[Question] How to legally pay zero tax? Serious question.

[wtd]

I have had serious personal income issues tax for a couple of years and my patience with SARS has long passed breaking point.
SARS people, processes and systems are so illogical and unaccountable to levels incomprehensible. They refuse to deny or accept mistakes they have made. With all the time that passes without resolution it just has made my look like more guilty for unresolved matters
Tax practitioners won't be able to help due to SARS lack of cooperation.
SSMO are SARS staff and I get no luck in them even looking into the matter.
The only thing that could assist me if is SARS provide me with various audit trails and I use those audit trails to take legal action to allow me for to get back monies owed and get money free. However SARS & SSMO refuse to provide me with my personal income tax account's audit information giving every excuse they can think up in the process. Admitting fault or providing me with audit trails would show their processes illogic and make them as a whole look bad but so they will not be incentivised to do so as discovering the mistakes made on my account could also lead to a precedent other penalized tax payers could use as a loophole.

So it is a tax hellhole I cannot escape from and caused me to have a nervous breakdown a year ago after SARS continued unaccountability and illogic.

The unfairness of SARS regarding my tax affairs is incomprehensible which if I would explain to a person or tax practitioner they would just not believe me and think I make up stories to avoid tax.

The whole situation has left me disillusioned and I can see no way going forward in this country.

I have cashed my pension and transferred my savings into a foreign bank account.
How do I exlude SARS from my tax in future. If I leave South Africa and reside in another country fulltime or for a fixed period per year will I be able to avoid paying tax for income earned.

[Nickolai Naydenov]

That's surprising, I'd say that SARS is the most efficient government department.

Generally you should pay tax in the country where you are resident even if you earn money in another country.

By the way I'm very keen to know how did you cash your pension money? Are there any loops in the law that I don't know of is what Id like to know.

[wtd]

That's surprising, I'd say that SARS is the most efficient government department.

Generally you should pay tax in the country where you are resident even if you earn money in another country.

By the way I'm very keen to know how did you cash your pension money? Are there any loops in the law that I don't know of is what Id like to know.

Yes once your tax affairs are in order then SARS are efficient. However once the start making mistakes and their staff make mistakes and don't take responsibility then the refusal to acknowledge mistakes, look into issues stemming from those mistakes or even provide any accountability magnifies those mistakes to a point with being a tax payer in my case does not make sense.

You can cash your pension by requesting your fund to do so but it is treated as income so you are liable to pay tax for the lump some but in my case I had no choice and accepted this.

I just need a way to move forward without SARS involved as SARS refuse to cooperate with me or be accountable for their actions.

[Blurock]

How do you expect to pay Zero tax. Who pays for the road to your house? Who pays for your water and electricity connections? Who pays for the police, prisons, hospitals, fire brigade and other services that you enjoy?

Pay to Caesar what is due to him. Nothing more, nothing less.

[CLIVE-TRIANGLE]

I think WTD's initial story suffers from his struggle with the English language. Read between the lines.

Suffice to say, I have only the utmost sympathy with WTD.

SARS, in only a little more than 1 year, have become absolute rubbish. They are staffed by a bunch of total imbeciles. At the risk of coming across as racist; their "old" white staff are the absolute pits. If you need assistance, make damn sure you deal with a competent person, regardless of race. In most cases this will be a person "of colour".

The SARS of 2012 are aggressive, uneducated, untrained and just plain criminal. You can spend untold resources on challenging them and putting things right.

They do not apply the Act, assess you with near impunity, and quite frankly they have become a blight on humanity in RSA.

Deal with them twice or three times a year and all is well. Deal with them on an ongoing basis and you endure frustration, insult and just plain incompetence on a level that defies description.

The rot started with the dunce who is now in charge of finance; a public servant that proved the Peter Principle single handedly. The rot has been cemented and extended by dear Oupa to the point of distraction.

[wtd]

How do you expect to pay Zero tax. Who pays for the road to your house? Who pays for your water and electricity connections? Who pays for the police, prisons, hospitals, fire brigade and other services that you enjoy?

Pay to Caesar what is due to him. Nothing more, nothing less.

The problem is I pay more not less which logically makes no sense and there is no recourse unless if they provide me with my information (audit) so I can take them to a 3rd party which they refuse to do for reasons I described.

I don't want to make use of tax resources I want to leave the country permanently. If I am not in the country or planning to leave why pay tax? I am merely asking how to pay zero tax during the transition period while I find a solution.

If I could I would have emigrated but with emigration worldwide being so popular 1st world countries are in today's time much more hesitant to allow entry to foreigners in saturated industries compared to 10 years ago.

I think WTD's initial story suffers from his struggle with the English language. Read between the lines.

I was under the impression my English is pretty good. Could you point out how you got that impression as it is not something I would like to come across.

They do not apply the Act, assess you with near impunity, and quite frankly they have become a blight on humanity in RSA.

Keep in mind they have penalized 700 000 people for the year 2011 alone. This is huge number and indicates their systems are in chaos. They are not able to manage this work load so to counter this they look at issues very superficially. I've found they can only think one level deep, if it is more complicated then tough luck as they don't even give you the decency to investigate properly.

I do agree with you regarding them acting with no accountability. With me they don't even bother to assess me to find the truth they just make up their own facts. I would beg to be fairly assessed but they rather make mistake upon mistake and would not even give me the right to get assessed. To get them to put anything in writing is like pulling teeth and the only time they have done so is by slandering my name to my employers with baseless accusations.

The rot started with the dunce who is now in charge of finance;

I have mailed in the beginning of 2012 but have had no reply.

