robinscott

Hi all, I am a British citizen living in Britain after living and working in South Africa for several years. While in SA I set up an Endowment policy with what is now Liberty Life, that policy is maturing next year and I would be grateful for any advice about transferring these funds to UK, tax liabilities etc. Many thanks.

hardylx

Hello Robin, left South Africa after 8 years there. It is time consuming and complicated transferring funds but I would suggest Janine Ludowick of Sentinel in Claremont who sorted out all my tax issues as well as recommending a British guy who transferred the funds (whose name escapes me) but she knows him. Hope this is helpful. If you do want to know his name let me know I can find it somewhere.

ededed

You're allowed to take R5m a year out of the country under current foreign exchange control legislation. It's a bit of a hack and under the new FICA rules you may very well need to show some up to date documents (including proof of address and identity) before you can do this. I have a horrible feeling they may want originals which will need to be couriered (or worse still, presented in person)

I have money in SA which I move out using RMB bank, but they need to receive original proof of identity documents every 12 months. It may even be a mission getting this transferred to a South African bank account if you don't have one yourself. My cousin's father died in SA 5 years ago and he is still unable to get the inheritance because he doesn't have a valid SA bank account.

So - My advice would be - if you can get this paid into an SA account, then speak to your bank and ask for a foreign exchange payment using either emailed or couriered instructions. It will be expensive, and you'll get shafted on the exchange rate, and it will take weeks - but you should be able to arrange it.

Good luck.

robinscott

Thanks very much for your reply. I will be using an SA advisor to tidy up that side. He has told me no tax is due there but HMRC may want a slice of it. Don't see why as this money was all earned in SA.

robinscott

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Thanks for your input, did you end up having to pay HMRC a ransom. I found a guy in SA called Sandor Donner who has been very helpful with info. He told me I have to formally emigrate SA which involves a small fee. Thanks for your time. Robin