The changes will come into effect on March 1, 2020 and have been a
cause of concern for many South Africans working abroad who
currently pay no tax if they meet certain criteria. When the
changes to the act come into effect, however, only R1m of this
income will be exempt from tax in SA.
She points out that the impact of the changes is likely to be felt
the most by South Africans working in tax havens. Many of these
tax havens have high levels of indirect taxes such as VAT, but no
payroll tax.
`Let`s look at this without the emotion attached. If an expat is
earning money outside SA; but still owns property, has a family
who lives here and wants to be seen as a South African; it is
realistic for such a person to be required to pay some level of
direct tax,` says Dudley.
In her view, the R1m threshold is reasonable considering the tax
thresholds enjoyed by employees working in South Africa.
`Admittedly, most affected taxpayers are probably earning hard
currency and the current weakened rand will to some extent, negate
the impact of the R1m exemption. But expats do need to be taxed in
some way,` says Dudley.
`If an expat is already paying direct tax in another country, then
the effect of the new SA tax may be mitigated by tax paid
elsewhere in terms of a double tax agreement with possible minimal
effect.`
Dudley is of the view that Treasury is more likely to be targeting
individuals such as pilots or oil rig workers who effectively
retain a base in SA, but who work for an offshore company.
Until now, these individuals were exempt from paying tax in SA,
despite enjoying the benefits of their families living in the
country.
Another possible problem scenario she highlights relates

to people
who left South Africa years ago, although they have not
financially emigrated. They may no longer be regarded as tax
resident in SA because they have been living abroad for such a
long time.
She points out that it is also worth noting the impact of cross-
border information sharing on the implementation of expat tax
changes.
Since expats have always been required to complete a tax return in
South Africa, even if they were exempt from paying income tax on
foreign employment income, this information is already available
to the SA Revenue Service (SARS).
On top of that, due to information sharing between countries and
banks, SARS will know exactly how much is paid into anyone`s bank
account.
`Information sharing agreements were specifically noted by Finance
Minister Tito Mboweni in his 2019 National Budget as a key focus
area for fixing SARS and tightening the tax net,` cautions Dudley.
`This means expats too will increasingly be on SARS` radar,
underlining the importance of ensuring that your affairs are in
order and in compliance with these new proposed amendments.`
Fin24 reported earlier that, despite hosting a workshop recently
where they were given feedback from experts in the financial
industry, National Treasury and SARS are not budging on an
amendment to the foreign income tax exemption.
Jonty Leon, a tax attorney at Tax Consulting SA, tells Fin24 one
major point of contention is the taxation of certain fringe
benefits. `That means the exemption of only R1m stays and at the
same time fringe benefits and allowances will become taxable.` V.2816

There are fears that more people will be separated by the introduction of a minimum salary level for those wanting UK family visas. Families living in the UK and abroad have raised concerns about what new rules will mean for them as they try to reunite with foreign spouses. In December, the Home Office, which says migration to the UK is too high, announced a package of measures to reduce net migration, following a spike in arrival numbers. V.5318
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An Ethiopian asylum seeker, who does not speak English, claims he was duped by a senior immigration official into paying an admission of guilt fine when he thought he was paying for bail.Two Western Cape High Court judges have condemned the official`s `deplorable` behaviour, set aside the fine, and ordered the immigration official be taken off the case. Tsegaye Esyas claims Annelise van Dyk treated him like an animal which led to him attempt suicide while in police cells. V.5320
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EREMY MAGGS: I want to stay with crime now. Individuals with a criminal record may be faced with significant challenges when seeking employment, I think that’s a given. Here in South Africa, employers may legally exclude an applicant from consideration for a position if having a clean criminal record is what is termed an inherent requirement of the job. That phrase, inherent requirement, is important, but what exactly does that mean, and when can an applicant be lawfully excluded for having a criminal record? V.5321
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As a South African who has adopted a nomadic work lifestyle alongside my wife, Ingrid Lotze, I’ve been an interested observer of South Africa’s snail-pace digital nomad visa (DNV) development process. Despite the optimism surrounding its introduction, the visa seems to miss several crucial marks for digital nomads like us. V.5322
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DA MP says hours lost continue to result in persons being unable to collect their ID documents due to unmanageable queues The DA has been inundated with complaints that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) systems are offline, resulting in long queues and delayed processing of documents. Through questions posed to the Minister, the DA can now reveal that the DHA has lost over 77 years’ worth of working hours due to system downtime and load-shedding from 2019 to date. Concerningly, this data only relates to hours lost for the application of smart IDs, meaning decades more of working hours could have been additionally lost in other spheres such as passport or visa applications. V.5314
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Home Affairs’ seemingly endless court battles set the department back more than R110-million between April 2023 and the end of February this year. This was revealed in a written parliamentary response by minister Aaron Motsoaledi. He said the department accumulated a litigation bill of R117 692 996.3, higher than the R72 637 944.51 spent the year before. V.5315
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Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) this week revealed that Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) has achieved a ground-breaking milestone by processing more than 10 million passengers over a single financial year. This is the highest number of regional and international passengers processed since COVID-19 V.5316
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In recent years, South Africa has seen a significant influx of immigrants from various African countries, as well as other parts of the world. This has raised important questions about the country`s immigration policies and their impact on job creation for both locals and immigrants. The South African immigration system, like many other countries, is a complex and ever-evolving process that aims to balance the country`s economic needs with its social and cultural interests. Let`s take a closer look at how this system intersects with job creation in South Africa. The South African government implemented the Immigration Act of 2002, which outlines the country`s immigration policies and procedures. Under this act, foreigners are required to obtain a visa or permit to enter, work, or study in South Africa. The type of visa or permit required depends on the intended purpose of the individual`s visit and their country of origin. V.5312
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Due to system downtime and load-shedding, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) lost nearly 141,000 hours of Smart ID application and production time between the 2019/20 and 2022/23 financial years. Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed this figure in a recent response to questions raised in Parliament by Democratic Alliance MP Adrian Roos. Motsoaledi provided a breakdown of smart ID production and application hours lost to technical difficulties and load-shedding per province for each financial year from 2019/2020. These disruptions hit home Affairs offices in the Eastern Cape the hardest, with over 34,000 hours to rotational power cuts and system downtime. Mpumalanga offices lost the next-highest number of hours at 17 V.5313
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Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has said the public has shown great support for the final White Paper on citizenship, immigration and refugee protection which appeared in the Government Gazette on Wednesday. Briefing the media, he addressed what he saw as a long-overdue need to replace an outdated Citizenship Act, as well as enact proposed changes to existing legislation. V.5306
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