MrsMupersan Posted September 13, 2011 Report Share Posted September 13, 2011 (edited) I'm hoping that some financial guru could help me - or even someone who has had the same problems.I received notice that I have inherited some money from my gran's estate (a very nice surprise as I wasn't expecting anything). I have been here on a 457 since Feb 2008 and no longer have a bank account in SA. The executor has made out a check to me in Rands which was sent to my mother in Cape Town. How do I get this money into my bank account here in Aus?Any help would be greatly appreciated! Edited September 13, 2011 by Mrs Mupersan in Canberra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMupersan Posted September 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2011 Okay, so have got a bit more info to answer my own question. I'll post here for anyone else who finds themselves in the same boat.I have contacted Commonwealth Bank and they have confirmed that they will deposit the cheque into my account. It will take approx 28 days to clear and they will charge me 1% or max $8 conversion fee.I also contacted Suncorp Bank where I have a savings account. They do not accept cheques in South African Rands unless it is a VAT cheque. (Don't ask me why!)I'm also looking at the option of depositing the funds into my RA until I can take out the whole lump sum when I formally immigrate. However I need to find out about fees applicable on withdrawal - I don't want to have to pay extra fees on this money if I don't have to.I'll keep you updated on any further info I get. It's looking like just getting it posted to me and depositing into my Commbank account will be the easiest. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
21yearsoutofrsa Posted September 14, 2011 Report Share Posted September 14, 2011 Be careful about Commonwealth, not because I think they are bad, but because they may not be aware of the exchange control restrictions in RSA, and may have quoted you on a generic deposit of a foreign currency amout. The RSA reserve bank should reverse the deposit (else what is to stop people just making out cheques and depositing them offshore) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDJoburg Posted September 14, 2011 Report Share Posted September 14, 2011 I'm hoping that some financial guru could help me - or even someone who has had the same problems.I received notice that I have inherited some money from my gran's estate (a very nice surprise as I wasn't expecting anything). I have been here on a 457 since Feb 2008 and no longer have a bank account in SA. The executor has made out a check to me in Rands which was sent to my mother in Cape Town. How do I get this money into my bank account here in Aus?Any help would be greatly appreciated!This might be a little tricky. This is what the SARB excon manual says on the topic:Cash bequests and the cash proceeds of legacies and distributions from such estates due to beneficiaries permanently resident outside the Common Monetary Area, including emigrants, may be remitted abroad, provided that the Liquidation and Distribution Account bearing a Master of the High Court Reference Number has been viewed. In cases where the total assets of the resident estate is less than R125 000, cash bequests and the cash proceeds of legacies due to non-resident legatees, including emigrants, may be remitted abroad, provided that the Last Will and Testament and Letter of Executorship/Authority have been viewed.Where the beneficiary is an emigrant, it would be incumbent upon Authorised Dealers to ensure that the emigrant has been formally redesignated as a non-resident, before effecting transfers in terms of the aforegoing. Where no such record can be established, the matter must be referred to the Financial Surveillance Department.You would probably need to have an SA bank account to be able to bank the cheque. Perhaps your mother should speak to her bank to find out if and how they can do this. Secondly, as you can see from the above, it seems likely that there could be exchange control issues if the bank cannot confirm that you have been "formally redesignated as a non-resident" (i.e. that you have formally emigrated, which you clearly did not). If you have not formally emigrated and cannot do so right now, I would assume that you would be required to take the money out of the country using the usual foreign investment and discretionary allowances afforded to SA residents. This second option could also be problematic, seeing that you are not a SA resident anymore (regardless of not having followed the "formal" emigration process). Best would be for your mother to discuss this with her bank's forex department, who should be able to tell her how these situations are dealt with in practice.Unfortunately though, it seems quite likely that you are not going to have the money in Australia within the next couple of days! But hopefully it is simply a matter of cutting through some red tape before the money can be remitted, even if I couldn't say how long this might take. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMupersan Posted September 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2011 Hrm.... and I was getting all excited there for a while. 15yrs out - that does make sense. I was wondering how it could be that easy. JDJoburg - all that legal/financial speak hurts my head - understanding legislation isn't my strong suite! I've already established that I can't put the funds in my mom's bank account - the cheque is made out to me and is non-transferable. I also sent an email off to Cashkows this morning, so am looking forward to what their reply is going to be. I'll keep everyone posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDJoburg Posted September 14, 2011 Report Share Posted September 14, 2011 Hrm.... and I was getting all excited there for a while. 