Families who emigrate with children have more to plan than a couple moving on their own. Each parent has a tax residency status to settle with SARS. Children under 18 have their own exchange control limits. A co-guardian’s written consent is needed before a child can leave the country. Your will also has to name who looks after your children and their money if something happens to you.

This guide covers the financial and legal steps to line up before your family leaves South Africa, in the order most families tackle them.

How to cease your South African tax residency and plan for the exit tax

When you cease to be a South African tax resident, you inform SARS by updating your South African tax residency status on the Registration, Amendments and Verification form (RAV01) on eFiling. The date you capture becomes the day you are treated as a non-resident. From then on, South Africa taxes you only on South African-sourced income.

Leaving the tax net also triggers a deemed disposal under section 9H of the Income Tax Act, commonly called the exit tax. You are treated as if you sold your worldwide assets at market value on the day before you ceased residency and then bought them back. Capital gains tax applies to the gain, even though nothing was sold.

Key points for families:

• South African immovable property held in your own name is excluded, because SARS keeps the right to tax it when you eventually sell.
• Shares, unit trusts, foreign property and crypto assets are generally included.
• The deemed disposal is declared in your normal annual tax return for the year in which residency ends.
• Each spouse ceases residency separately, so couples who leave on different dates will have different cessation dates.

If one parent leaves first to start a new job and the rest of the family follows months later, plan the cessation dates, and the exit tax that comes with each, as two separate events.

Read more: SARS exit tax explained: what SARS can and cannot tax

Plan your family’s money transfers from South Africa

Since 8 April 2026, each South African resident aged 18 or older can transfer up to R2 million per calendar year under the single discretionary allowance (SDA), without a SARS AIT PIN. Adults can also use the R10 million foreign capital allowance each year, which requires SARS approval. Two parents therefore have two SDAs and two foreign capital allowances.

Children under 18 do not qualify for the SDA. Instead, each child may receive a travel allowance of up to R400 000 per calendar year. Students under 18 who study abroad also qualify for a study allowance to cover the costs of their studies.

In the calendar year you cease tax residency, you can transfer up to R2 million as a travel allowance without a TCS PIN letter. The SARB describes this as your final allocation of the travel allowance. It applies once, in that calendar year only, and any unused portion falls away at the end of the year.

All of these limits run per calendar year and reset in January. Map out which transfers each family member will make, and in which year, before you set your departure date.

Read more: Your R2 million global opportunity: making the most of the new SDA limit

Decide what to do with South African retirement funds

You can withdraw your full retirement annuity, preservation fund or pension fund benefit before retirement once you have stopped contributing and have been a non-resident for an uninterrupted period of three years or longer. This rule has applied since 1 March 2021, and since 1 September 2024 it also covers pension and provident funds.

For a family, the three-year clock matters when you budget for the first years abroad. School fees, housing deposits and setting-up costs in a new country are immediate realities, while retirement savings stay locked in South Africa for at least three years after you cease residency. Plan to fund the first years from other savings and your allowances.

The fund will ask for proof that you have ceased tax residency before it applies to SARS for a tax directive.

You can also choose to keep your retirement annuity invested in South Africa. That decision depends on your age, the exchange rate and how the destination country taxes a lump sum.

Read more: SARS guide to tax directives for members who cease to be resident

Secure consent and documents for your children

Every person who holds guardianship of a child must consent to that child’s passport application and departure from South Africa, unless a court orders otherwise. This applies under section 18 of the Children’s Act. For families where parents are divorced or separated, the other parent’s written consent is a legal requirement for relocation.

If a co-guardian refuses consent or cannot be found, you can apply to the High Court for an order allowing the child to leave. A court application takes time, so start early if consent may be disputed.

For the journey itself:

• South African children travelling on South African passports do not need to carry a birth certificate.
• A child travelling with one parent needs a parental consent affidavit from the other parent, or a court order granting guardianship, plus a copy of the non-travelling parent’s ID or passport and their contact details.
• An unabridged birth certificate can take at least eight weeks to be issued, so apply well before your departure date if your child needs one for a visa or for a foreign passport.

Immigration rules change. Check the Department of Home Affairs guidance before you book flights.

Update your wills to protect your children

If both parents were to pass away, a guardian named in your will can step in to care for your children. After emigrating, it’s worth reviewing this appointment, as a guardian based in South Africa may no longer be the most practical option.

The will also decides how your children’s inheritance is managed. If a minor inherits cash from a South African estate and the will makes no other arrangement, such as a testamentary trust, the executor must pay the child’s share into the Guardian’s Fund. The Master of the High Court administers this fund.

How the two options compare:

Families with assets in more than one country often need a will in each jurisdiction. Make sure the wills are drafted to work together, so a new will abroad does not accidentally revoke your South African one.

Read more: DOJ&CD: Guardian’s Fund

Your family’s emigration from South Africa checklist

1. Agree on the date each parent will cease tax residency and list the assets that will fall into the exit tax calculation.
2. Plan your transfers across each adult’s SDA and foreign capital allowance, each child’s R400 000 travel allowance, and the once-off allowance in the year you cease residency.
3. Budget for the first three years abroad without relying on your retirement annuity.
4. Obtain written consent from every co-guardian for each child’s passport and departure or start a court application early if consent is disputed.
5. Apply for unabridged birth certificates at least eight weeks before you need them.
6. Review your wills, the guardians you have named, and whether a testamentary trust is in place for your children.

Planning your family’s tax emigration from South Africa?

FinGlobal helps South African families with tax emigration, retirement annuity withdrawals,forex transfers and tax compliance from start to finish. Contact our team to plan your family’s move.

This article is by Francois van der Westhuizen, Expat Financial Specialist at FinGlobal.