Relocating overseas is so much more than packing up your belongings, booking a flight and moving your family abroad. There’s a lot more to consider! For instance, have you thought about how your finances will work? How will you make your money work? If you’re suddenly filled with panic, take a deep breath and calm yourself. There is a solution! Simply outsource all of your cross border financial planning to the financial emigration specialists. The right partner to handle your cross border financial portfolio can make all the difference to your stress levels, today and in the future.
Let’s take a quick dive into what you should be looking for in an expat financial planning partner to help you through all the financial emigration steps and simplify your life abroad.
Expat financial planning: financial emigration from South Africa
If you’re thinking about moving abroad or you’ve been living outside of the Republic for a number of years already, you’ve probably discovered that moving money out of South Africa isn’t as easy as you would like it to be. With all sorts of complicated exchange control regulations in place, as long as you are considered to be a South African resident for exchange control purposes the South African Reserve Bank will keep a very close eye on your moves because there’s a limit as to how much money you can move out of the country. This makes sense when you think about the fact that exchange control rules are in place in order to keep money inside the Republic, or at least within the Common Monetary Area.
If you’re still in the process of leaving, it’s good to know beforehand how much money you’re allowed to carry with you when you physically leave the Republic:
- As long as you declare it, you’re allowed to carry a maximum of R25 000 in cash /unlimited foreign currency per person.
- However, if you’re leaving to a country that’s within the Common Monetary Area, the amount of South African currency you’re allowed to carry with you is unlimited.
Once you’re living abroad, you’ll only be able to move a limited amount of money abroad every year. There are two ways to do it – by means of the Foreign Investment/Foreign Capital Allowance, and the Single Discretionary Allowance. If you’ve got more money to move than is permissible under these allowances, you’ll need to use the Special Allowance, and arrange prior approval from the Reserve Bank.
What is financial emigration from South Africa?
Financial emigration is the official process whereby you request that the Reserve Bank change your status – for exchange control purposes – from resident to non-resident. Once you are a non-resident, you will no longer be subject to the same stringent exchange control regulations and you’ll have a much easier time of moving money abroad.
Advantages of financial emigration from South Africa
Once your emigration has been formalised by the South African Reserve Bank, you will be considered to have wrapped up your financial affairs in the Republic. So what are the benefits of having completed the financial emigration steps?
You’ll be in a better position to protect your savings and investments from the volatility of the Rand in the open currency market, if you emigrate financially from South Africa. This includes protecting your retirement annuity or pension or provident fund savings. This is because financial emigration is one of the only ways to get your hands on money in your retirement annuities before the official age of retirement. Most importantly, once you’ve released these funds, you’ll be able to use them for any purpose. This includes funding your new life abroad, paying for travel or to study further and because you’re a financial emigrant, you’ll find it much easier to transfer this money abroad having already created a free flow of capital. You’ll also find that it’s much easier to get your hands on your South African sourced inheritance, as well as any passive income you’re entitled to, such as rent, dividends, director’s fees and the proceeds of any assets declared in your emigration application.
FinGlobal
We believe that FinGlobal is the right cross-border financial planning partner for South Africans worldwide because we promise a truly Personalised Emigration Plan that is:
- Based on getting to know you first: we conduct a one-on-one assessment so that we can identify your specific needs and ultimate goals.
- Tailored according to your specific, unique circ*mstances: not every international move or cross-border transaction is the same, which is why we take a tailored approach to planning your financial emigration.
- Charged at predictable, fixed costs: we avoid the uncertainty of percentage-based fees that vary according to transaction amount. Instead, we charge a fixed rate for our various cross-border financial services.
- Fair value and transparent costs: You’ll never feel like it wasn’t money well spent, when you think about the convenience and security of handing your expat financial planning requirements to FinGlobal and receiving bespoke cross-border financial solutions that perform as expected.
- Peace of mind, every step of the way: with payment on successful completion of service only. This means, as you guessed it, that we’ll do everything in our power to ensure that we deliver on our promises.
No matter your expat financial planning needs, FinGlobal is ready to handle them. We’re also ready to offer you a full suite of cross-border financial services, including:
- Financial emigration from South Africa
- Refunds and tax clearance from the South African Revenue Service
- Exiting the South African tax system
- Cashing in your retirement annuity early
- Making international currency transfers
- Dealing with tricky foreign exchange matters
- Pension income fund transfers
- Withdrawing your pension, provident or preservation funds
To get started on your Personalised Financial Emigration, leave us your contact details and we’ll be in touch!
