I paid R200,000 to SARS for saving and investing my money

[Forum Reader]

That's why if you buy assets you hold until you really need the money like in retirement. Then sell it off slowly to incur none or as little tax as possible. Should have just held the shares if R200k was a problem when taking R1mill profit. That R200k is now gone forever. Could have just slowly built a SP500 pot instead and saved R200k.

 

[mr_norris]

I got my first lesson in CGT when I bought a ton of Activision shares in preparation for the Microsoft buyout. Once it went through, BAM, can has profit and tax event. I got nailed for that financial year, and even though I expected it, it hurt because I wasn't well prepared.

The year after I still battled a bit and had to pay CGT again but not as much.

For the last one, I put more effort into keeping track of everything and funding the RA to offset any possible CGT I may need to pay. There is always the feat that my maths is wrong and of course, being a bit short between the end of the financial year to pump up the RA.

It's a real battle. I sometimes wonder if it's worth getting an accountant to check things. But I also feel that my portfolio isn't quite on that level to need one.