Tax on Home sold in South Africa

A few years ago I along with a family member inherited equal an equal share of the family home in South Africa. I am living in Ireland and have been for some time. If I sold my share of the SA home to the other family member and paid the taxes in SA (in the region of 33% CGT) would I still have pay tax on the money if I brought it to Ireland? I already have bought a house in Ireland so can't argue that the SA house is my 1st (or primary) residence. I spoke to one tax advisor who advised me (at 245 for a half hour) that given that I was not really domiciled in Ireland or SA for tax that I should open an account in the UK and move the money there. This makes me nervous but I certainly don't want to be taxed twice on the money by bringing it to Ireland. Should I approach Revenue about this?

Don't worry...two things:

- You're likely to be non Irish domiciled and therefore only subject to Irish CGT on foreign gains to the extent that those gains are brought into Ireland. That's probably what that advisor was referring to.

- In any event if you pay 33% CGT in South Africa, there's a Tax Treaty between Ireland and South Africa which eliminates double taxation so you'd get credit for the South African CGT against your Irish CGT liability. Assuming that gains are calculated similarly in both jurisdictions (which should be the case), you'd have no further tax to pay in Ireland. So my first bullet point may be largely irrelevant.

Thanks Gordon,
So as long as I keep proof of payment of SA CGT I will only pay CGT on the difference (if any) and then it will be safe to bring the money to Ireland. BUT it could get interesting if SA tax authorities decide I am not domiciled in SA and therefore should not pay the tax in the SA jurisdiction. If that were to be the case I guess a UK bank account could come into play because neither the Irish nor the SA tax authorities see me as domiciled in their jurisdiction. Although I can't believe that at least one of them wouldn't want their cut!

My understanding is that the South African rules are similar to our own in that non SA residents pay CGT on SA property regardless.

So you'll pay CGT in SA.

The question is how much and how that compares with your Irish CGT liability. If the SA liability is equal to or greater than the Irish one, bring the cash into Ireland. If it's less than the Irish one, not bringing it into Ireland would save you the Irish piece.