8
YOUR TAXES IN RETIREMENT
MONEY BASICS
with MARTIN HESSE
ONE would think the government would have more sympathy for pensioners by allowing them to live tax-free – after all, they have been paying tax throughout their working lives! Sadly, pensioners who are earning above a certain minimum amount are obliged to pay income tax, just like everyone else. And apart from income tax, there are virtually no concessions for pensioners when it comes to capital gains tax, dividends tax,
VAT, or estate duty, to mention some of the other ways the government extracts revenue from its citizens. That said, the government is not totally unsympathetic, and there are a few important ways in which pensioners can pay less tax, through higher exemptions and thresholds for over-65s. Let’s look at some of your main taxes and concessions. INCOME TAX You pay PAYE on pension income from an annuity provided by a provider such as a life insurance company. If it is a compulsory annuity (one you have to buy with two-thirds of your savings in a retirement fund), you are taxed on the whole amount, in accordance with the SARS income tax tables. You pay income tax because your contributions to your retirement fund during your working life were tax deductible. If it is a voluntary annuity
(that is, one that you buy with discretionary savings or from the one-third of your retirement savings you are allowed to take as a lump sum), you only pay tax on that part of your income that derives from investment returns, not from your original capital (because that capital came from after-tax money). Within the annuity investments that are providing your pension, there is no tax on capital gains, dividends or interest. If you are receiving income from various sources, you will need to register with SARS as a provisional taxpayer, subject to certain thresholds. For the 2022/23 tax year, the rebate for over-65s (the primary plus secondary rebates) is R25 425. For over-75s this rises (primary plus secondary plus tertiary rebates) to R28 422. This equates to tax thresholds (the amount of annual income below which you do not pay tax) of R141 250 for over-65s
