Tax season is open in South Africa again, and if you traded, sold, swapped, or earned crypto during the year, there is one question worth asking early:
Do I owe SARS tax on my crypto?
The answer is not always "yes", but it is also not "crypto is invisible, don't worry about it". SARS says normal income tax rules apply to crypto assets, and affected taxpayers must declare crypto-related gains or losses as part of taxable income. Depending on your situation, a gain may be treated as revenue or capital in nature.
That is where crypto tax gets difficult. For a deeper look at how SARS classifies crypto and what the rules mean in practice, see How SARS Taxes Crypto in South Africa.
When the real problem is your transaction history
A single buy-and-hold position is usually not the problem. The problem starts when your history is spread across exchanges, wallets, swaps, old CSVs, fees, deposits, withdrawals, and transfers that you barely remember making. By the time you need to file, the real question is not only "do I owe tax?" It becomes:
What actually happened in my crypto accounts, and can I prove the number?
That is what we built Coinfig for.
What Coinfig does
Coinfig turns exchange, wallet, and CSV history into clear tax figures, with reports you can use when completing your South African tax return or sending information to your accountant. It supports:
- Read-only exchange connections
- Wallet history and CSV imports
- FIFO, LIFO, and HIFO cost-basis methods
- Transaction schedules, capital gains, and revenue reporting
- A data-completeness check before you rely on the final numbers
We are not a tax adviser, and we do not file your return for you. That distinction matters. Coinfig is a calculation and reporting tool. You bring the data; Coinfig helps organise it, calculate it, show the assumptions, and flag what may be missing. For complex cases, your accountant or tax practitioner should still review the treatment.
What should crypto users do now?
Start with your records. That means your local exchanges, offshore exchanges, wallets, old trading accounts, and any CSVs you still have. Then use Coinfig to connect or upload the data and run a completeness check.
The completeness check is important because a crypto tax report is only useful if the underlying history is reasonably complete. Missing deposits, unmatched withdrawals, and unexplained transfers can change the result. Coinfig is designed to surface those gaps before you export the report, not after you already filed.
- Gather history from every exchange, wallet, and CSV you have used.
- Connect or upload sources in Coinfig.
- Run the completeness check and resolve flagged gaps.
- Review the report yourself, or send it to your accountant.
2026 filing season dates
So, no need to panic. But also, do not leave it until the night before.
| Filing type | Window |
|---|---|
| Auto assessments | 1–12 July 2026 |
| Non-provisional individual filing | 13 July – 23 October 2026 |
| Provisional taxpayer filing | 13 July 2026 – 22 January 2027 |
If you have crypto activity to report, go to coinfig.tax, connect your sources, check the gaps, and see what the numbers say. From there, you can decide whether the report is simple enough to use yourself, or whether it should go to your accountant.
Crypto tax is much easier once your transaction history is not a mess anymore.
This article is general information, not tax advice. Crypto tax outcomes depend on your specific circumstances. For complex situations, consult a qualified tax practitioner.