Taxpayers are faced with uncertainty over the new residence-based and
capital gains taxes, at least until the end of the year.
Spokesperson for the South African Revenue Service (SARS) says the
legislation for residence- based tax will not be included in the normal
revenue legislation for the year 2000 even though it takes effect for the
current tax year.
Residence-based tax effectively makes any income you receive from offshore
taxable whereas previously, apart from investment income, it was tax-free.
The spokesperson said there is still no clarity on pensions paid from
overseas but in many cases this would depend on double tax agreements and
policy decisions by the Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel.
Residence-based tax legislation will be published towards the end of the
year while the capital gains legislation will probably be completed early
next year.