South Africa: The South African revenue service joins the global rise of crypto-wars
By Prenisha Govender, Associate and Keketso Kgomosotho, Candidate Attorney, Tax Practice, Baker McKenzie Johannesburg.
The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies worldwide, which is increasingly leading to its stronger footing in international business, has awakened tax authorities everywhere to a possible new revenue stream from unreported gains. Over recent years, we've seen a marked increase in crackdowns on cryptocurrency traders - all the way from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the United States (US) to Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in the United Kingdom (UK), and now the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
It was only a matter of time until SARS joined the party, given that in terms of both market value and volume, South Africa is reported to be one of the top t...