Time running out to declare offshore assets

Local taxpayers who may have stashed their assets in cash and property offshore have less than a month to disclose their earnings and ownership details to the South African Revenue Service (SARS), notes a report in The Citizen. It says the deadline for the Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme (SVDP) is 31 August. ‘SVDP is a window period for individuals and companies to regularise undisclosed or unauthorised foreign assets and associated income. It came into effect on 01 October 2016,’ SARS said. The report notes that Common Reporting Standard, a new global entity that authorises the automatic exchange of information between tax authorities, will enable SARS to start receiving offshore third-party financial data from other tax authorities on a regular basis from September 2017.