Taxing times
Hello and welcome to the weekend.
I don't want to turn this into a personal therapy platform, but I’ve got another confession to make; I’m terrible at personal admin. It’s probably one reason why I loathe having to deal with any government entities, and typically procrastinate as long as possible. If I do have to go to a government office, in the information age I believe the department’s website should tell you what forms are necessary, so you can print and complete them in advance, and you should know upfront if you need ID pictures or what copies need to be made or certified. Despite my own failings around time management, I can often see improvements to be made in operational efficiency in government front offices. In my own mind these suggestions for citizen-facing service improvements are realistic and well within reach; to everyone else it probably comes across as moaning. In my idealistic world, you should be able to deal with government remotely and submit documents online. In theory then, I should be appreciative of the steps that were made by SARS to enable taxpayers to complete their returns online, through efiling.
Given the above, I’m pleased to tell you that I submitted the necessary documents to my accountants first thing yesterday morning, a whole working day ahead of their deadline. I started using an accountant to help file my return because I realised they know what they’re doing, especially as I was overpaying or failing to claim refunds on sums I was allowed. If you haven’t yet submitted your documents, and I’ve just panicked you, the efiling deadline for non-provisional taxpayers is Monday 21st, so you have a week or so yet.
If you are still to file your returns, one aspect you should be aware of is that SARS is looking to grab some of that sweet crypto pie , by cracking down on the 5.8 million South Africans who hold crypto assets. My understanding is that where you make revenue or capital gains from trading crypto assets, you should declare that and will likely be liable for any profits made. BTW, I should also refer you back to my lack of understanding of the tax system, so don’t take my advice about it. But it sounds like SARS is getting hungrier for a bite of your bitcoin.
A related development this week was that crypto exchange Luno has partnered with payments processor Zapper , making the ability to pay merchants with crypto that much easier. While the company statement does deliver the good news that you can now effectively pay with crypto at over 31 000 merchants, including Pick n Pay, Dis-Chem and fuel stations, the statement does however highlight that “SARS considers spending crypto on goods and services as a barter transaction, potentially incurring Capital Gains Tax or Income Tax”.
To round things off, I wanted to bring to your attention that the Ghanaian government has launched an app to improve access to public services . The CitizenApp links up with the national ID system and is designed to provide digital access to civic documents and even help with filing taxes. I wonder if Ghana’s revenue agency has got plans to tax its citizens’ crypto holdings yet.
Until next time…
P.S. As I ended on a story from our Africa site, it would be remiss of me not to highlight that my colleague Samuel Mungadze , editor of ITWeb Africa, recently won EPF's Tech Journalist of the Year. If you want to stay abreast of what's happening across Africa, curated by an award winning journalist, sign up on Africa's home page to stay informed.
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