A made-up story With all kinds of information regarding expatriate tax going around, seafarers and yachties (referred to jointly as seafarers hence forth) have been the ones who have been on the receiving end of the most confusing and contradicting guidance.
Many South Africans had to scramble to set up a home office when the country went into lockdown at the end of March in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19. When the lockdown was extended by another two weeks, employees started asking questions about the expenses they have been incurring while working from home.
As more South Africans work from home during the coronavirus pandemic, the question arises of whether they qualify for tax deductions.
Following announcement of the actions taken by government to combat the COVID-19 crisis, many South Africans may be aware of the proposed tax measures that are effective from 1 April 2020.
Following the publication on 29 March 2020 of the explanatory notes on the proposed COVID-19 tax relief, National Treasury expanded the relief with publication of the draft bills.
Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of fiscal relief for certain taxpayers, in light of other measures imposed to combat the COVID-19 crisis, National Treasury published explanatory notes on 29 March 2020, which outline exactly how the tax system will be used to ease financial distress during these times.
South Africa Bleeding Skills Not surprisingly, there has been an outflow of South Africans in recent years for various reasons, a top reason being the punitive “expat tax” regime promulgated in December 2017, and effective 1 March 2020.
In December 2017, the change to the foreign employment income exemption was promulgated into law. This has widely become known as the “expat tax”. The exemption at that point was capped at R1mil, meaning that South African tax residents earning foreign employment income above this threshold would no longer be exempt from tax in South […]