Crypto you earn can create a tax liability before you sell it. Staking rewards, mining payouts, and interest-style yield generally count as income at their rand value on receipt. Airdrops need a closer look. A payment for a task or service differs from a fortuitous airdrop you did no work to receive.
Crypto you earn is income on the day it arrives
When you receive crypto as an income reward, include its rand market value on that date in your gross income. It contributes to your taxable income for the year, which is taxed at your marginal rate. The top rate for individuals is 45%.
The capital gains annual exclusion does not apply to these income receipts.
The rand value taxed as income becomes your base cost. If you sell the crypto later, calculate the further gain or loss from that value.
Receipt and disposal are separate tax events
For crypto taxed as income on receipt, record both the receipt and any later disposal.
Event one is receiving the reward. It's an income event, valued in rand on the day it hits your account.
Event two is disposing of it later. When you sell, swap, or spend that crypto, a second event happens. For most holders that's a capital gain or loss on whatever the value did between receipt and disposal. For active traders it's revenue instead.
Suppose you receive a staking reward worth R1,000. You declare R1,000 as income at your marginal rate. Four months later, you sell it for R1,400. With a base cost of R1,000, the disposal produces a R400 gain. The original R1,000 is not taxed again.
If you instead sold for R800 and the disposal was on capital account, you would record a R200 capital loss. The R1,000 remains income from the receipt. The capital loss does not offset that income.
Staking, mining, and airdrops
Staking rewards
Staking can produce hundreds of small payouts over a tax year. Each payout needs its own receipt date and rand value. Interest-style yield from lending or "earn" products works the same way. Keep the individual credits so you can calculate the income total.
Mining
Mined crypto is income at its rand value when you receive it. Frequent, organised mining with equipment and running costs is more likely to count as a trade than occasional mining. The rewards are income on receipt in either case. If mining is a trade, later disposals are more likely to be revenue rather than capital. Ask a practitioner if you are unsure how to classify the activity.
Airdrops
The SARS draft guide published on 1 July 2026 distinguishes between airdrops received for services and fortuitous airdrops. The treatment depends on why you received the tokens.
If you received an airdrop for promoting a project, completing tasks, or providing another service, SARS treats it as income. Declare its rand market value on receipt. That value becomes the base cost for a later disposal.
A fortuitous airdrop may arrive because of a balance you held or past use of a protocol, without you doing work to receive it. Clicking to claim it does not, by itself, count as work. In that case, the receipt is not income. If you hold the coins as an investment, their base cost is nil and the full sale proceeds count as a capital gain. For crypto held as trading stock, a market value cost can apply instead.
Keep records explaining how and why you received each airdrop, with its date, quantity, and rand value. These support both your classification and any income calculation.
This guidance comes from the SARS draft guide published on 1 July 2026. It does not create a practice generally prevailing. Check your circumstances with a tax practitioner rather than treating the draft as settled law.
Check how exports label rewards
An export may not distinguish a reward from another type of deposit.
One platform may label a staking receipt as "reward", another as "interest", and another as a deposit. Review those entries before calculating your income. An unlabelled reward can be left out of the total.
Moving rewards from an exchange to your own wallet can also cause errors if the export makes a transfer look like a disposal. Match the withdrawal and deposit so you can distinguish transfers between your accounts from income receipts and disposals.
What good records look like
For each reward, record the receipt date, asset, quantity, rand value at receipt, and the exchange, pool, or protocol it came from.
These details let you value the income and record its base cost for a later disposal. Include small rewards as well as large ones. SARS can request supporting records. The standard retention period is five years from filing, and longer if a dispute or audit is running.
How Coinfig handles earned crypto
For an exchange connection, create an API key in your Luno, VALR, or Kraken account with read-only permissions and keep trading and withdrawal permissions disabled. Coinfig also accepts CSV imports for other sources.
Coinfig values receipts in rand on their dates and separates income events from disposals. Its completeness check flags potential gaps, unmatched transfers, unusual balance changes, and rewards an export left unlabelled or dropped. Check those issues before relying on the totals.
A full report for up to 100 transactions is free when you sign in through a trusted partner. Otherwise, reports start on Starter.
Coinfig calculates and produces reports. A practitioner can advise on the tax treatment in your circumstances.
The South African crypto tax guide explains the wider tax rules. See declaring crypto on your ITR12 in eFiling for the filing steps. To calculate your earned crypto, sign in through a supported exchange for a free report covering up to 100 transactions.
This article is general information, not tax advice. Crypto tax outcomes depend on your specific circumstances. For complex situations, consult a qualified tax practitioner.