15yrs out - that does make sense. I was wondering how it could be that easy. JDJoburg - all that legal/financial speak hurts my head - understanding legislation isn't my strong suite! I've already established that I can't put the funds in my mom's bank account - the cheque is made out to me and is non-transferable. I also sent an email off to Cashkows this morning, so am looking forward to what their reply is going to be. I'll keep everyone posted.Sorry to hurt your head, that was just an extract from SARB's forex guide, which is written in fairly "plain" language. Legislation will induce a potentially fatal migraine, so I won't do that to you!By the way, I did not mean to suggest that the cheque could be deposited into your mom's account, I just thought that your mom could perhaps ask her bank's forex dept to assist in getting the funds to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMupersan Posted September 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2011 Thanks JDJoburg. LOL! Thanks for sparing me the migraine. I'll ask my mom to speak to her bank and see if they can organise anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 Sharing my experiences of receiving parents' inheritance, having been gone from RSA more than ten years.When my widowed mom passed away an inheritance of about R1m was assigned to me in the will. The estate was handled by local SA attorney.How I left RSA about 2001:had by then obtained PR for Australia, which took >2 years did not formally emigrate. May have signed forms about leaving temporarily to work overseas (so as to be able to ship furniture?) did pay up all SARS taxes and lodge a return at the end of the tax year - arranged payment with help of parents still alive then. I believe my accountants may have lodged nil returns for the following two years or so. Having parents still around was obviously a big help for handling all those details had made use of "overseas investment" which had a limit of R750k in those daysOn occasional return visits, I had made enquiries about how to handle eventual emigration but found it too hard to get the full story and so just left it as an issue to be sorted out eventually. This worked out well enough in the event, basically taking one thing at a time and following the attorney's advice. Maybe could have saved a few weeks of elapsed time to receive the funds if sorting it out in advance. Anyway, here is a summary of the process.JDJoburg showed the relevant excerpts in an earlier post. I read threads on this site, and SARB pages etc to get some background. Also googling MP336b) etc. But the basic issues as I understand it were as follows:If you did formally emigrate, be prepared to provide your reference number and the bank that processed your emigration. I hadn't done so, so I had to go through a "belated emigration" process. For this, the attorney handed me over to Standard Bank forex department who are familiar with these processes. They are quite efficient but one must expect things to take a few weeks. They (Std Bank) also have to send some papers off to SARB (or somewhere) and await their response (4-6 weeks). Std Bank charge (about R1200?) for this service. My attorneys were being paid anyway by administering the deceased estate. The attorneys also supply relevant documents to Std Bank showing the Liquidation & Distribution accounts which proves that this is an inheritance in the name of myself. They can't send funds overseas to a different person.There seems to be some sort of watershed about 5 years: have you been gone longer than that or not? I don't know for sure but it seemed that way.If you claim you have been gone for more than 5 years, they want you to prove this fact (that you really have gone from RSA permanently a long time ago?). I did so by supplying proof of Aus citizenship, Aus passports, and Aus income tax assessment from 2002. The bank had suggested the latter, that it could be an income tax assessment from "nearer the time of emigration", or in any case at least 5 years (or longer) ago. It does not suffice just to show that you have been granted PR permanent residence in Aus. If you have been gone less than 5 years, I don't know what applies but I suspect there may be more focus on whether you are up to date with taxes and other obligations, since these issues have not yet faded into the distant past. As quoted in the JDJoburg excerpt, the "Financial Surveillance Dept" may be involved (whatever that is).I declared that I had used the "investment overseas" allowance - actually there is a question on some form to that effect - but that didn't cause a problem probably because the total sums involved in my case were less than the limits for remitting inheritance overseas.Fortunately I never had RA's or pension so I had no assets at all after leaving, except for the eventual inheritance. Hope that helps those of you who may be in a similar situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heymanse Posted September 2, 2013 Report Share Posted September 2, 2013 The Financial Surveillance Department is the previously Exchange Control Department of the South African Reserve Bank. They changed the name of the Department about a year or two ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R0dney Posted September 3, 2013 Report Share Posted September 3, 2013 Hi AnyoneI am on the point of using this company to assist with my Financial Immigration and Retirement policy cash up . Can anyone offer any positive or negative feedback on them pleaseTksSouth African office Lynn Brider UPC Natal (Pty) Ltd PO Box 10672 Marine Parade 4056Lnbrider.upc@mweb.co.za Australia office Julian Haw Julian Haw Consultants Pty Ltd 5/19 Riverton Street Clayfield QLD 4011julian@julianhaw.com