An analysis of South Africa’s guidance on the income tax consequences of crypto assets

South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences

 
 
Field Value
 
Title An analysis of South Africa’s guidance on the income tax consequences of crypto assets
 
Creator Vumazonke, Namhla Parsons, Shaun
 
Subject Accounting; Taxation cryptocurrency; crypto asset; South African Income Tax; South African Revenue Service; tax literacy; tax compliance
Description Background: A media statement issued by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) in 2018 represents the primary guidance available to South African taxpayers on the income tax consequences of crypto asset transactions.Aim: This study assessed the adequacy of the guidelines available to South African taxpayers on the consequences of crypto asset transactions, and identified the income tax consequences for transactions not addressed in these guidelines.Setting: This study compared the scope and depth of the SARS guidelines to guidance issued in other jurisdictions. This distinguishes it from other studies focusing on the theoretical income tax consequences of crypto asset transactions.Method: The first phase of the study was an in-depth documental analysis to benchmark the SARS guidelines against the guidance of tax authorities in other jurisdictions. In the second phase of the study, a doctrinal legal research methodology was adopted to identify the income tax consequences of transactions not addressed by SARS, applying existing legislation and case law, and taking into account the guidance of the other selected tax authorities.Results: The study found that the SARS guidelines did not comprehensively address all the crypto asset transactions addressed by the other selected tax authorities.Conclusion: The study recommended that SARS provide comprehensive guidance to South African taxpayers on the income tax consequences of crypto asset transactions, the development of which would be supported by consequences identified in this study.Contribution: This study contributes to the understanding of, and development of taxpayer guidance to address the income tax consequences of crypto asset transactions in South Africa.
 
Publisher AOSIS Publishing
 
Contributor University of Cape Town
Date 2023-02-28
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — qualitative research
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajems.v26i1.4832
 
Source South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences; Vol 26, No 1 (2023); 11 pages 2222-3436 1015-8812
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajems.org/index.php/sajems/article/view/4832/2697 https://sajems.org/index.php/sajems/article/view/4832/2698 https://sajems.org/index.php/sajems/article/view/4832/2699 https://sajems.org/index.php/sajems/article/view/4832/2700
 
Coverage South Africa 2018-2022 H24, 25, 26
Rights Copyright (c) 2023 Namhla Vumazonke, Shaun Parsons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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