Do your Tax with TaxTim and WIN R10,000  More info   T&C's apply


Foreign cash inheritance, how does the tax work?



My two minor children are South African natural persons, and have thus each been issued with their own ID numbers at birth. If a foreign cash inheritance from their overseas great- grandfather to them (in CHF and Euros) , is converted into ZAR and deposited equally in halves into my two minor children's money market bank accounts, then I believe that this inheritance (and all inheritances) are not deemed taxable. Would this assumption be correct ?

Lastly, would interest income accruing in each of these minor children's respective accounts deemed to be accruing to me ( the guardian), or in fact to the minor children themselves (as they are natural persons with their own South African citizenship and their own own identity numbers) ?

TaxTim Marc TaxTim Marc said:
4 March 2013 at 0:01

Inheritances as not taxable, unless they are from a Trust set up by a parent in which cases sometimes the inheritance is taxed in the hands of the parent.

In terms of the inheritance actually accruing to you, if it was directly from a grandparent with no linkage to you then the income would accrue to your children and they would be liable for tax on these amounts.

This entry was posted in Tax Q&A and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.





Submit your tax return right here!
Get started

 Do Your Tax Return Easily
 Avoid penalties
 Maximise your refund

Answer simple questions about your incomes and expenses. TaxTim does the rest. Just click click, submit.

Make tax easy

Blog Categories


Ask TaxTim

Got a question you want answered about tax?

Visit our helpdesk

Get SARS Tax Deadlines in your Inbox
We'll tell you when you need to file, along with tax tips and updates.