COME HOME NEWSLETTER

Number 47 - February 2008

 

Dear Readers

Herewith our first newsletter of 2008!

 

Once again, we start with the usual essential news:  This is the free newsletter of the Come Home Campaign of AfriForum for all South Africans intending to return to South Africa, in process of returning or just back home.  To subscribe or unsubscribe to the newsletter, send your comments or make a contribution, contact us at alana@afriforum.co.za.  Mark the email “COME HOME SUBSCRIBE”, “COME HOME UNSUBSCRIBE”, or with the topic of your choice.  The newsletter is a monthly email publication which is available in either Afrikaans or English.  New subscribers are always most welcome.  Also bear in mind that although we select our advertisers with care, we cannot guarantee or be held responsible for the quality of their services or products.  Advertisements are published free of charge.  Please also feel free to comment on their service delivery.

 

FINANCIAL NEWS FOR PEOPLE IN THE UK

Fanus Jonck sent us the following information:

RESIDENCE AND DOMICILE REVIEW
On Friday 18 January 2008 HMRC finally published draft legislation concerning changes to be made to the UK’s residence and domicile regime.  These changes which are effective from the 2008/09 tax year broadly followed our expectations and I set out below a summary.  It should be noted that the legislation not necessarily is the “final version”.  However it seems unlikely that there will be any substantive changes.

TAX RESIDENCE
From 6 April 2008 days of arrival and departure are now to be taken into account when determining whether a person is a UK tax resident.  The only exception is where a passenger is in transit (i.e. enters the UK but does not leave ‘airside’).  It should be noted that the non-statutory day counting test, whereby if an individual spends more than 91 days in the UK (with such average being taken over a period of 4 years) he will be considered to be a UK resident, remains and that, for the purposes of this test also, days of arrival and departure should be taken into account when calculating the number of days spent in the UK with effect from 6 April 2008.

REMITTANCE BASIS: NEW REGIME
Where an individual has been resident in the UK in at least 7 out of the 9 tax years immediately preceding the relevant tax year, they will be subject to UK tax on their worldwide income on an arising basis unless they pay a £30,000 annual charge and elect for the remittance basis of taxation to apply.   Under the draft legislation there is a £1,000 de minimis limit whereby non-UK domiciled individuals who receive less than £1,000 offshore income and capital gains in a tax year will automatically qualify for the remittance basis of taxation with no election having to be made (and no annual charge being paid).  Where an individual has been resident for less than 7 tax years they will be able to elect for the remittance basis of taxation to apply without paying the £30,000 annual charge.  It appears that it will be possible for individuals to elect in and out of the remittance basis (and therefore the annual charge) on a year-by-year basis, which may allow some scope for planning.  It should be noted that the personal allowance for income tax purposes and the annual exemption for capital gains tax will not be available if the remittance basis of taxation is claimed.  As feared, if an individual elects for the remittance basis of taxation and the annual charge of £30,000 is paid, the £30,000 will not be offset against any tax arising on remittance of funds to the UK.

CLOSURE OF LOOPHOLES

Various loopholes have also been closed down:

  • The ‘ceased source’ loophole, where an offshore bank deposit account was closed in one tax year and the accumulated interest remitted tax free in the next fiscal year, is no longer available.
  • The “remittance in kind” loophole has now been closed so that foreign income and foreign gains will be treated as remitted if the proceeds are remitted to the UK in any form.  Therefore if an individual brings property (e.g. a car or jewellery) into the UK that was purchased outside the UK with foreign income or gains this will now be treated as a taxable remittance.
  • Gifts and other alienation strategies have been attacked.  This means that an individual will no longer be able to make a gift to a close relative of offshore income or gains that they subsequently bring to the UK without this being considered to be a remittance.  Additionally it will no longer be possible to “wash-out” offshore unrealised gains by settling assets in to an offshore trust.
  • The new rules on remittances will also apply to offshore funds (i.e. those offshore funds that produce offshore income gains). This removes an anomaly whereby, in certain circumstances, such income was not taxed if remitted in the year that it arose.
  • The rules in relation to a non-UK domiciled individual who is a shareholder in an offshore company (that is effectively controlled by that individual and his associates) have changed.  From 6 April 2008 gains on UK situs assets realised by that company will be attributed to the shareholder (in proportion to his shareholding) and taxed on him in the UK tax year in which the gains are realised.  Where the company realises gains on non-UK situs assets those gains will only be taxable in the UK if the non-UK domiciled shareholder remits those to the UK.
  • Non-UK domiciled settlors of non-UK resident trusts will now be chargeable on the remittance basis in respect of gains accruing to the trustees (if they or their family members are beneficiaries).  This will mean that gains realised on non-UK situs assets will only be taxable on remittance to the UK but that gains on UK situs assets that are realised by the trustees will be taxable on the settlor in the UK tax year when they are realised.
  • Non-UK domiciled beneficiaries of non-resident trusts will now be subject to UK capital gains tax when they receive capital payments. The remittance basis will not apply to such payments.  This means that even if the non-UK domiciled beneficiary receives a capital payment of non-UK gains outside the UK and does not remit those funds to the UK they will still be chargeable to UK capital gains tax.  This therefore appears to put a beneficiary in a worse position than if they had owned the asset personally.  Additionally gains that have been realised in tax years prior to 6 April 2008 will be matched with distributions after 6 April 2008 to non-UK domiciled beneficiaries.  Therefore this element of the legislation appears to be retroactive in effect and harsher than anticipated.
  • A flaw which allowed income arising in one tax year to be remitted tax free in the following tax year by claiming the remittance basis in the first year but not the second, has been removed.

