Laura du Preez | 14 August 2025
Laura du Preez has been writing about personal finance topics for more than 20 years, including eight years as personal finance editor for two leading media houses.
Crypto asset service providers in South Africa will probably have to issue tax certificates soon in order to comply with the international crypto reporting framework that will be 
implemented in 2027.
This is according to Andrew Wes, head of corporate income tax at the South African Revenue Service (SARS), who was speaking at the Tax Indaba held in Johannesburg this week.
The Tax Indaba is an annual event for tax professionals organised by the South African Institute of Taxation (SAIT).
Wes told the Indaba that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has developed an international standard for exchanging information about crypto assets, known as the Crypto Asset Reporting Framework.
This framework will be implemented from 2027 and South Africa, as an OECD key partner, will be expected to participate.
Wes said the framework requires tax authorities to exchange information about crypto asset transactions with each other. This will mean that if a South African resident sells a crypto asset in another jurisdiction, that jurisdiction will inform SARS, he said.
Similarly, South Africa will be expected to provide information to other OECD member countries and partners.
Customer details, transaction totals, acquisitions, disposals and crypto wallet addresses will be required and disclosed, Wes said.
Crypto asset service providers registered as financial services providers in South Africa are going to have to report this information to revenue authorities in order for this exchange of information to occur.
South Africa has been considering introducing a tax certificate, similar to an IT3b, for crypto asset service providers to provide information about transactions and investments in the same way your bank or financial institution reports transactions and investments to SARS, Wes said.
However, as the country has many competing priorities these tax certificates have not been introduced yet. The implementation of the OECD’s crypto asset reporting framework, however, means the country can no longer delay introducing reporting on crypto asset transactions and it is preparing to introduce these certificates, Wes said.
You should therefore expect the crypto currency asset providers to be made third party data providers required to report data to SARS and to issue tax certificates similar to an IT3b soon, Wes said.
The introduction of tax certificates would make it easier for cryptocurrency users to comply with the existing tax legislation but it would make the walls close in on those who are non-compliant, Thomas Lobban, tax practitioner and founder of Ibex 
Consulting, who chaired the Tax Indaba panel discussion with Wes, said.
Lobban noted that SARS issued a statement in 2018 stating that the existing income tax legislation was applicable to revenue earned from, or gains made by, investing in cryptocurrencies.
Wes said SARS is working on a cryptocurrency guide that will hopefully be released before the crypto asset reporting framework is introduced, but taxpayers and tax practitioners should stop behaving like tortoises and pulling their heads into a shell because their transactions invariably have tax consequences.
Taxpayers are responsible for the biggest problems when it comes to tax on crypto transactions, Ernst Jordaan, tax specialist at information technology company IoT.nxt, told the Tax Indaba.
Many cryptocurrency users are evading tax because they believe if they do not cash out their crypto assets they will not be taxed, he said.
They also think if their profits are not paid into a bank account in rands, they do not need to pay tax. This is big pitfall, Jordaan said.
South Africa has a residence-based tax system which means that if you are a resident (for tax purposes) you must declare and pay tax on any income or gains earned anywhere in the world.
Cryptocurrency users need to know what type of income or capital they are generating and to take advice on the tax implications, Jordaan advised said.
Remember that you make profits when you invest in shares and revenue when you trade them. Similarly with crypto assets. Converting your investments or trades into a Fiat currency does not mean you do not trigger a tax event, he said.
You may be generating an income if you are trading or earning capital gains by just keeping and holding the crypto for a very long time, which has proven to be quite a good, although volatile, investment, Jordaan said.
Do not think that swopping into a stable coin after making astronomical returns in a meme coin is not a tax event, he warned.
Make sure you keep good records because you need to prove to SARS what transactions you did, Jordaan said. There is a lot of software available that can help you track your 
cryptocurrency transactions and you should talk to a tax adviser about how to declare your gains for tax if you are unsure. It is a small price to pay on the good gains you can make, he said.
Wes said SARS has not been prescriptive on what documents you need for cryptocurrency trades, but you do need evidence and you must take the record-keeping seriously.
Crypto can be a worthwhile investment depending on who you speak to and their frame of reference, but the taxpayer is the weak link when it comes to complying with tax, either due to poor record keeping or outright non-disclosure, Lobban concluded.
