Claim your South African inheritance while living in Australia

Transferring your inheritance

No matter how simple or complex your situation may be, we can assist you to transfer your inheritance funds. South African foreign exchange regulations are complex and moving money out of the country requires expert knowledge and understanding.

With us, you can rest assured that you’ll never be tripped up by red tape when transferring money from South Africa. We’ll also always ensure that we get you great exchange rates and low fees on every transfer.

We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with one of our forex brokers who will be happy to answer any queries you may have about transferring your inheritance from South Africa.

If you’d like immediate help fill in the form at the bottom of this page and we’ll get back to you. You can also continue reading and hopefully this page will answer the questions you have.

Inheriting money from overseas as a South African expat

If you are living overseas and you receive an inheritance from a South African estate, you will fall into one of three categories below.

1. South African resident temporarily abroad

   This means you have not completed formal financial emigration and are considered as a resident “temporarily abroad” by SARS. You are subject to the same tax laws and financial regulations as people living in South Africa.

   If this is your situation, you can transfer your funds using your R10 million foreign investment allowance. This requires a tax clearance certificate and your green bar coded South African ID book. We can obtain your tax clearance certificate for you, as well as transfer your foreign investment allowance at the best possible exchange rate and lowest fee.

   As a South African living abroad, you should, however, consider the benefits of completing formal financial emigration. By doing this, you can transfer your inheritance funds without being subject to the South African resident exchange control process. Despite a common misconception, financially emigrating does not mean that you relinquish your South African citizenship.

   What’s more, financial emigration allows you to access your South African retirement annuities before the age of 55 and, should you have no intention of returning to South Africa, it would tidy up your tax affairs with the SARB and SARS.

   Simply fill in our financial emigration questionnaire and we will contact you to begin your complimentary assessment.

   Complete the questionnaire



2. You have financially emigrated and are a non-resident of South Africa

   The inheritance funds can be transferred to you, provided that you have proof or confirmation of your emigration. This involves providing the South African Reserve Bank with your reference number which you would have received when you originally emigrated. We can assist you should you wish to verify your financial emigration status.




3. You were never a South African citizen

   This is a straightforward process of providing evidence of your non-residence status and transferring your funds overseas. You will then be able to send any South African inheritance out of the country with relative ease.

Frequently asked questions about online money transfers

You may have questions about transferring your hard-earned money, and that’s good! We understand your desire to know more. Below are the answers to the questions we get asked most regularly.

If the answer you’re looking for is not below, please contact us on 61 3 8651 4500 or forex@sableinternational.com and we’ll help you out.

1. Once registered, how long does it take to activate my account?

   As soon as we have received a copy of your passport and proof of residential address (signed and dated by yourself), we will activate your account on the same business day.

   If your transfer exceeds £20,000 (or the equivalent in another currency), we will request a few additional documents.




2. How are your exchange rates determined? Why are they better than the banks’ rate?

   To get you the best rates, we canvass the market on your behalf, add a small margin to the rates we obtain, and pass that rate on to you. The exchange rates we offer fall between the interbank rate (the truest exchange rate) and the rate offered by high street banks and bureaux de change.

   We are able to undercut the high street banks and pass that saving on to you in the form of great rates. While the rates on our site are updated throughout the day, they must be viewed as indicative only.




3. Why can't I get the exchange rate I see on TV?

   The rate you see in the media is the interbank rate, which is the rate at which banks trade with each other. We pride ourselves on being transparent and will only quote rates that we are able to give you.




4. Between which countries can I send funds?

   We can transfer funds to just about any worldwide destination. Our most popular destinations are Australia, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, Canada, the United States and the Eurozone. If your country is not specifically listed as an option on our website, please give us a call or send us an email and we’ll help you out with your transfer.




5. How long does a transfer take to be processed?

   Once we have received all the necessary documentation associated with the transaction and your funds have cleared in our client account, the converted funds will be credited to your nominated overseas account within one to three working days.




6. What are the minimum and maximum amounts that can be transferred?

   There is no minimum or maximum amount when you transfer money with us. There are, however, certain benefits to transferring larger amounts. To find out more about the benefits of sending larger amounts pop us an email, or give us a call, and tell us how much you’d like to send and we’ll walk you through the process.

   Please note: When transferring £20,000 (or foreign currency equivalent) or more in a single currency transaction, or £30,000 (or foreign currency equivalent) in a number of transactions over a 12-month rolling period, Sable International requires proof of “source of funds” as prescribed by HMRC’s Money Laundering Regulations.




7. What methods of payment can I use to transfer the funds to your account?

   We accept internet banking payments and GBP denominated UK debit card payments. Your name and surname must be used as the reference when paying via internet banking. If a name and surname are not supplied, proof of payment must be emailed to us so we can allocate your funds for transfer.




8. What happens when I use a debit card as my preferred payment method?

   The easiest way to transfer money with us is to use your UK debit card on our website. This process is completely under your control and you don’t need to set foot in a bank or log on to an internet banking portal. As soon as you submit your request online, your money is transferred from your account into ours. As the funds are transferred out of your account, the exchange rate will be secured for your transfer. This is how we ensure the rate you see when you request the transfer is the rate you get.




9. What happens when I use internet banking as my preferred payment method?

   If you have chosen internet banking as your preferred payment method, you will need to complete two stages to effect a transfer. Firstly, you will need to upload your transfer instruction onto our website. This tells us the amount of money, destination to which and date on which you want the funds to be sent. After this, you will have to log in to your internet banking account and transfer the requested amount to the relevant Sable International client account, using your name and surname as the payment reference.

   The appropriate details for our client holding account will appear when you upload your transfer request on our website.




10. How can I be sure that my funds will be correctly allocated?

    If you are using internet banking, it is imperative that you ensure that your funds will clear under your name and surname. If you use your name and surname as the payment reference, we will know that the funds are from you and we can process your transfer as soon as the funds clear.

    If the funds will be clearing under a reference other than your own name and surname, please send an email to forex@sableinternational.com, informing us as to what name the funds should clear under. Following these guidelines will decrease the likelihood of a delay.




11. What are the requirements of a registered Money Service Business?

    The law requires us to monitor any unusual or suspicious transactions of any size taking place where we have reason to believe the money is derived from illegal activity. We will report any suspicious international money transfers to the authorities.

    The law also requires us to keep full records of all transactions, together with copies of identification provided. We are unable to process any transaction where this information is withheld. Proof of address and proof of funds may be required in certain cases – please see our “know your customer” guidelines for more information.




12. How secure is the site?

    Our site uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) 128 bit encryption to protect your transaction details. This 128 bit encryption is the latest and strongest data encryption technique commercially available for securing information between you, our client, and our website.

    SSL works by encrypting/scrambling data from our website to your computer. The data is encrypted on our web server and can only be decrypted/unscrambled by the person with the correct decrypt/unscramble key. You can visually verify our site’s use of SSL in two places: The "s" in https in the site’s web address and by the padlock on the left-hand side of the address bar.

    Register now