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Does my son have to submit a return to SARS if he has been working overseas?



My Son has been in Mauritius since January 2011, and teaching there since his work permit was authorised in approx June/July of 2011, therefore was effectively out of South Africa for the whole of 2011/2012 tax year. He will in all likelihood be teaching there for approximately 2 - 3 years. Does he have to submit a nil return to SARS and if so, how does he go about this on e-filing. What box does he tick?

TaxTim TaxTim says:
12 October 2012 at 1:03

Has your son registered as a taxpayer yet or paid any taxes before? Or is this his first job?

Yvonne says:
12 October 2012 at 7:05


My son is registered as a tax payer - he graduated in 2009 and taught from Jan - December 2010, therefore submitted a tax return for the tax year ending February 2011. As mentioned, he was not employed at all in South Africa for any period in the tax year ending Feb 2012. I am not sure what SARS need, or how he goes about e-filing a nil return.

Hope you can help, as the returns being efiled have to reach SARS by 23rd November 2012.

Many thanks & regards
Yvonne

TaxTim TaxTim says:
12 October 2012 at 21:16

You can do one of two things when completing his return. Either click unemployed in the very first question of the eFiling process or you can enter the amount earned under the "amounts considered non-taxable" section when it asks for amounts earned under s10(1)(o). Both will allow your son's return to not show taxable income and so he won't have to pay tax in South Africa as he will have been working out of the country for long enough.

Let me know if you need anything else.

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