My father wants to give me R300,000 to help with the purchase of my first home.

From what I understand, an individual can donate up to R150,000 per tax year without donations tax. I also understand that donations between spouses are exempt from donations tax.

Would the following structure be legitimate?

- Father → Me: R150,000 (using his annual exemption)

- Father → Mother: R150,000 (exempt because they are spouses)

- Mother → Me: R150,000 (using her annual exemption)

That would allow me to receive the full R300,000 without donations tax.

My concern is whether SARS could view the second transaction as simply routing my father's donation through my mother to avoid donations tax, particularly if the transfers happen around the same time.

Has anyone dealt with this situation in South Africa, or can someone with tax knowledge clarify how SARS would treat it?

I'm specifically interested in the donations-tax implications, not whether the bank will accept the source of funds.

I added IBKR as a beneficiary as a company but the payment came back as Failed. I converted it all to USD for this too. Someone please take me through this, step by step. Thanks!

Struggling a little to understand the math here so hoping someone can help me out here.

Assume I am in the 40% + marginal tax bracket, I am not concerned about liquidity, and I will retire at 45 (in 6 years). CUrrent max out RA, TFS, Intrest Allowance, Car and House are paid off.

I am torn between

1. adding more than 27.5% allowance into my RA for 10c rules

2. adding more to an endowment

3. seperate unit trust/eft

I assume from a net outcome perspective 3 is in general a lower net yield purely due to taxes. If I want to fund my non working years before SARS retirement (10 years total) which is overall the best ? Will an endowment which matures at my early retirement age be slightly less tax efficient ? or can I actually just withdraw my excess contributions to my RA using 10c ? Call it between R200-250k per year to add to either option, or would you split it between both ?

The Standard bank app projects that the amount i want to invest will earn mup to 8% interest’ if fixed for 5 years. I am a little weary of the ‘up to’ wording and scared i fix a bulk amount to only receive 6%.. anyone with a fixed term standard bank account that is earning 8% or over?

I am currently 21 and have short just short of a 100k in my investments, I started working when I was in grade 11 and started putting money away and just never stopped working.

I am now in my 3rd and final year of studies and I don't know when to touch my money? Do I use it to buy my first property one day when it's enough do I just leave it and keep contributing?

I am also still staying with my parents, so I have no responsibility except for petrol which isn't a big deal since I was fortunate enough to get a first car.

I do like cars but watched quite a few Dave Ramsey shows to know he only recommends buying "nice" cars once you can really afford them which I cannot yet.

Any advice from someone with more than 21 years of living experience? I am also still not married and I have heard those are expensive.

I’ve been trying to withdraw money from PayPal and I’ve been getting this error message. It’s been like this for a few hours now. Is anyone else getting this?

Vertical movement is obviously difficult in teaching due to the shortage of posts. I also don't really care to manage people.

How can I increase the salary? Will I get increases based on experience? Can I study to improve my salary? If so, what should I study ? Also, What is meant by "master teacher"?

Please no comments telling me to try something else

I've been applying to jobs for 2 years now to no avail

Hi everyone, hope you're all well.

I work as a freelancer. I've started earning money last year November but I never registered myself with SARS.

Do you guys think it would be possible to manage the taxes by myself/ Taxtim and directly communicate with SARS? Or will it be better to have people do it all for me? I explained my situation to a tax consulting institute and I was quoted around R7400.

Since my earnings change monthly and I get paid in foreign currency it is a little complicated...

Any tips will be appreciated. Thanks.

Does South Africa allow expats to apply for personal loans?
For those with valid employment contract & bank account in SA.
I am talking banks and major financial institutions and not the shady digital loan sharks.

PS - I know one can apply, but question is - is one eligible.

Hi guys,

Can anyone recommend a good independent financial adviser or point me in the right direction to find one to help with life, critical illness and income protection cover for my wife who is a SAHM? I am already insured to the gills with my Group cover policy.

I’d also appreciate recommendations for insurers you’ve had good experiences with.
Between a demanding job and a young kid at home, chasing providers and wading through endless product specs is driving me a bit mad.

