Transferring Money Out of South Africa
Unfortunately, transferring money out of South Africa involves far more than making an electronic transfer or standing in a queue at a bank. This is because the South Africa government uses a system of exchange control regulations to regulate the movement of money into and out of the country.
Listed below are the requirements that you will need to meet in order to send money out of South Africa.
* Tax clearance on the amount to be transferred
* You must declare that you have adhered to the prescribed allowances
* You must be able to provide the audit trail on money that came into South Africa if you wish to repatriate the money
* You must be able to supply all relevant invoices
* You also need clearance from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB)
Getting your money out of South Africa may be harder than you expect.
In order to transfer money out of South Africa, only an authorised dealer of the SARB can grant clearance. It is therefore virtually impossible for a foreign-based institution to make such a transfer out of South Africa. Your choice, then, is as to which South African bank or currency company to make use of.
When making your choice, you should keep the following in mind. Banks typically charge between ZAR300 and ZAR500 to perform the transfer, regardless of the amount involved. Also, they cannot tell you the rate at which your money will be exchanged. And, because you approach the bank as an individual, they will only be able to exchange your relatively small sum of money. A currency company, on the other hand, can offer you a significantly better rate of exchange through a bulk transfer (transferring many people’s money at the same time) and also typically do not charge administrative fees for making the transfer. Currency companies also handle the paperwork pertaining to tax and SARB clearance for you, saving you time and effort. It may be well worth your while to make use of a currency company instead of a bank, as in the case of the bank you may spend a lot of time just trying to get to speak to the right person, whereas a currency company specialises in such transactions and can assist you right away.
