Incoming Forex Transfer Codes?

edited in Questions and Answers
So we have a small incoming forex transfer from the US for Monsters and Medicine sales. Yipee! As part of the process, we need to supply a reason to the reserve bank: a SARB BoP Code. This payment is technically from licensing our game to a distributor, so they can reproduce and sell it. The distributor in question is Humble, although I believe most digital distributors, like Steam, have very similar arrangements.

According to my understanding, the relevant code for this is: "Proceeds received for the use of intellectual property" -> 201 - "Rights assigned for licenses to reproduce and/or distribute". Can anyone confirm that this is correct? Another option we considered is: "Computer software and related items" -> 236 - "Non-customised, electronically acquired – Single payment".

(I had a look for relevant threads that may have covered this, but I could find any that dealt with incoming forex and this small aspect)

Comments

  • edited
    I use 201 when I do Paypal withdrawals for DD. I'm pretty sure that's what our forex processor uses for payments into our USD account as well.

    Note that these codes seem to keep changing. We used to use 203, but it sorta got split apart and now the best match is 201 after the rewrite.
    Thanked by 1francoisvn
  • I changed the title of this thread because it kept looking like spam
  • Good to know, thanks :)
  • Also, piece of advice that I've put up here before, but is relevant: If you start getting paid in USD and you're regularly moving in a few thousand dollars a month, open up a CFC account and don't do it through your regular bank - they are stiffing you on the exchange rate EVERY TIME.

    At the very least, ALWAYS ask them for a better rate. They can (and will) change the rate if you ask. At least having a CFC account means you can keep amounts in dollars so you only convert to rands when you want to.
    Thanked by 2Tuism pieter
  • At the moment we're not receiving forex payments of that much and not very frequently, but hopefully soon we will, and then we will need to get a better setup for forex transfers. Thanks for the reminder, hopefully we'll need to sooner rather than later ;)
    Thanked by 1dammit
  • That's interesting. FNB, when I approached them on the topic, suggested that I use 266 for everything.
  • dislekcia said:
    Also, piece of advice that I've put up here before, but is relevant: If you start getting paid in USD and you're regularly moving in a few thousand dollars a month, open up a CFC account and don't do it through your regular bank - they are stiffing you on the exchange rate EVERY TIME.

    At the very least, ALWAYS ask them for a better rate. They can (and will) change the rate if you ask. At least having a CFC account means you can keep amounts in dollars so you only convert to rands when you want to.
    This is an awesome tip! Thank you, will be looking into this immediately. I've been cringing every month at exchange loss.
  • So... we filled in 201, and everything seemed fine until the system asked us for an SARB Application... eh no :/ We then called the forex department at our bank (FNB) and asked them about it, making sure to explain that we license and don't actually directly sell and such. They told us to use "Professional, management and Technical services" -> 292 - "Proceeds for managerial services", which I don't even... So yeah, don't really know how useful that is for others, but we got our money.
    Thanked by 1dammit
  • Yeah. That's not going to be sustainable. That's the bank trying to get out of doing paperwork for you... Usually they try to charge you for it, but presumably they decided this was too much hassle. FNB wanted like R1800 from us to contact the SARB for every transaction. Not okay.

    You're going to need an SARB approval thing if you're earning $ regularly. Even for small amounts. Currencies Direct did the whole thing for us and made it really easy. Plus, if anything goes wrong, it's their fault, not ours ;)
  • I thought that SARB approval was only really needed for outgoing payments... sigh. Oh well, thanks for the heads up.
  • @dislekcia - Thank you for the lead on Currencies Direct, busy setting it all up to migrate from direct payments into FNB, to CD - hopefully changing payment destination through Steam isn't too difficult.
  • Oh, thanks for the pro tip on Currencies Direct. I usually go for the computer related stuff. Though to be honest I kinda pick one and hope for the best. Also with my recent forex transactions (mainly outgoing) my understanding was that SARB was only above certain thresholds. According to the FNB site, but I can see how this may be different for incoming transactions and corporations.
    What documentation is required?
    R10 million documentation (Foreign Investment Allowance)
     Your valid SARS Tax Certificate for Foreign Investment Allowance (referred to as FIA-001)
    R1 million documentation (Single Discretionary Allowance for Investment Purposes)
     No documentation is required. However, please note the following:
    o You may not exceed the limits set by the SARB. This includes the Foreign Investment Allowance limit
    and the Single Discretionary Allowance limit specified by SARB from time to time.
    o If you are using the Single Discretionary Allowance (for investment purposes) to fund your FNB
    Global Account, please note that residents (private individuals) over the age of 18 can avail of a single
    discretionary allowance of up to R1million per calendar year at their own discretion, for any legal
    purpose abroad, including Foreign Investments; an
  • Oh, thanks for the pro tip on Currencies Direct. I usually go for the computer related stuff. Though to be honest I kinda pick one and hope for the best. Also with my recent forex transactions (mainly outgoing) my understanding was that SARB was only above certain thresholds. According to the FNB site, but I can see how this may be different for incoming transactions and corporations.
    Pretty much every outgoing transaction goes through the SARB, if only to convince them that you're not secretly trying to circumvent the foreign investment regulations with sneaky payments. That's also why you often have to motivate why you're sending money outside of the country. When we bought our Unity licenses we had to justify why we weren't buying equivalent local software (ok, that wasn't hard, but still). Even if they're always involved, it's only in cases like the above that you have to submit extra information/documents.

    Just a note, if you ARE hitting investment amounts like that and need SARB help, you should definitely have a financial advisor/manager whose problem it should become ;)
    Thanked by 1TheFuntastic
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