Ceasing tax residency changes how SARS taxes you. Your South African citizenship is governed by a separate law, administered by a separate department, and stays in place when you complete your tax emigration from South Africa.
Tax residency works like a subscription linked to where you live. Citizenship works like your birth certificate. You can cancel the subscription when you move abroad, and the birth certificate stays in your drawer.
South African tax residency and citizenship: two systems, two government departments
- South African tax residency: Tax residency is a SARS classification under the Income Tax Act. From 1 March 2001, South Africa moved from a source-based to a residence-based tax system for individuals, which means South African tax residents are taxed on worldwide income (excluding certain exemptions or exclusions) and non-residents are taxed on income from a source within South Africa. An individual is a resident for tax purposes in South Africa either through ordinary residence or through physical presence. You are ordinarily resident in South Africa if it is the country to which you will naturally and as a matter of course return after your wanderings.
- South African citizenship: Citizenship is governed by the South African Citizenship Act 88 of 1995 and administered by the Department of Home Affairs. It determines your right to a South African passport and your legal status as a South African.
Read more: Tax emigration: how to become a non-tax resident of South Africa
What SARS looks at when you cease tax residency
When you cease to be ordinarily resident, SARS considers whether your subjective intention to no longer make South Africa your real home is supported by various objective factors. These factors include:
- the type of visa on which you have gone to the foreign country
- proof of permanent residence in the foreign country, if applicable
- a certificate of tax residence from the foreign revenue authority, if available
- details of any property or business interests you still have in South Africa
- details of your family, your social interests and the location of your personal belongings
- details of any return visits to South Africa, their frequency and the reason for them
Citizenship is absent from this list. You also have two other routes: if you were resident through the physical presence test, you cease to be resident when you are outside South Africa for a continuous period of at least 330 full days, and if you have become a tax resident of another country through a double tax agreement, you also cease to be a South African tax resident.
The formal step is a declaration to SARS. You inform SARS through the RAV01 form on eFiling by capturing the date on which you ceased to be a tax resident, and this date is regarded as the day you become a non-resident.
Read more: South Africa tax residency
What ceasing tax residency changes
Your tax base. Once you have ceased to be a tax resident, you are taxed in South Africa only on South African sourced income.
Exit tax. A deemed disposal for capital gains tax purposes takes place when you break tax residence, covering your worldwide assets excluding immovable property in South Africa.
Retirement savings. Withdrawing from a South African retirement annuity or preservation fund on the grounds of emigration becomes possible only after three years of confirmed non-residence.
What stays the same
Your South African citizenship remains intact, along with your right to hold a South African passport.
The passport rules for citizens continue to apply to you as a non-resident. Section 26B of the Citizenship Act makes it an offence for a major citizen to enter or depart South Africa using the passport of another country, or, while in South Africa, to use another citizenship to gain an advantage or avoid a responsibility or duty. The Border Management Authority confirmed in July 2025 that South African citizens are expected to enter and depart South Africa on a valid South African passport, as has been the case for decades. Keep your South African passport valid for trips home.
Read more: How to prove to SARS that you are no longer a South African tax resident
Dual citizenship after the 2025 Constitutional Court ruling
Many expats take up citizenship in their new country, and until recently this carried a real risk to their South African citizenship.
On 6 May 2025 the Constitutional Court ruled that section 6(1)(a) of the Citizenship Act, which provided that a South African citizen loses that citizenship on voluntarily acquiring another, is unconstitutional. People who lost their citizenship under that section are deemed never to have lost it. You can now take up citizenship of another country without first applying to Home Affairs for permission.
Taking up a foreign citizenship and ceasing tax residency remain separate processes. Proof of citizenship in a foreign country on its own is insufficient to prove non-resident tax status. You still need to declare your cessation to SARS and support it with evidence.
Renouncing citizenship is a separate process
Giving up South African citizenship is a voluntary application to Home Affairs. To be eligible, applicants must already hold the citizenship of another country, because renunciation may not leave a person stateless.
Renouncing citizenship has no effect on your tax position. Renouncing South African citizenship does not affect your tax or exchange control residency status. If you want SARS to treat you as a non-resident, tax emigration is the process to follow.
Read more: Left South Africa without telling SARS?
Returning to South Africa
As a citizen, you can come home. You reinstate your tax resident status when you again meet the requirements for tax residency under South African law, and you declare this to SARS. It is as simple as completing the RAV01 form on your eFiling profile. No supporting documentation is required for reinstatement.
Keep your citizenship, change your tax status
FinGlobal helps South African expats cease tax residency with SARS and plan for what follows, including retirement annuity withdrawals after the three-year period. Contact us for a free consultation to assess your situation.
Article written by Hano Vermaak, Expat financial specialists at FinGlobal