Transferring Rands to Aus from Aus

[KSV2]

Hi all,

We had difficulties opening up our Aus bank accounts from SA so we waited until we arrived here (Melbourne) to open the accounts properly. Now that is all sorted we want to transfer our SA funds to our new Aus accounts.

Which is the best way to do this?

We are on Temp visas (5 year) so we have not 'officially immigrated' with our SA banks or SARS. My husband is with FNB and I am with Standard.

Any help would be appreciated!

[monsta]

Hi all,

Which is the best way to do this?

We are on Temp visas (5 year) so we have not 'officially immigrated' with our SA banks or SARS. My husband is with FNB and I am with Standard.

Any help would be appreciated!

From what I understand there is no "good" way. I hear that SARS is becoming more lenient. But there are a lot of Apartheid era laws that make it very difficult to transfer money out of RSA.

I know several people who have gone to their bank in RSA with an airplane ticket and said the money transfer was to pay for a holiday. That works well.

The issue is the laws are not very clear. So it depends on which teller you visit at the bank. He might be on your side or he might want to cover his behind. From what Standard bank's foreign transfers department has said, is its up to the person who accepts the transaction to decide if its legal. They don't have a "policy". In fact when I went into the bank, they e-mailed the teller the relevant lines in the legislation and told him to "interpret as he saw fit".

Your saving grace is that your husband is with FNB. They will transfer money out of RSA a lot easier than standard bank will. But I am not sure if you have to visit them in person to activate it. Once its set up, you can even do international payments with internet banking.

You could also look into pay pal. you can transfer money out of RSA that way. You have a pay pal account linked to your FNB account and a separate pay pal account linked to your Aussie bank account. But you would have to check the fees. You pay to transfer it to a paypal account and to withdraw it. Again, FNB are the only bank who support pay pal in RSA. The challenge is pay pal doesn't support South African Rands. So FNB will convert your money to american dollars before they pay it into pay pal. So you will have to check the conversion rate with FNB.

Another option is to call Cash Kows. Several people here have said good things about them.They are apparently experts at getting money out of RSA. http://www.cashkows.com/

Edited September 15, 2014 by monsta

[Jordy]

Exceptionally easy. I did it recently.

1. Contact one of the following: Cashkows, Forex, Exchange4Free.
2. Get quotes,
3. they send you paperwork via email
4. You email the paperwork back and you then have to register post it as well
5. You transfer the money to them
6. they put it in your Aus bank account.

Easy peasy.

[RichtB]

Agree with Jordy. We used Exchange4Free. Far cheaper and more effective than a bank. As easy as falling of a log!

[BronPreston]

Hi KSV2,

We can help you to open a bank account in Australia from South Africa within a few hours.

Our company Exchange4free specialises in helping private individuals move money out of South Africa at guaranteed best rates and lowest costs.

As an adult, you have the following allowances ‘per calendar year’ available to you to move money out of the country:

- R1M Discretionary Allowance: This allowance is made up of a number of sub-categories including foreign investment, travel, maintenance, gifts, study .etc. up to a total of R1M per year. You do not require a tax clearance from SARS to utilise this allowance.

- R4M Foreign Investment Allowance: To utilise this allowance you need to apply for a ‘Tax Clearance Certificate for Foreign Investment’ purposes through SARS. We can assist clients with this certificate and we do not charge our clients any fees for this service.

In effect, an adult can move up to R5M per calendar year out of South Africa and each allowance is supported by specific paperwork that needs to be signed.

We have a simple and user friendly Online Application Form for clients to use that pre-completes all the paperwork for you for your signature only.

You can complete the online application form at https://exchange4free.co.za/online-forms.html and choose your applicable allowance depending on the amount you are looking to send out of South Africa.

It is important to note that you remain a Resident of SA for exchange control purposes until you go through and complete the ‘Formal Emigration Process’ so all allowances and relevant limits apply to you until you formally emigrate and become a ‘Non-Resident’ for exchange control purposes.

It is normally only necessary to formally emigrate if you have Retirement Annuities tied up in South Africa.

Thanks and please let me know if you need anything further.

[KSV2]

Thanks so much everyone, the advice has been great.

[Bronwyn&Co]

If it's under your R1mill per person annual limit, your normal bank should have no problem transferring it for you. You will need your Aus bank's Swift code. Just ask them what it is.

Tell your SA bank you are only temporarily in Aus.

You should have the money in about 10 days.

[Hugo2]

If it's under your R1mill per person annual limit, your normal bank should have no problem transferring it for you. You will need your Aus bank's Swift code. Just ask them what it is.

Tell your SA bank you are only temporarily in Aus.

You should have the money in about 10 days.

