Offshore Investing: What Your R2 Million Allowance Actually Buys You

Ruvan J Grobler • July 24, 2026

Is investing offshore just for people who've given up on South Africa? I get some version of this question a lot, and the honest answer is no. It's really just about not keeping all your eggs in one rand-denominated basket. And it got a lot more relevant this year, because in April 2026 the Reserve Bank doubled the Single Discretionary Allowance from R1 million to R2 million per person, per year. That's a meaningful jump, and it's worth understanding properly before you use it.

Here's how the allowance system actually works. Every South African resident over 18 gets a Single Discretionary Allowance of R2 million a year. No SARS approval, no tax clearance, you just instruct your bank and off it goes, for travel, gifts, or offshore investing. On top of that sits the Foreign Investment Allowance, up to another R10 million a year, but that one needs a SARS Approval for International Transfer first, which comes off your tax compliance status on eFiling. Between the two, that's R12 million per person, per year, without needing special Reserve Bank sign-off. A couple, or a family with adult kids, can add that up quickly.

 

Worth knowing too, this is different from the rand-denominated offshore funds most people already hold through their local platforms. Those use asset swap or feeder structures, and your allowance never actually leaves the country. Direct offshore investing means the money physically converts to dollars, pounds or euros and sits in an account in your own name, offshore. Different animal, different mechanics.

 

Side note: if you've got a retirement annuity, you already have some offshore exposure, Regulation 28 lets retirement funds hold up to 45% offshore. That's real diversification, but it's locked inside a retirement structure with its own rules on access and estate treatment. Using your personal allowance is a completely separate lever, money you actually hold in your own name, offshore, that you can access, restructure or leave to whoever you want without waiting for retirement age.

 

Who actually uses this in practice? Families with kids studying or working abroad. People planning to retire partly offshore, or just wanting a foreign currency buffer for when they travel. Business owners who've built most of their wealth locally and want a real counterweight sitting outside the country. It's rarely about chasing better returns, it's about not having every asset you own exposed to the same risks at the same time.

So why bother with the direct route? Two reasons come up in almost every conversation I have about this: currency, and geography.

On currency, if your salary is in rand, your house is in rand and your whole portfolio is in rand, your entire financial life rises and falls with one currency. Holding some of your wealth in hard currency doesn't mean you think the rand is doomed, it just means you're not betting your whole future on one outcome either way.

On geography, the JSE makes up less than 1% of total global stock market value. Some of the biggest growth stories in the world right now, in tech, in healthcare, aren't listed here at all. Investing offshore isn't a vote against South Africa, it's just access to the other 99%.

 

Now here's a case worth knowing about, because it shows how badly this can go if someone tries to get clever with the rules instead of just following them.

In Singh v South African Reserve Bank, decided by the Pretoria High Court in 2023, an attorney and businessman moved R80 million between local accounts, with about R20 million of it headed for a UK bank account. The problem wasn't the amount, it was how it moved, in R1 million chunks, each one apparently using someone else's Single Discretionary Allowance instead of his own. His bank picked it up and reported it to the Reserve Bank, who placed a blocking order on the remaining R40 million sitting in his account back home. He went to court arguing his bank had approved the transfers, so it must have been fine. The court didn't agree. A bank can't lawfully approve something that breaches exchange control in the first place, and the blocking order stood.

 

If you genuinely need to move more than R2 million a year, that's exactly what the Foreign Investment Allowance is for. It just takes proper paperwork, not creativity.

A few practical things that catch people out:

  1. Your allowance resets every calendar year, it doesn't carry over if you don't use it.
  2. A clean SARS record matters. Outstanding returns or disputes will delay your approval, and it can take up to three weeks even when everything's in order.
  3. Financial institutions want proof of where the money actually came from, especially as the amount grows.
  4. Moving a big amount in one go means you're stuck with whatever the exchange rate happens to be that day, that's a separate risk from the compliance side, and worth thinking through.