Tel +27 31 701 9603Fax +27 31 701 9602 Tel +61 450 813 799 www.julianhaw.com LinkedIn facebook South African office Lynn Brider UPC Natal (Pty) Ltd PO Box 10672 Marine Parade 4056Lnbrider.upc@mweb.co.za Australia office Julian Haw Julian Haw Consultants Pty Ltd 5/19 Riverton Street Clayfield QLD 4011julian@julianhaw.com Tel +27 31 701 9603Fax +27 31 701 9602 Tel +61 450 813 799 www.julianhaw.com LinkedIn facebook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HouseInOz Posted September 3, 2013 Report Share Posted September 3, 2013 Contact mariette@cashkows.com or have a look at www.cashkows.comCashkows will give you sound advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HouseInOz Posted September 3, 2013 Report Share Posted September 3, 2013 Hi AnyoneI am on the point of using this company to assist with my Financial Immigration and Retirement policy cash up . Can anyone offer any positive or negative feedback on them pleaseTksSouth African officeLynn BriderUPC Natal (Pty) LtdPO Box 10672Marine Parade 4056Lnbrider.upc@mweb.co.zaAustralia officeJulian HawJulian Haw Consultants Pty Ltd5/19 Riverton StreetClayfield QLD 4011julian@julianhaw.comTel +27 31 701 9603Fax +27 31 701 9602Tel +61 450 813 799www.julianhaw.com LinkedIn facebookSouth African officeLynn BriderUPC Natal (Pty) LtdPO Box 10672Marine Parade 4056Lnbrider.upc@mweb.co.zaAustralia officeJulian HawJulian Haw Consultants Pty Ltd5/19 Riverton StreetClayfield QLD 4011julian@julianhaw.comTel +27 31 701 9603Fax +27 31 701 9602Tel +61 450 813 799www.julianhaw.com LinkedIn facebookHi There,We used Cashkows after considering and researching all the major companies that provide this service. Cashkows' service turned out to be 100% the right choice that we made. Best of wishes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heymanse Posted September 3, 2013 Report Share Posted September 3, 2013 Hi AnyoneI am on the point of using this company to assist with my Financial Immigration and Retirement policy cash up . Can anyone offer any positive or negative feedback on them pleaseTksSouth African office Lynn Brider UPC Natal (Pty) Ltd PO Box 10672 Marine Parade 4056Lnbrider.upc@mweb.co.za Australia office Julian Haw Julian Haw Consultants Pty Ltd 5/19 Riverton Street Clayfield QLD 4011julian@julianhaw.com Tel +27 31 701 9603Fax +27 31 701 9602 Tel +61 450 813 799 www.julianhaw.com LinkedIn facebook South African office Lynn Brider UPC Natal (Pty) Ltd PO Box 10672 Marine Parade 4056Lnbrider.upc@mweb.co.za Australia office Julian Haw Julian Haw Consultants Pty Ltd 5/19 Riverton Street Clayfield QLD 4011julian@julianhaw.com Tel +27 31 701 9603Fax +27 31 701 9602 Tel +61 450 813 799 www.julianhaw.com LinkedIn facebookOr you can save yourself heaps of money and do it yourself? Just an option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevePorter Posted September 4, 2013 Report Share Posted September 4, 2013 (edited) Hi Saffers in OZ,I've read this thread with interest and it seems to have started with an inheritance isssue and moved along to the full financial emigration. Just to set the record straight, in many cases it isn't necessary to complete the financial emigration process to move an inheritance (and indeed the proceeds of most other assets) out of South Africa, although the route available will require you to hold the latest SA ID document which contains a bar code. At cashkows.com we do "pinch" business from other providers and I wish Rodney well in undertaking the process with the company he mentions.For any other Saffers who require guidance or assitance with navigatuing exchange control and moving money from South Africa to Australia, or anywhere else in the world, we will be pleased to help. TotsiensSteve Edited September 4, 2013 by Steve Porter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMupersan Posted September 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2013 Gosh, this is an old post of mine! We organised for the inheritance cheque to be made out in my mom's name and transferred it that way. Maybe not the perfect way to do it, but it worked. But I still had an RA to get out...We ended up waiting for PR and then engaged Cashkows to sort out all the formal immigration stuff with the Reserve Bank, SARS and whoever else they needed to contact. They were absolutely outstanding! I honestly cannot recommend them highly enough. Their service was top notch and they were always available to answer my questions and explain what certain forms were for. There may be other 'cheaper' services out there, but I was only too happy to pay a little more for an absolute premium service.Haymanse, not all of us are financially savvy. And certainly there is no ways I would try getting all that documentation sorted out in South AFrica from Australia. Not worth the stress or hassle. Cashkows knows exactly what they're doing. They told us exactly what documentation we'd need to supply, what forms to sign & where. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAC Posted September 7, 2017 Report Share Posted September 7, 2017 @Ned I know it's been a while now, but your information regarding the inheritance process is greatly appreciated. Apart from the Reserve Bank, and Blocked Account Banking side of things, I know that no Tax is due to the beneficiary of an Inheritance, but I was wondering whether you had to declare the receipt of the inheritance on your SA Income Tax return? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMupersan Posted September 20, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2017 Hi DAC By the time I financially emmigrated, I had been out of the country for about 4 or 5 years. I was no longer lodging a tax return in SA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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