The hidden tax married couples might miss

By Kim Doolan*

Picture a fairly common South African situation. Your spouse took up a job overseas last year, or finally settled abroad after months of visas, paperwork, and goodbyes. While you wound up things back home, you paid off the last of a bond, covered some moving costs, or simply sent money over to help them get started.

It might not have felt like a financial transaction, more like family looking after family.

However, under recent changes to South African tax law, that would be considered a donation, and taxed accordingly.

Since the Budget Speech on 25 February 2026, National Treasury has drawn a new line through one of the oldest tax breaks married couples relied on. Donations between spouses used to be entirely tax free, no limit, no questions asked. That exemption now only applies in full if the spouse receiving the donation is still a South African tax resident.

Once they've ceased residency, whatever you give them, transfer to them, or pay on their behalf can trigger donations tax. And Treasury has said this applies from budget day itself, not from whenever the final law is passed.

A rule that's already working, before it's law

Here's what makes this so easy to miss. The change in the tax law is still only a draft.

The Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill that will formally write it into law is open for public comment until 28 August 2026, and it isn't expected to reach Parliament until closer to year end. So, there's a real gap between when SARS is already applying the rule and when most people would reasonably assume a ‘proposed’ change becomes real.

The problem is that unless you were reading tax commentary in February, there was no way to know your family's arrangement had quietly become taxable.

Miss the deadline and the bill follows you both

This is the part that catches people out. Donations tax has to be declared and paid within a month of the donation, using a form called an IT144.

Miss that window, which is easy to do when you didn't know a donation had even taken place, and you and your spouse both become liable for the full amount. SARS can pursue either of you for it, wherever in the world they now live.

These transfers also tend to go undeclared rather than deliberately hidden, which means SARS isn't working against a ticking clock the way it would on an ordinary return. The liability doesn't quietly disappear. It can surface years later, with interest attached.

And this isn't only about spouses moving abroad. The same principle sits behind South Africa's much broader ‘connected persons’ rules, which assume any transaction between family members, or between you and a family trust or company, may not be at arm's length. Donations tax is simply the sharpest edge of it right now.

Could this already apply to you?

Has your spouse become, or is close to becoming, a non-resident for tax purposes? Have you transferred money, paid a debt, or handed over an asset on their behalf since 25 February 2026? And do you actually know whether that was declared to SARS?

If you answered yes to any of these, or you're not sure, that uncertainty is the problem. It isn't a detail to tidy up later.

There's still time to get ahead of this

The upside of a law that isn't finished yet is that you get a window most tax changes never offer. You can check what's already happened, declare it properly if needed, and plan what comes next before the rules are locked in for good.

It's also worth knowing that donations tax rarely travels alone. Moving assets to a spouse who's left South Africa can bring capital gains tax into the picture too, so it makes sense to have both checked together rather than one at a time.

You don't need to work through this on your own. At Brenthurst, our tax team deals with exactly these situations and would much rather help you get ahead of a liability than have you discover it from a SARS letter.

*Kim is a tax practitioner at Brenthurst Wealth