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Scared housewife - I may owe tax???



I have been a housewife for a very long time. I am now 63 years old. We are married outside community of property. I had a business for a short period, many years back, which failed (I have no business sense it seems) and since then my husband was giving me money every month. It was quite a lot of money at the time, but I didn't really think that it would count as a salary. I bought a house and sold it 10 years later using the money my husband gave me. I got about 500k out from that. I have the 500k invested with a big investment firm now. My husband can no longer give me any money (he lost all his - no business sense either I guess). I am now dependent on the money I have invested. My daughter says that I probably owe SARS more money than I have because of all the years my husband gave me money. I am so scared that they will take my money away and then I will have nothing. I am much too scared to go in and ask, because I don't know what they will do. I do have a tax number, but I must have gotten that all those years ago when I had a business.

TaxTim TaxTim says:
4 March 2014 at 1:22

You don't have to worry! Transfers between spouses are tax free and have no limits on how much can be given from one spouse to another! So there is nothing to be concerned about!

Petrified says:
4 March 2014 at 1:39

Thank you Tim. I cannot tell you how grateful I am. I was so scared because we were married outside community of property.

Thank you so much for this service and for your very quick response.

TaxTim TaxTim says:
4 March 2014 at 17:29

Community of Property affects income earned from outside sources. Your husband would have already paid tax on his income and so is free to distribute to you as his spouse at no tax charge whatsoever.

Glad I could put your mind at ease!

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