RSA Supreme Court Ruling on South African Citizenship retention

[TeeTMI]

Just adding a link to a recent Supreme Court Ruling

 

A case at the Supreme Court http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZASCA/2023/97.html  relating to the provision that in South Africa that a person who does not first obtain the Minister of Home Affairs’ permission to retain their citizenship, would automatically lose their South African citizenship when they voluntarily and formally acquire citizenship or nationality of another country. 

The Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa declared that:

• s 6(1)(a) of the South African Citizenship Act 88 of 1995 is inconsistent with the Constitution and is invalid from its promulgation on 6 October 1995.
• that those citizens who lost their citizenship by operation of s 6(1)(a) of the South African Citizenship Act 88 of 1995 are deemed not to have lost their citizenship.

 

[DAC]

Hmmm ... Interesting reading, so unless I've misinterpreted some of the legal argument SA Citizenship has not been lost for those that took up a second Passport without first applying for Retention of SA Citizenship!

[ChrisH]

Does that mean we now need to actually renounce?  I was hoping I was done with dealing with incapable civil servants for life!

[RussellJ]

I read this the same way.

this kicked me further in to gear:

https://businesstech.co.za/news/finance/698487/sars-is-fining-expats-even-if-they-dont-owe-tax-heres-what-to-do/

In case anyone else needs:
https://www.sahc.org.au/citizenship/Renunciation.htm

Edited June 26, 2023 by RussellJ

[DAC]

@RussellJ, you may well be aware, but Citizenship and Tax Residency are different concepts, and are independent of each other - Renouncing SA Citizenship does not free one from any Tax obligations and does not make one a Non Resident for Tax. It may help demonstrate that you no longer permanently reside in SA from a Tax perspective but Tax Residency is based on the Ordinary Residence and Physical Presence Tests and this is independent of whether you are a Citizen or Not.

 

https://www.sars.gov.za/individuals/tax-during-all-life-stages-and-events/tax-and-non-residents/

Edited July 9, 2023 by DAC

[Nev]

Yes, but this is more aimed to ensure that the RSA government will not be able to come up with new tax obligations outside of tax residency,

 

They have been talking about charging a worldwide citizen tax (Like the USA does) you get charged tax regardless of where you consider yourself a tax resident, not there yet, but when they start getting desperate for money....

[RussellJ]

16 hours ago, DAC said:

@RussellJ, you may well be aware, but Citizenship and Tax Residency are different concepts, and are independent of each other - Renouncing SA Citizenship does not free one from any Tax obligations and does not make one a Non Resident for Tax. It may help demonstrate that you no longer permanently reside in SA from a Tax perspective but Tax Residency is based on the Ordinary Residence and Physical Presence Tests and this is independent of whether you are a Citizen or Not.

 

https://www.sars.gov.za/individuals/tax-during-all-life-stages-and-events/tax-and-non-residents/

Hi @DAC, Thanks for your comment. Well aware the two are independent.

My thought process was along the lines of exactly what @Nev has highlighted above.