South Africa Capital Gains Tax Calculator

About the South Africa Capital Gains Tax Calculator

South Africa has no separate capital gains tax rate: part of a capital gain is added to your taxable income and taxed with it. This calculator works it out for one sale, the way your return does: the proceeds less the base cost (what you paid, the costs of buying and selling, and improvements), your share of the gain, the primary residence exclusion of R3 000 000 or the small business exclusion of R2 700 000, your other gains and losses of the year, the R50 000 annual exclusion and any capital loss brought forward.

An individual includes 40% of the net gain, taxed at their marginal rate on top of their other income, so at most 18% of the gain goes in tax; a company includes 80% at 27% and a trust 80% at 45% (SARS). Nothing you type leaves your browser.

Without a pass, the free preview shows the capital gains tax in full, with the first rows of the working; a Pro pass unlocks every figure, the whole working, the summary to copy and the CSV.

How the gain is worked out

A capital gain is the proceeds less the base cost. The base cost is what you paid plus the costs directly related to buying or selling — agent’s and legal fees, transfer duty, securities transfer tax, advertising, valuation — and improvements still there when you sell; interest, repairs, insurance and rates are not part of it (SARS). For an asset you held on 1 October 2001, only the gain after that date counts: its valuation date value is its market value then, a time-apportioned base cost, or 20% of the proceeds less later costs. A disposal happens when the sale agreement is signed — or, when the agreement has a suspensive condition such as the buyer getting a bond, when that condition is met — not when the property is registered in the buyer’s name (SARS Budget FAQs, SARS comprehensive guide).

The exclusions

• Annual exclusion: the first R50 000 of an individual’s total capital gains or losses in a tax year, and R440 000 in the year of death (SARS).
• Primary residence: R3 000 000 of the gain or loss on your home, shared between its owners by their interest; not for years you lived elsewhere, the part used for business or letting, or land above two hectares (SARS, rates).
• Small business assets: gains of up to R2 700 000 in your lifetime on active business assets of a business worth no more than R15 000 000, if you held the asset for five years and were substantially involved in running the business, and are at least 55 or sell because of ill health, infirmity, retirement or death (SARS, comprehensive guide).
• Personal-use assets such as an individual’s car and furniture are excluded altogether (not those of a company or an ordinary trust), and so are retirement fund benefits and most life insurance payouts (SARS ABC guide, comprehensive guide).

Inclusion rates and the tax

After the exclusions, 40% of an individual’s net capital gain is included in taxable income (80% for companies and trusts) (SARS). An individual’s tax on the gain is the extra income tax that inclusion causes: up to 45% of it, so up to 18% of the gain. Companies pay 27% on it and trusts other than special trusts 45%, effective rates of 21,6% and 36%.

Losses

A capital loss offsets your other capital gains of the year. What is left after the annual exclusion carries forward as an assessed capital loss, to set off against capital gains in later years: it never reduces your salary or other ordinary income. For the year’s whole income tax, add the taxable capital gain to your income in the income tax calculator.

Limitations

• For South African residents, one asset at a time; enter the net of other disposals of the year under “Other gains and losses”.
• Valuation date values for assets held on 1 October 2001 are not worked out: enter the value you use (SARS explains the three methods).
• Roll-overs (transfers between spouses, involuntary disposals, replacement assets), connected-person rules, special trusts and the withholding tax on non-resident sellers of property are not covered.
• Gains of traders and of people who buy and sell as a business are income, not capital gains, and are taxed in full.
• An individual’s tax on the gain is the extra tax after the age rebates; medical tax credits your other tax leaves unused could absorb part of it. The income tax calculator works out the whole year with them.

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