As can be seen from the details provided above the changes are far-reaching.  I therefore recommend that if you are impacted, or fear you might be impacted by these changes, you take advice as a matter of some urgency.  There appears to be a short window of opportunity between now and 5 April 2008 to restructure your affairs in a manner that will mitigate your tax exposure.  Please let me know if you would like to meet to discuss your position further.

Fanus Jonck - tax@jonck.net

 

WORK!

Fanie Coetzee who represents one of the major construction companies in South Africa, writes:

From February we will need:

  • Site Agents (building & civil sites);
  • Senior Concrete Foremen;
  • General Foremen (building & civil sites);
  • Quantity Surveyors;
  • Site Engineers (building & civil sites);
  • Foremen (earthworks).

The candidates must have at least 5 to 7 years experience.  We need senior people as there will be no time for training people.  They need experience in the construction of "high-rising" buildings like hotels, shopping centres, etc.  All CVs welcome.  Send it to Fanie Coetzee - fanie@oneworldhc.com.

MORE WORK

Alta writes:  We are a civil engineering company called "ITS Engineers" in Pretoria.  We urgently need a Senior Transport Engineer to manage our office in Rosebank, Johannesburg.  We also have a position for a draftsman with 5 years’ experience in transport.  GIS will be a bonus.  My contact details are 0027-83-4177453, or 0027-12-3491664, or alta@itse.co.za.

CONSIDERING A CAREER AS FINANCIAL ADVISOR?

Old Mutual Personal Financial Advice is looking for people to be trained as financial advisors.  The successful candidate will be:

  • A highly energetic person
  • 23 years or older
  • With Grade 12 or a higher qualification
  • Someone with their own transport, living in Pretoria or vicinity
  • Computer literate and able to work independently.

Remuneration = R6 000 + commission per month.  If you are interested, please send your CV to Jannie Heymans at jheymans@oldmutual.com.

 

EVEN MORE WORK AVAILABLE

Pieter Oosthuizen is urgently looking for:

  • A branch administrator, Benrose – distributor of security products; R7000 p/m;
  • A restaurant manager, Aucklandpark, R8000 – R10000;
  • Property consultants, Midrand, R8000 – R10000;
  • Social worker – half-day position – Krugersdorp;
  • and more.

Contact him at pieter@enable.co.za.

 

RELOCATION HELP

Contact the following agents for quotes to ship your goods back to South Africa:

 

HOME AVAILABLE

huis

Michelé writes:  Are you looking to return home or sending your staff member out on contract to the Roodepoort / Honeydew area in South Africa?  For a long or short-term let, we have a secure detached corner duplex, 3 decent-sized bedroom townhouse, with 2 full bathrooms, one en-suite to main bedroom with balcony.  Lounge with open-plan dining room, lovely fitted kitchen, private garden including garden service, with additional side entrance to back, double garage with entry into house and carport space for an addition 2 cars, alarm system, electric fencing around complex, remote control access at entrance to complex.  Only 3 years old.  Rental negotiable to the right tenant.  Contact:  John (c): +27 (082) 4352381 in SA or Michelé (w) +944 (01452) 886227 or (h) +944 (01242) 232433 in UK.

