One of the reaons why the SARS is so efficient is that over the recent years it has become increasingly staffed with ex UK IR tax inspectors.
If you examine recent SA tax legislation with regard to residence, domicile, CGT and inheritance tax, it practically mirrors that which is in place in England. By that token, care must be taken, once deemed by the revenue to be non resident, that visits to South Africa do not follow a regular pattern.
You do not have to be employed to obtain non resident status but the beady eye will be aimed more carefully upon you if you are not and you may have initially to be absent from SA for a full tax year to qualify for non residence. Of course it is perfectly possible to be a retired South Arican who resides elsewhere than in the Republic.
As I have said before on this thread, Divaris and Stein used to produce an excellent guide to South African income tax. It was published by Butterworths and available trough CNA. I thought that the latest edition was due for publication in either December last year or January of this year.
Have a care about interpreting such books yourself. So much of what really happens in the tax world is based on case law and that changes with each judgement. There is no substitute for a few thousand rands of professional advice and if you deal with a large and expensive firm, you will at least have the benefit of their updated ex patriate news letters to keep you posted.
