Browsing by Author "Michaelides, Georgios"

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    The international tax consequences arising on the death of South African individuals owning Greek or Portuguese property and Greeks or Portuguese owning South African property
    (2011) Michaelides, Georgios; Roeleveld, Jennifer
    South Africa levies two taxes on an individual in the event of death; namely estate duty and capital gains tax. Much debate exists on whether it is fair for South Africans to pay a "double tax" on the same assets on death. There is also a possibility that the deceased becomes liable for a third tax to foreign tax authorities when owning foreign property. This dissertation specifically examines the international tax issues that may arise on death for a South African with either Greek or Portuguese heritage. There are currently approximately 45,000 Greek passport holding South African residents and approximately 300,000 Portuguese passport holding South Africans. The question asked by many is: "are South Africans who have Greek or Portuguese heritage subject to taxes on death in excess of the South African "double tax" (capital gains tax and Estate Duty) as a result of any foreign taxes payable?" If this is the case, are there adequate relief measures available that can be used to address this inequity? The question is very topical at the moment on account of the current amendments in Greece with respect to the tax residency definition and the increased inheritance tax rates. It is also beneficial to include Portugal in the study as it is known to have less international double taxation issues. In effect if this is found to be true in this dissertation then Portugal can be used as a comparative benchmark, possible solutions can be derived from their policies and if the same problem arises between both South Africa and Greece and South Africa and Portugal it may be indicative of a much larger global tax issue that needs resolving.