 

One more thing, since estate planning is where I spend most of my time. Assets held directly offshore, in your own name, usually fall under the estate administration rules of wherever they're held, not just South Africa's. That can mean your executor needs a foreign grant of probate before anything can be dealt with, on top of the local process. It doesn't mean don't do it. It just means the structure deserves as much thought as the decision to invest offshore in the first place.

 

This is general information, not advice tailored to your situation.

 

Ruvan J Grobler FSA® PGDip (Financial planning)

Immigrante in Suid-Afrika

July 24, 2026
Die immigrantekwessie het die afgelope paar jaar een van die mees omstrede politieke ensosiale onderwerpe in Suid-Afrika geword. Openbare debat word dikwels aangevuur deurkommer oor werkloosheid, misdaad, druk op openbare dienste en die teenwoordigheid van ongedokumenteerde immigrante. In dieselfde asem waarsku navorsers dat ‘n groot deel van die debat deur wanopvattings en emosies beïnvloed word eerder as deur feite. Kom ons kyk na die bekommernisse en die feite. Eerstens is daar opvattings oor die getalimmigrante in Suid-Afrika. Volgens die jongste data het Suid-Afrika tussen ongeveer 2,4 en2,6 miljoen buitelandsgebore inwoners. Dit verteenwoordig sowat vier persent van die totalebevolking van ongeveer 63 miljoen mense. Die grootste groepe kom uit Zimbabawe, Mosambiek, Lesotho en Malawi. Werkloosheid vorm ‘n tweede bekommernis. Suid-Afrika het een van die hoogstewerloosheidskoerse ter wêreld. Baie Suid-Afrikansers ervaar dat immigrantewerksgeleenthede wegneem, veral in die informele sektor, kleinhandel, konstruksie enlandbou. Die oorsake van werkloosheid lê waarskynlik veel dieper en hou verband met swakekonomiese groei, onvoldoende vaardighede, korrupsie en beperkte belegging. ‘n Derde bekommernis is druk op openbare dienste. Hospitale, skole, behuisingsprojekte enmunisipale dienste verkeer reeds, soos dit is, onder groot druk. Waar immigrante hierdiedienste gebruik, ontstaan die persepsie dat skaars hulpbronne verder uitgedun word. Dit is moeilik om die impak werklik te meet. ‘n Vierde bekommernis hou verband met ongedokumenteerde immigrasie. Daar bestaanwydverspreide kritiek dat die staat nie sy grense doeltreffend beheer nie. Selfs mense wat positief teenoor immigrasie staan, erken dikwels dat beter administrasie en grensbeheer nodigis. ‘n Vyfde bekommernis is misdaad en veiligheid. Sommige politieke groepe verbindimmigrasie met misdaad. Statistiese bewyse toon egter nie dat immigrante as groep vir die meeste misdaad verantwoordelik is nie. Tog bly die persepsie sterk, veral in gemeenskappewat reeds deur misdaad geteister word. Die debat word verder bemoeilik deur die verskil tussen wettige immigrante, vlugtelinge, asielsoekers en ongedokumenteerde persone. Hierdie groepe word dikwels in die openbaredebat saamgegooi. Die immigrasievraagstuk gaan dus oor veel meer as net die persentasie immigrante. Dit raakdie ekonomie, staatskapasiteit, grensbeheer, en die publiek se vertroue in die regering. Die onderliggende probleme van werkloosheid, armoede en swak dienslewering bly waarskynlikdie grootste drywers van die huidige spanning. ‘n Volhoubare oplossing sal daaromwaarskynlik beter immigrasiebestuur en sterker ekonomiese groei vereis. Geksryf deur Koos van die Waterberge vir Bovest

