I purchased an investment property in South Africa a number of years ago, while I was still working in South Africa. Every year, when submitting my personal tax return, I claimed the rental loss on the property as a deduction from my normal taxable income. The rental loss was calculated by subtracting the mortgage interest from my rental income. This used to result in me receiving a tax refund every year.

I have been working in the UK for the last 2 years, and therefore had no taxable income in South Africa for the last 2 years. I still have the investment property and continued to incur a net loss (rental income less mortgage interest), but I have not been able to claim this against anything due to not having taxable income in SA.

My question is, when I return to South Africa next year, will I be able to set off all the losses on this property for the past 2 or 3 years against my taxable income when I start working again in South Africa? In essence, if the losses are not used in a particular year, are they carried forward?