SARS cracks down on Bitcoin traders in South Africa

Hanno Labuschagne

Hanno Labuschagne

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SARS cracks down on Bitcoin traders in South Africa​

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has sent audit requests to taxpayers requesting them to disclose cryptocurrency trades and purchases.

This is according to Tax Consulting South Africa, which said it was recently approached by taxpayers who received this type of audit request.
 
backstreetboy said:
Lol yeah good luck with that.
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So confusing. If you not cashing it to a bank account then what exactly is the tax liability?

If I buy a house for X. Then sell for Y. Y-X is sitting in my bank account to be spent.

If you in crypto then how are they measuring? At what point in time to calculate value? What exactly is the tax liability if you not cashing out into fiat to use?
 
They'll go after the big players, not little old me with under 300 XRP.
 
akescpt said:
So confusing. If you not cashing it to a bank account then what exactly is the tax liability?

If I buy a house for X. Then sell for Y. Y-X is sitting in my bank account to be spent.

If you in crypto then how are they measuring? At what point in time to calculate value? What exactly is the tax liability if you not cashing out into fiat to use?
Click to expand...
Also, since it is a currency, if I spend all the bitcoin as bitcoin I would have made 0 profit in fiat currency terms, so there is nothing to tax. So if I really wanted I could transfer the bitcoin out of my Luno account and into a personal wallet and just hold it there until I want to use it and then pay from the private wallet.

I don't think SARS have thought this through (or I haven't?) and think Bitcoin is an actual "investment" and tax it like they do share trading.
 
Also not sure how this is supposed to work. I will be cashing out a large amount sometime this year (to Rand) because I need to pay some real life stuff, so this will definitely be interesting..
 
cyb3rt said:
Also not sure how this is supposed to work. I will be cashing out a large amount sometime this year (to Rand) because I need to pay some real life stuff, so this will definitely be interesting..
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The cashing out should be the most straightforward case. You pay tax on whatever you cash out depending on the tax bracket you fall into. Or at least set the tax amount aside in case SARS comes knocking. I got some good info from @Snyper564 near the end of this thread:

https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/threads/crypto-earnings-capital-gains-tax.931860/
 
saor said:
The cashing out should be the most straightforward case. You pay tax on whatever you cash out depending on the tax bracket you fall into. Or at least set the tax amount aside in case SARS comes knocking. I got some good info from @Snyper564 near the end of this thread:

https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/threads/crypto-earnings-capital-gains-tax.931860/
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thanks I will have a look

To me it sounds like they want to take into account the buy price, sell price, crypto-to-crypto price when it was converted ect. and if thats the case, its going to be a ton of work for someone because I did all of that A LOT
 
cyb3rt said:
thanks I will have a look

To me it sounds like they want to take into account the buy price, sell price, crypto-to-crypto price when it was converted ect. and if thats the case, its going to be a ton of work for someone because I did all of that A LOT
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Same. I'm happy to pay tax on whatever I cash out, but to keep track of individual transactions would be madness.
 
greedy government being greedy as usual, nothing to see here.

SARS isn't even realizing the massive sums being transferred via crypto and not going after them.
 
waylander said:
please advise on tax treatment of transactions involving buying drugs/fake IDs on the dark web

asking for a concerned friend
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Easy. When your "friend" goes to jail for said illegal activities, he/she will have several years tacked on to the sentence for tax evasion.
 
SilverCode said:
Also, since it is a currency, if I spend all the bitcoin as bitcoin I would have made 0 profit in fiat currency terms, so there is nothing to tax. So if I really wanted I could transfer the bitcoin out of my Luno account and into a personal wallet and just hold it there until I want to use it and then pay from the private wallet.

I don't think SARS have thought this through (or I haven't?) and think Bitcoin is an actual "investment" and tax it like they do share trading.
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SARS does not consider Bitcoin to be a currency. Hence it is treated like any other intangible asset, i.e. when you sell it or barter it, the profit (if any) will be subject to income tax or capital gains tax. It's pretty simple actually.
 
saor said:
The cashing out should be the most straightforward case. You pay tax on whatever you cash out depending on the tax bracket you fall into. Or at least set the tax amount aside in case SARS comes knocking. I got some good info from @Snyper564 near the end of this thread:

https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/threads/crypto-earnings-capital-gains-tax.931860/
Click to expand...
Nope, I give up. Read the entire thread and I still don't know.

I will look for a proper tax guy I can pay to assist me when the time comes.
 
akescpt said:
So confusing. If you not cashing it to a bank account then what exactly is the tax liability?

If I buy a house for X. Then sell for Y. Y-X is sitting in my bank account to be spent.

If you in crypto then how are they measuring? At what point in time to calculate value? What exactly is the tax liability if you not cashing out into fiat to use?
Click to expand...

The article is slightly confusing, but there is only a tax liability for the seller when you actually sell or trade your Bitcoin, and then only if you actually make a profit from the transaction. There is no tax liability if you make a loss, but the point the article makes is that you are meant to disclose any gain or loss you make from selling cryptocurrency.
 
SilverCode said:
Also, since it is a currency, if I spend all the bitcoin as bitcoin I would have made 0 profit in fiat currency terms, so there is nothing to tax. So if I really wanted I could transfer the bitcoin out of my Luno account and into a personal wallet and just hold it there until I want to use it and then pay from the private wallet.

I don't think SARS have thought this through (or I haven't?) and think Bitcoin is an actual "investment" and tax it like they do share trading.
Click to expand...


In South Africa, the word “currency” is not defined in the Income Tax Act (the Act). Cryptocurrencies are neither official South African tender nor widely used and accepted in South Africa as a medium of payment or exchange. As such, cryptocurrencies are not regarded by SARS as a currency for income tax purposes or Capital Gains Tax (CGT). Instead, cryptocurrencies are regarded by SARS as assets of an intangible nature.

Its an asset that attracts CGT...nothing to do with currency
Same as buying a house or stocks. Selling it attracts tax.
Buying and selling often attracts income tax
 
saor said:
Same. I'm happy to pay tax on whatever I cash out, but to keep track of individual transactions would be madness.
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Unit trusts are bought and sold all the time where you sell various units at the same price but the units were variously bought at different prices. There is accepted practice using the weighted-average method to value the "base" cost of the various units sold. The principle is the same.
 
saor said:
Same. I'm happy to pay tax on whatever I cash out, but to keep track of individual transactions would be madness.
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Yep that would be a stupid request from their side and means they know nothing about crypto if they think that's a legitimate question to ask.
 
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