The general rule is that any income received by or accrued to a South African resident during a year of assessment for services rendered outside South Africa is exempt from employees’ tax if the following criteria are met:

Crew member of a ship

Any remuneration a South African resident earns as an officer or crew member of a ship is exempt from employees’ tax if the services were rendered outside South Africa for a period of more than 183 full days during the year and if the ship was engaged in the:

• international transportation for reward of passengers or goods; or
• prospecting (including surveys and other exploratory work) for, or the mining of, any minerals (including natural oils) from the seabed outside the continental shelf of South Africa.

Services rendered outside South Africa

Remuneration received by or accrued to a South African resident for services rendered outside South Africa is exempt from employees’ tax:

• if the services were rendered for or on behalf of any South African or foreign employer;
• if the period, or periods, during which the services were rendered exceeded 183 full days in total during any 12 month period, starting or ending during that year of assessment; and
• if he/she was out of the country for a continuous period of more than 60 full days during that period of 12 months.

A resident employee is outside South Africa if he/she is in transit through South Africa between two other countries and he/she does not formally enter South Africa through a port of entry.

This exemption does not apply to directors, other company office bearers and persons employed in the provincial or national sphere of government.

Contact the tax consultant Fanus Jonck (tax@jonck.net) with your tax queries.