What is retrospective financial emigration?
This is when you backdate your financial emigration to the date you actually formally left South Africa, for example, you emigrated in 2001, obtained permanent residency in 2006 in your new country, but only applied for financial emigration by submitting a Form MP336(b) in 2018. You will be regarded as an emigrant from South Africa for exchange control purposes only from the date on which you were granted permanent residency in the other country (in this case, 2006). Often South Africans have been living abroad for many years without formalising their financial emigration, and being able to backdate this process (under certain circumstances) can be extremely useful in lowering any capital gains tax liability that could arise.
Follow us on Social Media