Guide to Crypto Taxes in South Africa

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) considers and taxes cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin to be "assets of an intangible nature" as opposed to currency or property. The agency has not released comprehensive guidance on crypto taxation, but has increased its scrutiny of crypto transactions, in line with its move to create a more robust regulatory framework for fintech.^[1]

In theory, SARS considers the disposal of cryptocurrency to be a taxable crypto capital gains event. However, there is not any guidance about how crypto transactions would be determined to be capital gains transactions. For equity shares, capital gains tax treatment kicks in after an asset has been held for more than 3 years.

South African law firm Webber Wentzel suggests that previous tax rulings about held Krugerrands may determine capital-deeming rules for cryptocurrency.^[2]

SARS views crypto-to-crypto trades as barter transactions and taxes any profit as capital gains (18%). Gains are calculated by subtracting the fiat value of coin A at the time of purchase from the fiat value of coin B at the time of the trade. Associated expenses may be claimed on taxes.

Crypto payments for goods or services are also considered barter transactions and are taxed as outlined in the section above.

If kept in the revenue account, crypto mining, staking, airdrops, and hard fork proceeds are considered income and taxed at 45%. However, if the owner intends to hold the mining income long term, they would receive the capital gains tax rate (18%).

Webber Wentzel advises that staking income is unlikely to meet the criteria of interest income and therefore not included in the annual interest income exemption amount.

The South African tax agency also clarifies questions on which crypto accounting methods are acceptable. The crypto “purchase price is determined on the date of the earlier of receipt and accrual. Cryptocurrency is not regarded as a share and therefore SARS does not treat it as the average for the year.”

In other words, you should not use the average cost or last in, first out (LIFO) accounting method. To be conservative, a first in, first out (FIFO) approach is best, although specific identification is not excluded by the tax rules.

In early 2020, SARS was quoted by a series of South African media sources as expanding their cryptocurrency audit and detection services. They have publicly listed employment opportunities specifically geared towards cryptocurrency tracking.

In their 2018 tax guidance, SARS commented that it has been“granted a wide range of collection powers in terms of the Income Tax Act” in regards to cryptocurrency.^[3]

SARS clarifies in its guidelines that “taxpayers may be subject to penalties [for having treated a cryptocurrency transaction in a manner that is inconsistent with South African tax laws]... See Chapter 16, and section 223 specifically, of the Tax Administration Act, 2011.”

Learn more about crypto taxes in other countries in our Crypto Tax Guide.