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Foreign cash inheritance, how does the tax work?

Posted 1 March 2013

My two minor children are South African natural persons, and have thus each been issued with their own ID numbers at birth. If a foreign cash inheritance from their overseas great- grandfather to them (in CHF and Euros) , is converted into ZAR and deposited equally in halves into my two minor children's money market bank accounts, then I believe that this inheritance (and all inheritances) are not deemed taxable. Would this assumption be correct ?

Lastly, would interest income accruing in each of these minor children's respective accounts deemed to be accruing to me ( the guardian), or in fact to the minor children themselves (as they are natural persons with their own South African citizenship and their own own identity numbers) ?

TaxTim TaxTim says:
4 March 2013 at 0:01

Inheritances as not taxable, unless they are from a Trust set up by a parent in which cases sometimes the inheritance is taxed in the hands of the parent.

In terms of the inheritance actually accruing to you, if it was directly from a grandparent with no linkage to you then the income would accrue to your children and they would be liable for tax on these amounts.

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