Preparing your finances before you emigrate

You cannot cash in a retirement annuity just because you leave. Once you have been non-resident for tax for three years in a row, you can withdraw it. Until then it stays invested, and you can still make one withdrawal each tax year from your savings pot, which is taxed.

Usually, yes, because the people who depend on you still need it wherever you live. Many policies carry on when you move, but new cover can be hard or impossible to get once you have left. PPS cover, for example, can only be taken out while you are in South Africa, and then goes with you. Put the cover you need in place before you go.

Each adult can move up to R2 million a calendar year under the single discretionary allowance, and up to R10 million more a year under the foreign investment allowance, which needs a SARS tax compliance PIN. Larger amounts need Reserve Bank approval.

Not automatically. Tax residency depends on your circumstances, not your passport. If you do cease to be resident, SARS treats you as if you sold your worldwide assets on the day before your residence ends, and capital gains tax can apply. South African property and retirement funds are excluded from that deemed sale. It is worth planning the timing.

You can keep property here. If you rent it out, the rent is taxed in South Africa. If you sell it as a non-resident for more than R2 million, the buyer must hold back part of the price for SARS, 7.5% for an individual seller, unless SARS agrees a lower rate.

Often, yes. One covers your South African assets and one covers your assets abroad, written so that neither cancels the other. That way your family can deal with each country’s assets under its own law.