Question

Discuss whether Moses Mabida can be considered to be a resident of South Africa for the 2017 and 2018 years of assessment.

INFORMATION Moses Mabida has never been ordinarily resident in South Africa. But he has a number of relatives who are ordinarily resident in South Africa and he enjoys visiting these relatives in South Africa. Details of the time he spent in South Africa in the 2018 year of assessment and in the five previous years of assessment were as follows

Year Present

2018 61

2017 92

2016 121

2015 184

2014 181

2013 225

2012 220

Answer 1

Excluding ordinarily resident, a person will be considered to be a resident of South Africa if s/he meets all three requirements of physical presence test. For the physical presence test, a person should have been physically present in South Africa for a period of more than

1). 91 days during the year of assessment being considered

2). 91 days for each of the five years of assessment before the year of assessment being considered, and

3). 915 days in total for the five preceding years of assessment

As can be seem from the given data, Moses spent on 61 days in the assessment year 2018 in South Africa so for the AY2018, he will not be considered a resident. However, for the AY2017, he satisfies all three conditions of the test, so he will be considered a resident for the AY2017.