Sorting out your finances & taxes when emigrating
- Sam Beckbessinger
- Feb 5, 2023
- 2 min read
Understanding tax law is about as complicated as having someone explain thermodynamics to you while you’re on LSD and riding a rollercoaster. Now multiply that by trying to understand two different countries’ tax regimes.
This is a part of life where it’s worth paying to get good advice. If you have any sizeable assets, please just speak to an expert long before you start the process of moving.
Experts who can help you sort out your finances after immigration
Global
Sable International. I've personally had a consultation with them and they're great. They're expensive but they're well-equipped to handle large international portfolios.
South Africans
Creative CFO. If you're an entrepreneur or freelancer, Creative CFO is particularly well-suited to helping you. They have offices in both South Africa and the UK.
BIC-Immigration. A firm which handles a number of emigration services for South Africans, including the financial side.
Finglobal. A financial emigration firm for South Africans.
Breaking your South African tax residency yourself
Until recently, there were two different financial processes you needed to know about when leaving the country: changing your tax residency, and financial emigration. Financial emigration was phased out in 2021, compounding everyone’s bafflement.
If your tax situation is simple, you can absolutely change your tax residency status yourself. All you need to do is submit the Registration, Amendments and Verification form (RAV01) on SARS’s eFiling portal (good luck finding it, though).
SARS will create a case and ask for some supporting documentation. This might include your UK visa, a signed declaration and a certificate of residence. You’ll need to disclose all of your assets so that SARS can calculate the exit tax. You will likely be audited to check that you’ve given them all the correct information (I was).
SARS will then present you with a bill for your exit tax.
Once that’s paid, SARS will issue you with a Tax Compliance Status (TCS) PIN, valid for a year, which you can use to do stuff like get your assets out of the country (over R1 million).
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