SARS will soon know what property you own overseas
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South Africa is one of over 20 countries that has committed to a new international agreement to automatically exchange information on foreign property ownership. While implementation is only expected by 2029 or 2030, the implications are already clear—and South African taxpayers should act now to ensure full compliance.
SARS will soon know what property you own overseas
Under the new IPI MCAA agreement, countries will begin sharing property ownership data automatically, including:
Title deeds and registration information,
Rental income or other earnings,
Property sales and capital gains,
Related taxpayer identifiers (e.g. names, addresses, tax numbers).
In short: if you own property abroad (in the listed countries), SARS will soon know about it.
SA residents are taxed on worldwide income
South Africa uses a residency-based tax system. This means:
If you are a South African tax resident, you must declare all income—whether earned locally or abroad.
This includes rental income from foreign property, capital gains from a property sale, and any foreign dividends or interest. And no, it does not matter that you pay tax in on the earnings in the other country - you still have to declare it and you
Even if the property is overseas, SARS expects you to:
Include it in your annual tax return (ITR12)
Declare any income earned (e.g. rent)
Report capital gains when selling the property
Reflect it in the appropriate sections for foreign assets.
Failure to do so could lead to:
Understatement penalties
Backdated tax assessments
Potential criminal prosecution for willful non-disclosure.
The risk of non-disclosure is growing
Historically, SARS relied on voluntary declarations or whistleblowers to track down foreign assets. That era is ending. The automatic sharing of property data means SARS will no longer need to investigate—they’ll simply receive the information from their counterparts abroad.
Taxpayers should review and regularise their offshore positions now
While the IPI MCAA won’t come into force immediately, this is the window of opportunity for taxpayers to:
Review past tax returns,
Correct any under-declarations via voluntary disclosure programmes (while still available),
Get professional advice on how to ensure full offshore compliance.
Bottom line: If you own property outside South Africa—or derive income from it—you must declare it in full. SARS is tightening the net, and the global tax landscape is moving rapidly toward full transparency. This is the time to prepare, not to wait.
