It would be interesting to see how much people made from crypto from actually cashing out and how much they put in and when. I suspect most "profits" are still in HODL, which is anyway not yet realised and taxable. I also suspect that anyone who realised a sizeable amount, would have bought quite a while ago (like put in R10k 3 years ago and sold and made R250k profit). That would fall under capital gains.
Then you get guys who speculate and bought R100k worth a year ago and made like R900 if they sold at R300k. I think those situations are few and far between as most people with that kind of money to speculate would have sold sooner. For those people a R200k profit will also not make a big difference as they probably have lots of cash anyway so wont even raise a flag.
Without bitcoin exchanges issuing statements or tax certificates SARS will have a hard time calculating capital gains and getting it into their radar. Whether they treat is as trading income or CGT there is still the problem of proving the initial investment amount. There is no purchase agreement or invoice and no statement. The full exchange history for your profile will have to be examined, or bank statements to show the initial investment.
I guess they can play hardball and just deem any cashout to be fully taxable, with no deduction, to simplify the process. But that is also not fair as R100k put in and getting R150k out does not equal R150k profit. They can only hope for taxpayers to disclose truthfully.
On another note, a place like Luno must be making millions, on which they hopefully pay Tax in SA, so there is some incentive for SARS to not worry too much as they do get something out of the whole craze. Money used to buy BTC was mostly already taxed except in cases where people are paid in BTC.
