the current Voluntary Disclosure
Programme (VDP) or the Special
Voluntary Disclosure Programme
(“amnesty”), which is expected to
come into play on 1 October 2016 and
be open for six months. Penalties and
fines will vary as detailed below.
You should be aware that the Reserve Bank
and SARS are two separate entities and
that you may be in contravention of one
and not the other. This will have an impact
on whether you use VDP or amnesty.
The purpose of this article is to put the fear
of God into you; to rip your head out of the VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURE
sand; to give you a hard slap to get you PROGRAMME
to realise that action needs to be taken. This is an initiative from SARS, not the
Reserve Bank, and is best used when
Consider yourself warned!
you are not in contravention of exchange
Hopefully, the penny has now dropped. If control. For example, if you inherited
so, and you prefer sleeping in your own offshore assets or earned offshore income
bed, spending weekends with your family, while living abroad, then you may not be
eating what you want and being part of in contravention of exchange control and
a community, then read on and take the should go through the VDP. Penalties range
following steps:
from 10 percent to 40 percent under the
programme.
1. Consult a tax attorney. Not your
accountant, nor your financial adviser,
as they may be obligated to disclose
details of your non-disclosure to the
authorities. Carrick Wealth would be
happy to direct you to a well-versed tax
attorney.
2. Your tax attorney will need information
on how and when the offshore
assets were accumulated and the
timing thereof. He or she will also
need evidence of income and capital
gains. Time is of the essence, so start
gathering the information immediately.
3. You will then be advised to go through
You would be well advised to take advice
on whether VDP is the best route to take,
however, as it may be better to wait for the
amnesty in some circumstances.
SPECIAL VOLUNTARY
DISCLOSURE PROGRAMME
This “amnesty” is a joint initiative between
SARS and