Banking and paying in South Africa: the FICA file, the tax number within 60 days and the AOW that arrives in rand

Yes, you open a bank account in South Africa as soon as you are there on a visa and can prove an address — the bank has no choice, because it falls under the Financial Intelligence Centre Act of 2001 and must identify and verify you before it makes you a client. What it costs differs per bank and per account; the cost indication works with the monthly fees. The find is in the order: SARS registers a non-resident only at the counter, with your original passport or permit, and wants your bank details with it — so the account comes before the tax number, and that number must be there within 60 days of your first income. The trap is on the Dutch side: the SVB pays the AOW in South Africa in rand, not in euros, and the net amount therefore differs with every payment.

What is FICA, and what does the bank ask for it?

The FIC Act gives the Financial Intelligence Centre the task of combating money laundering and terrorist financing, and for that imposes duties on the institutions that can be abused for it — banks first of all. Two of them touch you directly: customer due diligence, including establishing the beneficial owner, and a risk-based identification and verification of every client. In practice that means: the bank wants to see your passport with the visa and proof of your home address. Which proof of address South African counters accept is stated literally on the government pages: a utility account in your name, or — if it is in someone else's name — an affidavit from the account holder that you live there, with the account attached. The lease is thus your first bank document.

What	When	What it hangs on
Bank account	as soon as you have a visa and proof of address	FIC Act: identification and verification before the service
Tax number at SARS	within 60 days of your first income	proof of identity, address and bank details; non-residents only at the counter
eFiling	after the number is allocated	automatic registration requires a South African ID and so does not work for you
AOW on the South African account	after the first payment on the new number	paid in rand; costs via Citibank at most € 0.48 per payment
Dutch account	stays	cancel the old account only when the first AOW payment has arrived on the new one

Why does the bank come before the tax number?

Because SARS knows six registration channels and only one is open to you. Automatic registration via eFiling and the app requires a valid South African identity document; whoever does not have one goes to a SARS branch with the original passport or permit and a copy. The government page says what you bring: proof of identity, proof of address and proof of your bank details, and the term is 60 days after the first income. Only with the number can you sign up for eFiling and file a return. How the treaty then divides your AOW and pension is in AOW, pension and tax in South Africa; whoever works there reads working in South Africa.

Do not cancel your Dutch account. The SVB says so itself: pass on the new account number and close the old one only when the first payment has been received on the new one. And keep a euro account afterwards for what keeps running in the Netherlands — keeping a bank account and DigiD explains why.

How does my AOW arrive?

The SVB transfers the AOW in euros to Citibank, which passes the amount on to your bank; the costs of that are at most € 0.48 per payment, and your own bank may add charges. For South Africa the exception the SVB makes for seven countries applies: the AOW is paid not in euros but in the country's currency, and because of the exchange rate the net amount differs with every payment. Whoever has a low AOW because they lived in the Netherlands only briefly can ask the SVB to pay every three months or once a year to save bank charges. The payment day shifts too: outside the SEPA countries the SVB pays at the beginning or the middle of the month, not around the 24th. The whole page is about payment to a non-Dutch account number; whoever prefers to have the AOW arrive on the Dutch account and exchange in tranches asks the SVB what that means for the currency.

When am I a resident for SARS?

For the bank it makes no difference, for your tax return it does. SARS treats you as a resident if South Africa is your ordinary residence, or if you meet the physical presence test: more than 91 days in the tax year, more than 91 days in each of the five preceding years and more than 915 days in those five years together. Whoever is neither pays tax only on income from a South African source — interest on a South African bank account is among it, according to SARS. An emigrant who settles is therefore often still a non-resident in the first year and becomes one by staying; the step-by-step plan therefore puts the registration in the first weeks, not at the end of the year.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.2: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to South Africa or go straight to step 5.2 in the open plan.