". A person ordinarily resident in SA
. A person not ordinarily resident but physically present in SA for 91 during the year of assessment as well as during each of the preceding 3 years of assessment and physically present for a least 549 days in the preceding 3 years of assessment."
You quoted the physical presence test which is not really relevant for the OP. If your primary place of residence is still RSA then you are a resident of RSA and you will be taxed on your worldwide income (return from wandering test). i.e. you travel around the world for years but your intention is to return to SA after your wanderings.
To clarify, it is for 184 days of which 61 days are continuous ito s10(1)(o). Note that SARS is very strict on this and it's pretty black and white. If you are short 1 days, SARS will not grant you this exemption.
If you didn't meet the requirements, find out it the the west african country has a double tax agreement with South Africa. If yes, then your income was already subject to tax in that foreign country and you will receive a 6quat rebate (if i remember correctly).
Chillout and relax. The worst thing that can happen is penalties and interest on late payment. You started work in Feb 2007 which is only 1 month for the 2007 tax year assesment plus the current 12 months for 2008. Have you taken any deductions into account? i.e laptop purchase for work related? vehicle allowance from your employers? where you transferred by RSA employers or is it a foreign employers?