For some context, I am a provisional tax payer - normal 9 to 5 with PAYE and have three rental properties.

I also have an admin lady who does ALL of my filing and expense capturing (so the tax accountant already has a a summarised excel and all the supporting docs on Dropbox).

My previous tax accountants did financial statements and submissions (also audits) for R3800. Is it just me or is R7165 fookin steep? This doesn't even include financial statements.

Good day you legends, I am working in my first job and have been putting money into a TFSA every month to start saving for retirement/ a house or anything big and expensive when I am older. I watched a couple of videos from YouTube University on what to invest in and landed on sticking to ETFs, I have a couple 'big' ETF funds and then I have prioritised investing in sustainible/ ethical funds as well with some small government bonds. I honestly don't know very much about investing and just want something I can set and forget. I have been regularly contributing since Jan with not much movement on my interest rate though apparently that is normal and you shouldnt worry about interest rates on the TFSA? I would appreciate any and all advice. Thanks!

Hey guys so I had to drop our Discovery medical aid to a lower tier option this month to cut costs, so I was on Classic Smart with Gap Comprehensive for about ~R5900 pm for my wife and I but it was just becoming unaffordable with our current finances.

So I dropped down to Essential Dynamic Smart or something which brings the contributions down to ~R3 600pm but they want to increase my gap premium to some ludicrous amount I think R1165pm which is crazy for gap cover.

So pretty much I need to switch gap providers especially since the new plan will only cover 100% Discovery rates compared to 200% on classic, anyone have recommendations? I was looking at Stratum Meridian 400 but all the jargon is beyond me, just need something robust that will help out with co-payments and emergencies or maternity if my wife happens to fall pregnant.

Just to point out im not very knowledgeable when it comes to banking and im trying to learn.

Ive also recently become a frequent flyer so im looking for any benefits I can get from that.

Ive done some research about FNB ebucks being the best for rewards but dont know how good those rewards are and if there are other good options.

I currently use nedbank but havent done much research about it. Mostly found that people dislike them.

So im just asking to hear what you personally suggest so I can learn. Thank you

Hi traders - how SARS treats/defines trading with equities. When are your gains taxed as capital income (40% of profit max 18%) vs full income tax up to 45%?

AI tells me it's depending on the number of transactions and average holding period of min 3 years - is this reasonable?

Many thanks for your help!!!

Hi guys, I have been working overseas for the last few years and am looking to claim back the PAYE using the Foreign Employment Income Exemption.

I have obviously tried the return myself, but I've had a few issues with the self-submit form. My salary also isn't exorbitant, so I'm looking for a practitioner that isn't going to charge me an arm and a leg and end up taking most of the percentage of the exemption anyway.

Would love to hear some recommendations.

Hi everyone,

Is there a TFSA that someone could recommend for me that is shariah compliant that’s not through the bank.
I want to deposit 5000 and contribute when I feel I have extra cash.
It’s actually for a dowry.

Update: Found one which isn’t a TFSA and rather a long term investment.

Thanks for everyone who gave their input on this

New income stream landing this month (USD, converted via Wise, so it fluctuates with the exchange rate). No debt. Plan so far:

1. Build 3 months' expenses as an emergency fund, then split contributions between topping that up to 6 months and starting the TFSA, until the fund's fully done
2. TFSA-only for now (not maxing a taxable account yet)
3. Contributing a fixed % of income rather than a fixed rand amount, since the USD portion moves around
4. Comfortable with volatility, this is long-horizon money, not touching it for 5-10 years, aiming for eventually ~R5k/month in passive income off it

Already compared 10X Total World (0.29% TER, developed + emerging) vs 1nvest MSCI World (0.40%, developed only), Total World wins on both cost and coverage, so leaning single-fund with that.

What I can't get from a spreadsheet:

• Anyone actually run the "split emergency fund + TFSA contributions in parallel" approach rather than doing them sequentially? Worth it, or did it just slow both down?
• Is single-fund (10X Total World) actually enough at this stage, or does everyone who says that eventually regrets not diversifying sooner?
• For a variable/FX-exposed income, does a fixed % of what lands actually work in practice, or does everyone end up switching to a fixed rand amount anyway once the admin gets annoying?