Tax Season 2026: Don’t Just Accept — Check First

By PJ Botha • July 3, 2026
Dear Client, Tax season is here again, and many South Africans will receive an auto-assessment from SARS. Auto-assessments can be very convenient. SARS uses information from employers, medical schemes, retirement funds, banks and investment providers to pre-populate your tax return. In many cases, this makes the process quicker and easier. However, easier does not always mean correct. We have already seen cases where auto-assessments were not fully accurate or where important information still needed to be checked. That is why our message this tax season is simple: don’t just accept your SARS assessment without reviewing it properly first. Between 1 July and 12 July 2026, SARS will notify selected taxpayers by SMS or email if they have been auto-assessed. The notice will show whether you are due a refund, whether you need to pay SARS, or whether there is no amount payable or refundable. If you receive an auto-assessment and everything is correct, you do not need to submit a separate return. But before accepting it, you should still log in to SARS eFiling and check the details carefully. If something is incorrect or missing, you should update and submit your tax return through eFiling. A few practical tips for tax season Before accepting or submitting anything, make sure you have the correct supporting documents on hand. These may include your IRP5, medical aid tax certificate, retirement annuity contribution certificate, investment tax certificates, tax-free investment certificate, donation certificates, rental income records and any other relevant supporting documents. Do not only look at the refund or amount payable. It is tempting to focus only on whether SARS says you are getting money back, but the more important question is whether the information behind the assessment is correct. Check that your personal details and banking details are up to date. Incorrect banking details can delay refunds, while outdated contact details may mean you miss important communication from SARS. Keep your supporting documents for at least five years from the date of submission, as SARS may request them later to verify your return. What to look out for on your investments Investment income is an area where clients should be especially careful. SARS may receive information directly from financial institutions, but you should still compare the information on your return with your tax certificates. Here are a few important items to check: Interest income Check whether all local and foreign interest has been included correctly. Even small interest amounts from bank accounts or money market investments can form part of your taxable income. Dividends and foreign dividends Local dividends are generally subject to dividends tax, but they may still appear on your tax certificate. Foreign dividends can have different tax treatment and should be reviewed carefully. Capital gains and losses If you sold or switched investments during the tax year, there may be a capital gain or loss. This can happen even if you did not withdraw the money into your bank account. For example, switching between funds can sometimes trigger a disposal for capital gains tax purposes. Retirement annuity contributions Make sure your retirement contributions are correctly reflected. If your contributions were more than the amount allowed as a deduction for the year, the excess amount may be carried forward and used in future years. Your notice of assessment, known as the ITA34, should reflect this. Tax-free investments Although growth and income in a tax-free investment are not taxed, your contributions still need to be monitored. Make sure your tax-free investment certificate is correct and that you have not exceeded the annual or lifetime contribution limits. Living annuity income If you receive income from a living annuity, check that the income and PAYE deducted are correctly reflected. It is also important to keep your tax affairs up to date, as SARS can recover outstanding tax debts directly from certain third parties, including income providers. Two-pot retirement withdrawals If you made a withdrawal from the savings component of your retirement fund, this amount is taxed at your marginal income tax rate. Your fund administrator should issue an IRP5 or IT3(a) certificate showing the withdrawal and any tax withheld. Be careful not to assume that the tax deducted at the time of withdrawal fully settles your final tax position. If you also earned other income during the year, such as a bonus, rental income or investment income, you may still have additional tax to pay when your return is assessed. A simple checklist before you accept or submit Before finalising your tax return, ask yourself: Have I checked my SARS auto-assessment in detail? Have I compared the SARS information to my actual tax certificates? Are all my sources of income included? Are my investment certificates reflected correctly? Are my retirement contributions correct? Have I checked whether any capital gains or losses apply? Have I included medical aid, donation or other allowable deductions where relevant? Are my banking and contact details correct? Have I saved my supporting documents? Tax season does not need to be stressful, but it does require care. SARS has made the process more automated, but the responsibility to ensure your return is complete and accurate still remains with you. Taking a few extra minutes to check your assessment properly can help you avoid delays, unexpected tax bills or corrections later. PJ Botha CFP ® CA(SA)