 

CORRESPONDENT WANTED

Beryl asks:  I am one of your Come Home Newsletter members, always find the Newsletter so interesting.  My reason for writing: I noticed under the heading Medical Schemes the November edition, a lady named Eva enquired about medical insurance rates in South Africa and Ronell Kruger of Solidariteit Gesondheidsorg replied.  Since it is possible that I will want to return to South Africa in due course, I would really like to be in touch with Eva or anyone similar to her and wonder if you could pass on my enquiry.  I am 66 years of age, so Eva and I might be in a similar situation as far as our intentions go and the type of situations we would have to face if we return.  It would be nice to be in touch with her or someone similar.  I am divorced and have lived in Canada for a number of years, but I am growing weary of having no family here.  I hope you can assist me.

If you are a senior remigrant returning to South Africa, or have just returned, and would like to correspond with Beryl, please send your email address to us at alana@afriforum.co.za.  We thank you in anticipation!

TEACHING IN SOUTH AFRICA

Danielle qualified abroad as teacher and would now like to return to SA to teach here.  Alison Papenfus of Placements in Education sent her the advice below.  If you have any questions in this regard, contact Alison at eap@tiscali.co.za.

Hello Danielle, and thank you for your note.  The first thing you will need to do is to contact the South African embassy nearest to you and take in all of your original certificates of qualification; and ask for SAQA (www.saqa.org.za) to evaluate your qualifications.  If they tell you to wait until you arrive that is fine - but you cannot begin the process of finding a job until it is done, so it may be worth waiting and having it done before returning.  While that is going on, you need to get a letter from all of the schools that you have worked for in Europe saying that your conduct was always professional and satisfactory.  Then you need a police clearance certificate for all the countries you worked in to say you were never convicted of a crime.  At the same time, get some testimonials from principals you have worked for saying exactly what you did at their schools and how well you can do it.  Once you have the SAQA evaluation, you have to apply for SACE (SA Council of Educators) registration.  This body ensures that teachers behave professionally and that unsuitable persons cannot be employed as teachers.  You can contact them via www.sace.co.za and you will have to submit the letters from previous employers and the police clearance certificate(s).  As soon as you have applied for SACE registration and have a response from them (usually a letter saying it will take 3 months to evaluate your application), then you can teach legally in South Africa.  Once you have the paperwork in order, please let me have a copy of your CV, SACE and SAQA certificates, and I will do what I can to find you a job in the area of your choice.  Usually we don’t manage to get teachers employed before they arrive in South Africa - but let’s see how it goes.  Best regards – Alison – eap@tiscali.co.za

 

RESEARCH ON SOUTH AFRICAN IN THE UK

Denise Hofman and Nienke Hettinga are two Dutch students who are doing research about South Africans in the UK.  They need help please.  They write:  We are two students from the Netherlands and in a few days we leave for London to research South Africans living there. We were wondering if you could help us with our survey.  We designed a survey to get an idea of the characteristics of South Africans living in London.  We ask you to contact us if you are interested in helping us with our research, which for now consists of a survey that takes about ten minutes to fill out.  Our contact address is: d.hofman@chello.nl.  Thank you in advance and kind regards - Denise and Nienke

 

NOSTALGIC MOMENTS

This month’s photo is not a South African scene, but was sent to us by Erika de Wet, Canada.  She writes:

Just to show you that we still had a braai on 1 January 2008, in spite of the snow.  We had boerewors, bought in Toronto a while ago, which we did not want to fry in a pan – we saved it for the braai.  It was delicious, we measured it carefully to make sure that we divided it fairly and equally.  I hope the neighbours did not see us – they would have thought that we had gone crazy!

MEDITATION

The meditation once again comes from Rev. Gawie Cloete of Mariental.  He can be contacted at gawie@mweb.com.na.  Thank you, Rev Gawie!

According to Paul, the strength of God exercised in and through the faithful cannot be underestimated.  See Ephesians 1:18–20: 

“By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich His glorious inheritance is in His set-apart ones, and so that you can know and understand what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in heaven ...”

When reading about this “strength in you”, you have to remember that it still remains the strength of God!  It is His strength, exerted by Him.  Therefore He decides how to apply this strength, it is not your or my choice.  It is also not about me now using this strength for great deeds in order to get the honour thereof..  This strength is available for anything which will be in His honour.  Paul reminds us what we can expect of God.  We should never lose hope.

Is something in your life making you feel powerless and without hope?  Maybe your marriage or problems with your children, or a bad habit which you just cannot break?  If so, hear this:  God’s strength is available to you.  Do not lose courage.  Trust Him, do your best and leave the rest to Him.

 

With Valentine’s Day ahead, this promises to be a romantic month. Spoil someone special in your life!

Kind regards till next time!

Alana & colleagues
AfriForum
[www.komhuistoe.co.za / alana@afriforum.co.za]