The 91/915-Day Rule: When SA Tax Residency Actually Starts

If you have left South Africa, or spend part of the year there, the question that decides your entire tax position is whether SARS still counts you as a resident. A resident is taxed on worldwide income. A non-resident is taxed only on income from a source within South Africa.

There are two ways to be a resident, and most articles blur them. This page answers one of them precisely, and is explicit that it does not answer the other.

The physical presence test: three thresholds, all of which must be exceeded

From SARS's own interpretation note, a person must be physically present in the Republic for a period or periods exceeding:

	Threshold
1. In the current year of assessment	91 days in aggregate
2. In each of the five preceding years	91 days in aggregate
3. Across those five preceding years in total	915 days in aggregate

All three. Not any one of them. This is the single most common error in summaries of the rule, which list the thresholds as if any would trigger residency.

SARS's own worked example makes the point better than an explanation can. A person was present for 355 days in the current year — comfortably over the first threshold — and over 91 days in every one of the five prior years, clearing the second. But the five-year total came to 563 days, short of 915. The third requirement failed, so the person was not resident.

Note also what that example shows about the aggregate: the current year does not count toward the 915. It is the five preceding years only.

A part of a day is a day

This is the detail that quietly ruins careful planning.

Under the definition, a day includes part of a day, and a day runs from 00:00 to 24:00. SARS spells out the consequence: someone who arrives at 23:55 is treated as physically present for that whole day — five minutes counts as one.

And both the arrival day and the departure day are counted. SARS's example has a person landing at 19:00 on 1 February and leaving at 06:00 on 4 February — actually in the country for 2 days and 11 hours — counted as 4 days.

So a short trip costs more days than it feels like. Anyone managing their presence close to a threshold should count the way SARS counts, from passport stamps, not from nights slept.

One exclusion: a day spent in transit between two places outside the Republic is excluded, provided the person does not formally enter through a port of entry.

When residency starts — and it can be backdated

This surprises people, and it is worth understanding before it happens rather than after.

A person who meets the test does not become resident partway through the year. They become resident from the first day of that year of assessment.

SARS's example: a person was physically present in South Africa only from 15 April 2017 in the relevant year — yet, having met all three thresholds, was resident from 1 March 2017, the first day of that year of assessment. Six weeks during which they had not set foot in the country are inside their residency.

Residency can therefore only begin in the sixth year — the year after five consecutive qualifying years.

Ceasing residency: 330 continuous days, and the date is not what you expect

To stop being a resident under this test, a person must be physically outside the Republic for a continuous period of at least 330 full days.

Then the part people get wrong:

Residence will cease from the day that the person left the Republic.

Not from the day the 330 days elapse — from the day you left. The 330 days is the qualifying condition; the effective date is retrospective to departure.

SARS also notes this period always spans two years of assessment, because qualifying as resident in a year requires at least 92 days present, so 330 continuous days out cannot fit inside a single year.

The part this page does not answer, and it may be the part that decides it

Everything above is the physical presence test. There is a second route to residency, and SARS is explicit about the hierarchy:

The 'ordinarily residence' test supersedes the physical presence test. The physical presence test is thus not applicable during any year of assessment that a person is ordinarily resident in the Republic.

If you are ordinarily resident, the day counts are irrelevant. You are a resident regardless of them. And SARS adds that a person who is ordinarily resident, spending time abroad, who intends to return, remains resident "regardless of the period of time spent outside the Republic" — so no amount of absence helps while that intention holds.

We are not defining "ordinarily resident" here. It is a separate facts-and-circumstances test set out in Interpretation Note 3, which we have not read, and it turns on things like where your permanent home and your real life are — not on a number.

So knowing the 91/915 thresholds does not, by itself, tell you whether you are a South African tax resident. It tells you the answer for somebody who is not ordinarily resident. Establishing which of the two tests applies to you is the first question, and it is the one worth taking to a practitioner.

Two things that are not the same as ceasing residency

Worth repeating because they are the most expensive misconceptions in this area, and we covered both in the foreign income exemption page:

Financial emigration is not tax emigration. SARS states that emigrating for exchange control purposes does not automatically break tax residence — the deciding factor is whether you ceased to be ordinarily resident.

Citizenship is not residency. SARS treats citizenship as one indicator of being ordinarily resident, expressly "not conclusive". Keeping or giving up a passport does not settle it.

And if you do cease to be a tax resident, you must tell SARS — through the wizard on the income tax return, which asks the date, or via a tax clearance application on eFiling.

How to count, if you are near a threshold

Count from your passport, arrival and departure stamps included, not from memory or from nights booked.

Count each of the five prior years separately, then total them. Failing the 91-day floor in a single one of those five years breaks the whole test.

Do not add the current year into the 915. It is the five preceding years only.

Get the dates right before the year ends, not at filing. This is one of the few tax positions genuinely affected by a decision made in February.

About the source

The thresholds and rules above are quoted from SARS Interpretation Note 4 (Issue 5), dated 3 August 2018, on the definition of "resident" in section 1(1) of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962.

They sit in the statutory definition rather than in an annually-adjusted table, so they are not the kind of figure that moves each Budget — but the note is several years old and this page is not advice. Confirm the current position with SARS or a cross-border tax practitioner before acting on it.

How does this affect YOUR Money OS?

Residency is the switch that decides whether South Africa taxes your worldwide income or only what you earn there. Nothing else in your tax position matters as much, and it turns partly on a day count you can actually manage.

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FAQ

What is the 91-day rule in South Africa? It is one of three thresholds in the physical presence test. You must exceed 91 days in the current year of assessment, 91 days in each of the five preceding years, and 915 days in aggregate across those five preceding years. All three must be met.

Does the 915 days include the current year? No. It is the aggregate across the five preceding years of assessment only. SARS's own example turns on exactly this point.

Does a part day count as a full day? Yes. A day runs 00:00 to 24:00 and includes part of a day, so arriving at 23:55 counts as one day. Both the arrival and departure days are counted.

When do I become a South African tax resident under this test? From the first day of the year of assessment in which all three requirements are met — which can backdate residency to before you arrived that year. It can only be the sixth year, following five consecutive qualifying years.

How do I stop being a tax resident under the physical presence test? By being physically outside South Africa for a continuous period of at least 330 full days. Residence then ceases from the day you left, not from the day the 330 days end.

Does the day count matter if I am ordinarily resident? No. SARS states that the ordinarily residence test supersedes the physical presence test, so the day counts do not apply in any year you are ordinarily resident — and someone ordinarily resident who intends to return stays resident regardless of time spent abroad.

Does financial emigration end my tax residency? No. SARS says emigration for exchange control purposes does not automatically break tax residence; the deciding factor is whether you ceased to be ordinarily resident.

Do I have to notify SARS if I cease to be a resident? Yes — via the wizard on the income tax return, which asks for the date, or when applying for a tax clearance certificate on eFiling.