funds from SA back to UK

[ohsteveo]

Hi from a newbie...
I used this site to research our move to SA a few years ago and for many different reasons ( well mainly the work situation and the fact that unless you are very rich, you need to earn a certain amount each month) we are returning to the UK.
I don't really need a discussion about the benefits of SA/UK as that is well covered on the forums and as posters rightly point out, it is a personal and emotive subject.
What I do need is clear up to date info about bringing back a lump sum of around R1.5m which was used for our family home purchase. My wife is a SA citizen and I was there on a spousal visa. The property is in her name as the duty was much less as a natural person.
I know the Federal Bank relaxed the rules recently but the website is soooooo out of date!

Thanks in advance and I enjoy reading the structured debates here!
Steve

[Johanna]

Originally Posted by ohsteveo

Hi from a newbie...
I used this site to research our move to SA a few years ago and for many different reasons ( well mainly the work situation and the fact that unless you are very rich, you need to earn a certain amount each month) we are returning to the UK.
I don't really need a discussion about the benefits of SA/UK as that is well covered on the forums and as posters rightly point out, it is a personal and emotive subject.
What I do need is clear up to date info about bringing back a lump sum of around R1.5m which was used for our family home purchase. My wife is a SA citizen and I was there on a spousal visa. The property is in her name as the duty was much less as a natural person.
I know the Federal Bank relaxed the rules recently but the website is soooooo out of date!

Thanks in advance and I enjoy reading the structured debates here!
Steve

The best advice I can give you is to contact your bank in SA. They should know the new SARS rules, etc. The amount of money an individual can take out of SA has increased quite a bit, unfortunately I cannot give you the full details as I do not know it!!! SARS will take their bit too, if you still owe taxes in SA.

[ohsteveo]

Thanks,
My wife is visiting the bank today for advice....trouble is, it's a very rural bank and they probably don't get asked those type of questions too often!.....but I'm sure they can take advice and pass it on.
and tax offices are the same worldwide!!

Originally Posted by ohsteveo

Hi from a newbie...
I used this site to research our move to SA a few years ago and for many different reasons ( well mainly the work situation and the fact that unless you are very rich, you need to earn a certain amount each month) we are returning to the UK.
I don't really need a discussion about the benefits of SA/UK as that is well covered on the forums and as posters rightly point out, it is a personal and emotive subject.
What I do need is clear up to date info about bringing back a lump sum of around R1.5m which was used for our family home purchase. My wife is a SA citizen and I was there on a spousal visa. The property is in her name as the duty was much less as a natural person.
I know the Federal Bank relaxed the rules recently but the website is soooooo out of date!

Thanks in advance and I enjoy reading the structured debates here!
Steve

You can approach the banks, however, banks usually have a spread of 5% on the spot rate (the rate at which the Reserve Bank sells and buys foreign currency to and from banks). This means that the bank will in essence make 5% profit on transferring your money. Ontop of this the banks will charge a service fee of between R300-R800 per transaction.

If you like to receive the exact same service and receive a much better exchange rate and pay no service fees, you can also look into using the services of a forex company (a good forex company will be able to save you between 2.5%-4% on the transfer).

If you need some more information, do send me a message and I will gladly get back to you.

[ohsteveo]

Thanks for the reply,

I never use the bank to transfer nor do I use a UK bank to send rands. I already use a forex agent in the UK but before I start to arrange with my SA bank to pay rands into the agents account for transfer to GBP and then into my UK account I was advised to ask the SA bank about currency exchange rules.

I want to effectively take money out of SA each month in the form of rental monies received on a house I own in SA and have it transfered into GBP to my account using the SA bank to send rands to the trader.
Just wondered what, if any was the limit per annum ?

The limit is R4million per year. But there are additional provisions which would allow addtional amounts to be sent out of SA.

Before you can transfer the funds there will be some exchange control requirements that would need to be met, such as a tax clearance certificate for example.

I doubt that a bank would assist you if you do not transfer the funds through them. We have also seen that foreign based forex agents somtimes struggle a bit in advising clients here, as they are not fully aware of the regulations in South Africa.

[Stellen]

We've done the opposite - funds from UK to SA.

We've just bought a property in SA. We used a UK foreign exchange dealer and the funds arrived as specified. It was a few percentage points cheaper than using conventional banks to make transfers. The process was quick and simple.

[kaushikpanse]

Hi there, I was just researching on whats the best way of transferring money back to my home country from south africa and came across your post. I would like to take your advice on this.

Originally Posted by ohsteveo

Thanks for the reply,

I never use the bank to transfer nor do I use a UK bank to send rands. I already use a forex agent in the UK but before I start to arrange with my SA bank to pay rands into the agents account for transfer to GBP and then into my UK account I was advised to ask the SA bank about currency exchange rules.

I want to effectively take money out of SA each month in the form of rental monies received on a house I own in SA and have it transfered into GBP to my account using the SA bank to send rands to the trader.
Just wondered what, if any was the limit per annum ?