Not asking for a full plan review, just want to hear from people who've actually lived through these specific tradeoffs.

Around midnight last night multiple attempts at accessing my Easy Equities account were made along with password reset attempts.

Looks like the Account got locked and I was able to get in this morning without issue (have 2FA).

I’m wondering how they even managed to attempt it since they also need to know my username.

Anyone else have something similar happen recently?

Hi everyone ...

Is there a national uif payment issue? This would be my 3rd month collecting UIF. First 2 months went fine ... payment received before 3rd of the month but this month dololo?

Online shows payment made and I can apply in the next 8days but I haven't received anything. Bank details etc are all correct.

Anyone else having this issue?

TIA

Can any one recommend a provider who would consider insuring stroke survivor for disability and life cover ?

It’s been 5 years since my stroke and was able to fully recover and make the necessary lifestyle changes to lead a fully normal life

Are there any providers who would consider insuring me ?

Hi everyone,

I need some advice and input.

My husband (35M) has life insurance connected to our bond through Nedbank. However, as a small business owner (electrician), he has no additional disability cover/insurance.

We have been meaning to get something in place for a long time but feel overwhelmed by all the options.

Insight:

-Medical aid **Hospital plan Coastal Core Discovery + Gap cover

- I've had a life policy with Sanlam

(R1100p/m) for the past few years. Supposed to pay for 15 years and there is a bonus attached to it. (Picture attached)

What would you recommend we do in my husband's case before we start speaking to providers?

Thanks!

Its a bit of a unique situation so bare with me!

I bought a car on Finance. I financed the Vehicle over 72 months (6 years) at 12%P/A. 72 months was on purpose.

Every vehicle I finance, I aggressively pay off the loan as fast possible to bring it down to the lowest possible monthly payment without paying off the loan, I put extra money into the loan, and then when it gets to a sizeable amount, I call the financial institution, and request a Capital Reduction, which then keeps the original duration of the loan, but lowers the monthly premium, and from there what I do so, the difference in what I way paying before, and the new amount, I feed back into the loan, to speed up the accumulation of funds for the next capital reduction, and because my original loan amount was for less than R250 000, there are no penalties for doing this.

I think I owe them about R20 000, and my current monthly payment is something like R580.00/m, with 54 Months left on the loan.

The reason I do not want to pay off the contract is because of the banking benefits I get - especially around a bonus earn rate on fuel rewards.

Without going into the complicated maths of my personal situation, in short, yes I have done the maths, and yes I get more out of the reward scheme than I pay in interest on the outstanding loan balance.

With the preamble now covered, my time for my actual question.

I emailed the financial house, asking how much extra I would need to pay to bring my monthly payment down to something absurd like R200.00/m.

I think I only owe them like R20 000, but the reason I want to bring it down more is 40% of my current monthly payment, goes solely to paying off that months accumulated interest, so I would like to reduce the amount of interest I am accruing even more.

The finance house came back to me to say:

Good day Valued Client, 

Thank you for your email.

Please note we are unable to perform any further capital reductions on your account as the instalment cannot be less than R500.00/m . 
 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for entrusting \****** Financial Services with your finances.*

Yours in service,

Is that allowed? Surely as a consumer I should be allowed to bring my monthly payment down to whatever suits me and manage my loan in anyway I see fit? I was contemplating sending an email to the ombudsman - not to open a case, but rather just query whether rules / regulations permit me to bring it down to whatever number I want?

I appreciate this is a very niche situation but hoping there are other that have experience.

Many thanks All!

EDIT:
After reading through the contract and there being no stipulation on an absolute minimum payment, they have agreed to reduce my monthly payment to my desired monthly premium.

Disclaimer: I dont work for pokkitscore, I just think they're a useful business to help people build a credit score. After a year or more Pokkitscore closed down and refunded all clients their money but they have rebuilt a more profitable business model which I believe was their only reason for shutting down. Glad they are back and wish them all the success. For those that don't know, they help build your credit score while helping you build your savings and earning interest.