R1 mil Discretionary allowance – this allowance was previously commonly referred to as a travel allowance however now can be used for foreign investment as well without having to obtain tax clearance. The only pre-requisite is having an active tax number and you have to be resident in South Africa in the calendar year of use. Please Bronwyn, do not advocate the SDA R1m for people living abroad, it is no longer legal

From what I understand there is no "good" way. I hear that SARS is becoming more lenient. But there are a lot of Apartheid era laws that make it very difficult to transfer money out of RSA.

Hugo replied: Monsta, yes well it depends what you refer to as Apartheid Era. Exchange control dates from PRE-APARTHEID days!! There are some 19+ countries applying Exchange Control. Our Excon was inherited from a UK banking system. Reading about Excon you will see, even in our laws, reference to the Sterling Area. This was an area or group block having introduced Excon rules when the UK (thus pound sterling) left the gold standard. This was somewhere between 1930 and 1931. The first Apartheid's Act is often referred to as the 1936 acts dealing with land. So although our Excon acts date to 1939, we were subject to Excon since 1930 when the sterling area (as we were then using sterling) left the gold standard. Do note Nigeria and Mauritius also apply Excon rules, albeit somewhat different, but they need to be considered!

Edited September 15, 2014 by Hugo2

[Hugo2]

From what I understand there is no "good" way. I hear that SARS is becoming more lenient. But there are a lot of Apartheid era laws that make it very difficult to transfer money out of RSA.

I know several people who have gone to their bank in RSA with an airplane ticket and said the money transfer was to pay for a holiday. That works well.

The issue is the laws are not very clear. So it depends on which teller you visit at the bank. He might be on your side or he might want to cover his behind. From what Standard bank's foreign transfers department has said, is its up to the person who accepts the transaction to decide if its legal. They don't have a "policy". In fact when I went into the bank, they e-mailed the teller the relevant lines in the legislation and told him to "interpret as he saw fit".

Your saving grace is that your husband is with FNB. They will transfer money out of RSA a lot easier than standard bank will. But I am not sure if you have to visit them in person to activate it. Once its set up, you can even do international payments with internet banking.

You could also look into pay pal. you can transfer money out of RSA that way. You have a pay pal account linked to your FNB account and a separate pay pal account linked to your Aussie bank account. But you would have to check the fees. You pay to transfer it to a paypal account and to withdraw it. Again, FNB are the only bank who support pay pal in RSA. The challenge is pay pal doesn't support South African Rands. So FNB will convert your money to american dollars before they pay it into pay pal. So you will have to check the conversion rate with FNB.

Another option is to call Cash Kows. Several people here have said good things about them.They are apparently experts at getting money out of RSA. http://www.cashkows.com/

Good day to all

PayPal is reporting these transactions to SARB.

FNB clients are now facing penalties and the official FNB reply suggest YOU are negligent as you did not inform them of the move

Do not use credit cards either

Do call Tanya at Fxcapital. She has been in the industry longest of all the service providers. You can't go wrong and her long standing track record clearly indicates her good standing with SARB!

[Bronwyn&Co]

R1 mil Discretionary allowance this allowance was previously commonly referred to as a travel allowance however now can be used for foreign investment as well without having to obtain tax clearance. The only pre-requisite is having an active tax number and you have to be resident in South Africa in the calendar year of use. Please Bronwyn, do not advocate the SDA R1m for people living abroad, it is no longer legal

Hi Hugo I'm sorry but your reply is confusing. You say it is illegal but you also list 'however can now be used for foreign investment as well without having to apply for tax clearance'

So which one is it? If I'm confused after 8 years and as many changes, I can only imagine how confused a newbie is

Also, I would not advise someone to do something illegal. I recommended they contact their bank (who are probably in a good position to advise).

Thanks, Bronwyn

Edited September 15, 2014 by Bronwyn&Co

[chzaau]

It quite clear his answer. If you living abroad you may not use the 1 million allowance. You are also not allowed to use any South African bank instruments. So once you depart SA to take up residence in Oz those options are not avaliable to you.

[Bronwyn&Co]

It quite clear his answer. If you living abroad you may not use the 1 million allowance. You are also not allowed to use any South African bank instruments. So once you depart SA to take up residence in Oz those options are not avaliable to you.

Are you sure Chzaau? The op states that they are on a temporary visa. What is their definition of resident? Ordinarily resident? Resident for x number of weeks a year?

Edited September 15, 2014 by Bronwyn&Co

[chzaau]

Tax resident definition, not visa resident definition. The base test boils down, are they in South Africa for more then 183 days a year or not ?

Correction to my above 91 days. http://www.sars.gov.za/ClientSegments/Individuals/Tax-Stages/Pages/Tax-and-Non-Residents.aspx

There is also some very important information in this link about capital gains tax. So if you have a house that you sell after you leave, there a chance you may be hit with that as well. That house no longer furfills the primary residence test.

Edited September 15, 2014 by chzaau