THE NEW PROCESS IS ANYTHING BUT ‘SIMPLE’

In fact, it’s a complete pain in the backside!

- STEVEN JONES

WHEN FORMER Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced in his February 2021 Budget speech that the emigration process and its attendant compliance procedures was to be simplified with effect from 1 March 2021, I was delirious with delight!

I didn't stand to benefit from the change in the emigration process itself, unfortunately, as mine had already been completed in 2018. Under the old rules, I had to make a number of declarations to the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) concerning my financial situation, providing extensive details of the amounts that I was seeking to transfer to my new home in the UK, as well as the source of such funds.

While my entire asset base in South Africa consisted of a paid-up retirement annuity and my member’s interest in what is a significantly downscaled accounting and tax practice, the application process was sufficiently complex to warrant my bank charging me R6 000 to dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s on what became an impressive volume of documents.

To be fair, the SARB didn’t quite ask me for a stool sample, but I wouldn’t have been too surprised if such a request had in fact materialised. In fact, I was so fed up with the whole thing by the time the process was concluded, I would have probably obliged!

However, my woes were not over.

Here in the UK, if I want to transfer any funds from my local bank account to South Africa, I log onto my internet banking portal, click ‘International Funds Transfer’, bung in the relevant banking

details and amount that I wish to transfer (with the option to select GBP or ZAR), click 'Submit', and hey presto! Within 24 hours the funds are in my South African beneficiary's account, and my local bank charges me a whopping £7.50 to process the transaction.