After a report revealing that Kaizer Chiefs attacker Gaston Sirino owes SARS millions of rands in tax, KickOff.com provides insight on the situation.
Two weeks ago, Sunday World reported that Sirino allegedly owed SARS R6,1 million in personal tax came as a shock.
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The Uruguayan was granted South African citizenship in 2023.
In the interest of educating the readers and football fans, this publication spoke to a lawyer, Advocate Lindeni Kalipa, on how taxation differs in Mzansi for a foreign national and once such a foreign person in this case a foreign player) gains citizenship, after spending five continous years in the country.
"The general rule for taxation in SA is that a natural person who is resident is taxed on his worldwide income and a non-resident is subject to normal tax only on the income derived from the source within SA, save for few exceptions.
"This is found in the definition of “gross income”[1] in section 1 of the Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962 (“IT Act”)," Kalipa, also Chairman of Phoenix Stars FC, clarified.
Kalipa highlighted that once a foreign national (a foreign player in this scenario) gets South African citizenship, crucially, his tax responsibilities change.
"The only change is that such a soccer player now becomes a resident (of SA) for tax purposes and he becomes liable for tax on his world-wide income," Kalipa wrote.
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"This means that he is not only taxed on the income earned in SA, but he is also taxed on the income earned outside SA, save for few exceptions.
"The possibility of double taxation between SA and the source country is taken care of by the Double Taxation Agreements between countries," added Kalipa, who has a strong background on law and tax.
- Phoenix Stars Football Club (PSFC), was founded in 2024 under the auspices of Kalipa Sports Academy (a Non-Profit Company). PSFC is affiliated to Football Association Pretoria (“FAP”) and all their junior and senior team play in the first division
Photo: Darren Stewart/Gallo Images
