how to work in Germany but pay taxes to South Africa?

[Saltex]

I've been working in Germany now for 4 months, and I only go next week to register myself as a worker here, and ofcourse I haven't been paying any tax but lucky for me I only deal with cash.

Now the question is, am I able to only pay tax to South Africa and not Germany, cause I have been reading up on people who do this with their other home countries and it seems to work out cheaper, I am pretty clueless with this, so if anyone can give me some sort advice or suggestions it would be much appreciated

Hope it makes sense the point I am trying to get at, also I will be registering as self employed/freelance

 

[bwana]

Why do you even want to pay SA taxes, I mean you're going to have to pay German taxes, but why??? :wtf:

 

[Saltex]

Why do you even want to pay SA taxes, I mean you're going to have to pay German taxes, but why??? :wtf:

I just heard that if you pay taxes to south africa then you don't have to pay taxes in germany, i know sounds weird, which is why im here.

 

[bwana]

I just heard that if you pay taxes to south africa then you don't have to pay taxes in germany, i know sounds weird, which is why im here.

Probably the other way around. I don't pay tax on my UK income because I spend less that x number of days there.

 

[HavocXphere]

You're still a SA resident so yes you must pay tax on world wide income. You also need to pay German tax.

Thankfully there are rules in place to prevent you from getting hit twice. Google double tax agreements and s6quat.

Under certain circumstances you lose your status as "SA resident" e.g. After a fixed period of time or when emigrating. Your status can also be changed retrospectively. i.e. What happens today can affect whether you were a resident last week etc. Again feel free to google. And resident in this context means tax flavour of resident...not the same as in the department of home affair type "permanent resident".

 

[bwana]

Interesting read: http://m.news24.com/fin24/Money/Money-Clinic/Tax/Tax-when-working-abroad-20130913

Seems much depends on your employment status there.

 

[HavocXphere]

Interesting read: http://m.news24.com/fin24/Money/Money-Clinic/Tax/Tax-when-working-abroad-20130913

Seems much depends on your employment status there.

183 day requirement not met for OP (yet). Good point on the employment...SARS has specific ideas on that (i.e. freelance won't be employee), but I don't see anything about SA employment necessarily.

I was getting at this:
http://www.sars.gov.za/ClientSegments/Individuals/Learn-About-Taxes/Pages/Non-Residents.aspx

Doesn't look good for OP. He's going to flunk on the ord. resident test and not meet the requirements of the exemption. Lets hope I'm wrong though.


The relevant section...verbatim:

any form of remuneration-
[...]
received by or accrued to any employee during any year of assessment by way of any salary, leave pay, wage, overtime pay, bonus, gratuity, commission, fee, emolument or allowance, including any amount referred to in paragraph (1) of the definition of gross income in section 1 or an amount referred to in section 8, 8B or 8C in respect of services rendered outside the Republic by that employee for or on behalf of any employer, if that employee was outside the Republic –

Employee requires and employer-employee relationship (think fixed work hours, receiving instructions from superiors etc)...problematic to make that work with 'freelance'.

 

[froot]

I just heard that if you pay taxes to south africa then you don't have to pay taxes in germany, i know sounds weird, which is why im here.

Probably the other way around. I don't pay tax on my UK income because I spend less that x number of days there.

South Africa has a double-taxation treaty with most countries.

To qualify for this, a person has to spend more than half the year in the home country. So for you, Saltex, you need to spend 6 months 1 day a year in SA, and you'll only be liable for SA tax.

 

[DJ...]

I'd suggest you work out the tax rates on both sides to determine where you want to spend that extra day, if you qualify...