional approvals required from an exchange control point of view. Thus, creating a free flow of your capital.
Does financial emigration change your South African tax residency?
No, your tax residency is not dependent on or affected by your financial emigration from South Africa. In most cases your tax residency is established in your new home country. Depending on various double taxation agreements (DTA) between South Africa and other countries, you may still be taxed on income from assets in South Africa. Each DTA differs from country to country, so checking with the tax office in your new home is advisable, and you’ll find lots of useful information on the SARS website as well.
How do you financially emigrate from South Africa?
Here is an infographic explaining the process of financial emigration and changing your status from a South African resident to a non-resident.
Financial emigration process explained
It’s probably best that you familiarise yourself with the financial emigration process well before you jump on a plane.
That’s where FinGlobal’s expertise comes in handy. With thousands of clients all over the world, we’re the leaders in financial emigration – from getting your tax certificate to helping you shift your finances to your new home country, our job is to make your money moves as smooth as possible. Get in touch today! Our team is ready to get you started.
Appreciate your response my wife and I left South Africa in 2010 we did not immigrate financially.
During our time in South Africa we cashed in our retirement annuity.
We still have a small amount of approx ZAR 60,000 that goes into our South African bank account monthly as interest remaining, from the annuity can we cash those funds in have it transfered to Australia if we Immigrate Financially.
What would your charges be to perform this on our behalf.
Hi Vernon,
Thank you for your query. If you can please submit your contact details via our website one of our financial consultants will contact you to explain the process and provide you with a free and no obligation quote if necessary : https://www.finglobal.com/please-call-me/