One of the most misunderstood areas of taxation among higher net worth South African investors is the implications of holding a high-value portfolio of shares in an offshore jurisdiction. Many wealthy investors have sizeable global share portfolios with banks in Switzerland, the Channel Islands, and other parts of the world. They have established these relationships…
Endowments are an overlooked instrument among people seeking to maximise the tax efficiency of their investment portfolios, but they can be a useful tool under certain circumstances. They are particularly useful for people who have a higher marginal tax rate than 30%. We believe that the only class of endowment that is really worth looking…
High net worth families used to rely on creating a trust as a tax-efficient vehicle for growing their assets and passing wealth from generation to generation. But tax authorities and governments around the world have tightened up laws and regulations to prevent the affluent from using trusts to shield their income and capital gains from…
The government introduced tax-free savings accounts (TFSA’s) in the 2015/6 tax year as a way to encourage South Africans to save more money. Since then, most financial services providers have added a range of tax-free savings products to their portfolios and many South Africans have embraced them as a tax-efficient way to invest. Unlike retirement…
In my previous article in this series, I explored how retirement funding can help you to optimise your tax efficiency while enabling you to save for the future. In this article, I shall examine the role of living annuities as a tax-efficient vehicle for conserving capital and generating income during your retirement years
The tax burden on South Africa’s higher income earners has swollen in recent years, with this segment of the population facing a top marginal income tax rate of 45%, capital gains tax of 18%, estate duties up to 25%, donations tax at 25% and dividend withholding tax of 20%.
