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Thread: Paying tax while living abroad

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    Paying tax while living abroad

    G'day everyone

    Where can I find information about how to deal with personal income tax (which includes my freelance business activities) when not living in South Africa (but still a South African citizen)?

    I'm under the impression that I don't have to pay income tax in South Africa if I'm not a resident of South Africa (i.e. having lived more than 183 days in my other country). Is that broadly correct?

    My situation is this: I'm currently a "permanent" resident of the Netherlands (i.e. I have a long-stay non-tourist permit that allows me to do basically anything except vote). I need to know from what date I no longer need to pay income tax to SARS (though I suppose I would have to declare each year still, right?).

    The NL tax year runs from 1 January to 31 December, but because I didn't live in NL for the entire year, the NL tax people allowed me to choose whether to pay tax for the entire 2010 or only for the period of time that my long-stay permit was active. I opted for the latter (since the NL tax rate is 42-48%, and I would have had to redo my accounting for 2010 because NL tax laws require invoice-based accounting, which I didn't use in ZA), so I ended up paying income tax in NL for income invoiced from 1 October to 31 December 2010 only.

    It would be excellent news to me if for the 2011 ZA tax year I would need to pay SARS only tax on income received/invoiced between 1 March 2010 and 30 September 2010, but would that really be so?

    [What possibly complicates my situation is that I did spend time in NL shortly before I was granted a long-stay permit, so the first "block" of time that includes 183/365 days in NL actually starts on 28 April 2010, and the date on which 183 days in NL was reached is 31 January 2011.]

    Any idea where I can get this type of information?

    Thanks
    Samuel

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    Silver Member geraldenek's Avatar
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    When did you become a permanent resident of Netherlands and do you have any intention of returning to SA permanently?
    Geraldene Kapp
    Professional Tax Help
    www.mytaxhelp.co.za

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    Quote Originally Posted by geraldenek View Post
    When did you become a permanent resident of Netherlands and do you have any intention of returning to SA permanently?
    1. I'm not sure when I became a resident of the Netherlands because I'm not sure from what date that is calculated. I suspect it would be 1 October 2010 since that is when I entered the Netherlands on a visa that qualifies me for the residence permit. The residence permit itself, however, was only issued a few weeks later. My residence in the Netherlands is not yet permanent -- my current permit is valid until November 2016 (though it will be extended at that time, almost automatically, unless I no longer qualify for it).

    2. I intend to return to South Africa (i.e. to become a resident of South Africa) in about 10-15 years from now. Nothing is permanent in this world (so I guess the tax man has his own definition of permanence).

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