Foreign Currency
Whenever you leave your native country, you need foreign currency!
That’s a given – so in South Africa as tax paying citizen you understand and know that you can’t take any more than what the South African Receiver Of Revenue (SARS) has deemed is acceptable ;-(
This amount is called the “Travel Allowance“.
Well, I figured that applied to every year that one is out of the country – WRONG!!!!
I filled in all the paperwork to do a bank transfer - surprisingly cheaper than using a travel agent! I did the paperwork on the Tuesday knowing well that it would take a couple days before the funds appeared in my Australian bank account.
So that Sunday after the flight back to Brisbane, Australia – I checked my ANZ bank account.
Nothing – no funds had been transfered!!!
The moment you go on a “working holiday“, the “yearly” part of the travel allowance falls away. This the useless crowd at First National Bank (FNB) didn’t bother to tell me on the Tuesday I filled in all the paperwork.
Hell, they couldn’t even make a decent photocopy of the plane ticket. Another derailment is that the plane ticket must have been purchased in South Africa!
The travel allowance falls away the moment you earn an income outside South Africa!
Hello, the Rand doesn’t go very far. Are you expected to take a year, two or three’s worth of currency with you the moment you leave? Is anyone that liquid? Hell no!
I wonder if any of the politicians who dreamt up this legal mumbo jumbo actually used their own money overseas? Oh I forgot – they let tax payers pay for their trip!
It took a couple emails before I got a response from FNB – if you contact them from your online banking account they take a hell of lot longer than the 24hr response time that they advertise on the web site to get back to you – think days!
So if you’re going to be outside the country for an extended period time you need to do the following:
Firstly, make sure your last income tax return has an assets and liability statement attached to it. This will allow you get a “tax clearance certificate“.
Make sure your tax is up to date – don’t have tax returns consistently behind through intentional extensions granted via the SARS. My accountant convinced me that it works better and it does – virtually every year I got money back – so at least that works!
Don’t ask me how – that’s why I paid an accountant!
Now when you go on a “working holiday” – you are screwed because your tax return is delayed – and with that all hope of taking your travel allowance moving into second year!
Secondly, go to the SARB site and download the MP1423 form – “Foreign Investment by Private Individual Resident in South Africa“.
Well this the form that FNB said I should fill in – I don’t agree with the investment because it is not real investment - nothing physical! I wanted the extra cash to pay for a skills course which is like “investing my future”?
And besides – technically I’m not resident in South Africa! Well the ATO says I’m an Australian resident – and I must agree with them ;-(
And finally, FNB sent me a “Declaration of South African Residents Temporarily Abroad” form to sign.
All this moving into the second year – do you understand why I’m a little pissed off with the so called “Travel Allowance“?