At the risk of coming across as racist; their "old" white staff are the absolute pits

Ordinarily I would disagree with you but I have found the same. Very brash and they have a way of ending a conversation prematurely. Each time I have to wait three hours in a queue and then only get 2 minute of their time where they just make up excuses in an hundred different ways not to help me. This just breaks my spirit.
The internal staff are even worse They don't even look at issues just give excuses. You never get to deal with them directly but if you found out who they are and how they live you would be shocked. I happen to stumble upon a in internal SARS quality manager on lunch break in the mall but and she looked like she couldn't fit through the front door of a house. I am not exaggerating.

[Nickolai Naydenov]

You can cash your pension by requesting your fund to do so but it is treated as income so you are liable to pay tax for the lump some but in my case I had no choice and accepted this

If it is a pension or provident fund you have to resign from your work, if it is RA you can't touch the money up until you are 55 at least or if you have or if you have less than R7000, but from what I understand you didn'd do any of these that's why I said I'm keen to know.

When you know how SARS operates and what their requirements are then you will never have issues. So when you have issues that you can't resolve because you are unsure how it works then get a professional to help you, we can't all be specialists in everything, that's why we have different jobs.

You want to leave the country because of SARS? I'm sorry but that is really a stupid excuse, when there's a problem fix it, you will never be able to run away from your problems no matter where you go.

As for paing zero tax, sure get a job for R5000 a month and you won't pay tax, but then again every time you fill up with petrol, when you are grocery shopping and etc you will be paying tax. If you don't want to pay tax legally then move to the UAE, you will love the 0% income tax, just not sure if you'll like everything else. The grass is always greener on the other side!

[Blurock]

If you don't want to pay tax legally then move to the UAE, you will love the 0% income tax, just not sure if you'll like everything else. The grass is always greener on the other side!

...because there is more manure?

[wtd]

If it is a pension or provident fund you have to resign from your work, if it is RA you can't touch the money up until you are 55 at least or if you have or if you have less than R7000, but from what I understand you didn'd do any of these that's why I said I'm keen to know.

Pension fund as I mentioned and yes I resigned to cash it.
[/Quote]

When you know how SARS operates and what their requirements are then you will never have issues. So when you have issues that you can't resolve because you are unsure how it works then get a professional to help you, we can't all be specialists in everything, that's why we have different jobs.

As I have mentioned if this is a normal process then you are correct. When SARS make numerous technical mistakes and don't accept accountability then no.

You want to leave the country because of SARS? I'm sorry but that is really a stupid excuse, when there's a problem fix it, you will never be able to run away from your problems no matter where you go.

Like I said in my original post that people will not believe me including you in your saying. There is a fix to my problems. I need to take legal action against SARS but would require information in the system they have and the refuse to provide me. This is a paradox.
For my career (frivolous IT88 processes against my employers), health(SARS illogic and unaccountability and my time wasted chasing them) and finances (Tax and penalties due to SARS mistakes) I need to leave. The outside stuff adding to the normal reasons for people emigrating also has a part to play so I would not go as far as saying SARS is the only contributor.

As for paing zero tax, sure get a job for R5000 a month and you won't pay tax, but then again every time you fill up with petrol, when you are grocery shopping and etc you will be paying tax. If you don't want to pay tax legally then move to the UAE, you will love the 0% income tax, just not sure if you'll like everything else. The grass is always greener on the other side!

I have been to UAE and Russia where I assume you are originally from judging by your surname. Makes me wonder why you are in SA and not your home country. Pot calling the kettle black?Only joking.

I am taking 1st world English speaking country here. I am planning to work in another country and. move over but to get nationality would take a few years and I would still be a SA citizen and was requesting how to not pay tax on my income earned from savings I transfer to that country while waiting for citizenship. If I invest in property then despite it being my only property I assume CGT would be applicable.

then get a professional to help you

If you know a trustworthy specialist who has experience (not just in theory) of workers not working in SA but having SA nationality then please refer me to one if you know one.

[Dave A]

I can't help you on the zero tax question, but I could empathise with this:

They refuse to deny or accept mistakes they have made.

...

SSMO are SARS staff and I get no luck in them even looking into the matter.

Been there - worn the t-shirt. In the fight I had, my auditors got nowhere and I got nowhere. After a three year fight, in the end I just paid up and moved on.

There might be light at the end of the tunnel with the new Tax Adminstration Act when it comes to getting disputed matters resolved. But the same Act also gives SARS awesome powers...

[Nickolai Naydenov]

I'm actually Bulgarian and I came here with my parents, didn't have much of a choice as a child when they decided to move here and I love SA, I have practically spent more of my conscience life here then in Bulgaria.

I've got two people in mind that I believe can help you, one has a company and the other is a private person, let me know if you would like me to PM you their details

[wtd]

Tax ombudsman is not active yet.

So no one on the forum can provide me with public info on how to avoid tax if you are not residing in SA?

[Dave A]

The general principle is non-residents are taxed where you're making your money - but it's nowhere near as simple as that when you get into the detail. For example there was a piece of news not that long ago that countries in Europe are not getting any taxes from Amazon's sales into Europe and the UK - they're being taxed in the USA.

[Taxforum]

If it is a pension or provident fund you have to resign from your work, if it is RA you can't touch the money up until you are 55 at least or if you have or if you have less than R7000, but from what I understand you didn'd do any of these that's why I said I'm keen to know.

On formal emigration wtd will be allowed to cash in his RA - no need to wait for 55, this law changed in 2008! He can cash in RA.

wtd's problem remains to be an issue- see the blog

The R4m is not the absolute maximum, the amount can be increased to R4m plus value of title deed and for the expansion of the current SA business to foreign country there is R500million (yes you read correctly) available and the current company changes in the a local hold co only with no or little tax.