Deceased Estates

Deceased estates and taxes are additional troubles to deal with over and above losing a
loved one. It’s more of a burden when living abroad – making the grieving process much
more taxing. We’re here to tell you what you need to know regarding deceased estates and
taxes while living abroad.

Being classified as an emigrant after having financially emigrated and then having to access
the deceased’s estate is quite the process when doing it alone. You will need to provide
proof of emigration from South Africa. This documentation will have been received when
filing for emigration with SARS.

Don’t fret if your papers have been lost in the move though. A request may be lodged with
SARS to retrieve the necessary documentation. Once these details are received, you will
then be able to transfer your inheritance funds abroad.

In the case that you are only abroad temporarily, you will still be classified a citizen of South
Africa and are subject to the same laws and financial regulations as people living within the
country.

In the event that you still have access to your South African green barcoded or new smart
card ID, you can transfer R1 million using your annual allowance, and an additional R10
million with a tax clearance certificate from the SARS. This is something to keep in mind
when transferring funds from deceased estates – over and above the tax implications.

There may be special cases of emigration that SARS will be able to assist with. In these
cases, you can go through a belated emigration process. This involves backdating your
emigration with SARS to reflect when you left South Africa. During the belated emigration
process, your financial assets in South Africa will be assessed.

In South Africa, there is no tax payable or due on money received from an inheritance. You
also will not be subject to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on your inheritance. All relevant taxes
would have to be paid by the estate of the deceased person as estate duty. After this has
been settled, there is no longer any tax due on your inheritance. Inheritance payments can
often be an overly complex and lengthy process – let our expert team support you.

The RandTangle team will ease you through this process and deal with the finer details so
that you don’t have to. For complete assistance with claiming and transferring your
inheritance and for any other questions you might have – contact us for a no obligation
quotation or information – https://randtangle.com/contact-us/

Take one minute and think about your own friends and family. You’ll find that most people have at least one family member residing overseas. In our experience, a family with four children will have at least one sibling offshore – learning, living, or working in a different country. 

An element of Estate Planning that is often overlooked in this dispersed society is the payment of beneficiaries who are offshore. Should a parent die and leave a monetary inheritance to their children who are living overseas, what must an executor do to pay those beneficiaries of the Estate? In general, they will approach the deceased’s bank and ask for the forms to complete. The bank will supply a thick stack of paperwork which addresses all the possible requirements to make an overseas payment – and the long game of back and forth begins.

While one may expect a full-service Estate Administrator to have this experience in-house, the fact is there are very few specialists in offshore beneficiary payments. International monetary policy in South Africa is complicated and frequently being influenced by new rules and guidelines from the South African Reserve Bank. In response to the need for Estate Executors to manage this process effectively and efficiently – RandTangle was formed. We partner with Estate Administrators to ensure their client’s offshore beneficiaries are paid timeously and with reduced fees – delivering better value to the heirs.

With a background in running a registered Financial Services Provider in Foreign Exchange, South African Attorney, Ras Theron, was the perfect man to launch RandTangle. His team has learnt to start at the end – to learn who the beneficiary is and what their standing is with the South African Financial System. The stack of paperwork required is significantly reduced and funds can be dispersed far quicker. It’s the team’s knowledge of how the complex and often tedious offshore payments systems and Exchange Control policies of the Reserve Bank work, which enables them to deliver value from the get-go.

While banking clients often prefer to use their own bank for international money transfers, the RandTangle team are able to use their network of Foreign Exchange Financial Services Providers to achieve better exchange rates than the banks will offer beneficiaries and this ensures that we save our clients’ money.

RandTangle is managed by Frederik “FG” Fouche – he and the rest of the team would be happy to discuss any questions or concerns you may have. RandTangle is based in Plettenberg Bay and is a proud long-standing partner of Appleton Fiduciary Services. Please feel free to connect on 0871355978; +27445330988; Email support@randtangle.aotechnology.co.za or visit www.randtangle.com. Let’s work together and ensure that your beneficiaries receive their true inheritance.

The basics of foreign exchange explained

Before answering the question above, let us first understand why the forex market exist. Whether you know it or not, we are all part of the reason why the foreign exchange market exists. The foreign exchange market is where currencies are traded. Currencies are important to most people around the world, whether they realize it or not, because currencies need to be exchanged for you to be able to, fill your car with gas, make a ham and cheese sandwich, or invest in Tesla, to use three simple examples.

If you are living in South Africa and want to buy cheese from France because your parents in-laws are visiting and you want “spread to impress”, either you, or the company that you buy the cheese from, has to pay the French for the cheese in euros (EUR). Boom! You just did your part contributing to the existence of the forex market.

The forex market is open 24 hours a day, five and a half days a week. Currencies are traded worldwide in the major financial centres of London, New York, Tokyo etc. This means that when the trading day in South Africa ends, the forex market begins in Australia. As such, the forex market can be extremely active any time of the day, with price quotes changing constantly.

And here enters the biggest problem for individuals converting in the forex market. THE QUOTES CHANGING CONSTANTLY. Why does the quotes change constantly? Because of the interbank market. The interbank market is made up of banks trading with each other around the world. The banks themselves must determine and accept risks and they have established internal processes to keep themselves as safe as possible and to make money doing it.

The banks make their money on forex by adding service fees or admin costs when converting currencies. For example, Bank A in South Africa speaks to bank B the USA. Bank A contacts Bank B and confirm that they want to convert Rands to Dollars at the interbank rate. Bank A gives the client in South Africa the interbank rate and adds +-5% for admin fees. The client in South Africa converts his Rands to Dollars and pay +-5% of the value he is converting towards admin and service fees. Banks make use of the lack of information and the constantly changing quotes to take a bigger % of the value that is being converted. That is how they make their money.

Forex and winding up of estates.

During a diseased estate where the beneficiary is offshore, they are exposed to the above-mentioned admin and service fees. Let us use an example.

Person X from South Africa dies and leaves an inheritance to his beneficiary living offshore. His beneficiary is living in Australia and needs the inheritance to be converted to Aussie dollars. Should he follow the above-mentioned route, converting his inheritance through the banks, he would pay 5% of his inheritance for admin and servicing costs. If his inheritance were R1million, he would pay R50,000 to convert it from Rands to Aussie Dollars. To avoid paying the 5% servicing or admin costs, there are a few intermediaries that can convert the inheritance for far less. Anything from 0.7% to 1.5% depending on the volume. Do not be fooled, banks have lots of money for a reason.