By Chris Herbst, Chartered Business Accountant in Practice (CBAP) with CIBA, General Tax Practitioner (GTP) with SAIT, Stellenbosch University. Team registered with SAIT, SAIPA and CIBA.
VALR is one of the largest South African crypto exchanges, and many of the crypto returns we prepare start with a VALR account. The questions are nearly always the same: what does SARS want from me, what does VALR give me, and how do I get from a long transaction list to the few figures the ITR12 asks for? This guide answers those questions for South African tax residents, using what SARS and the Income Tax Act say and what VALR's own help centre says about its records. Readers who are tax resident outside South Africa are served by CountDeFi (https://www.countdefi.com). If you also trade on Luno, our Luno SARS reporting guide covers that platform's records in the same way.
Does SARS tax trades made on VALR?
Yes. SARS states on its crypto assets tax page that normal income tax rules apply to crypto assets and that you must declare crypto gains or losses as part of your taxable income. The exchange you use makes no difference to that rule: a trade on VALR is treated exactly as a trade on any other platform.
Is a crypto-to-crypto trade on VALR taxable, or only a sale for rand?
Both are taxable events. SARS lists the events that trigger a disposal on its capital gains tax rates page: a sale, donation, exchange, loss, death and emigration. Swapping BTC for ETH on VALR is an exchange, so it is a disposal of the BTC at its rand value on the day, even though no rand reached your bank account.
Does it matter that VALR is a South African exchange?
For the tax itself, no. For reporting, yes: the ITR12 asks separately about local and foreign capital assets, and a South African platform also falls under the new reporting regime SARS introduced for crypto service providers, covered further down.
What records does VALR give you for your tax return?
VALR gives you a transaction history, not a tax certificate. Its help centre states that VALR does not provide tax forms or statements, and that working out and declaring the tax is the account holder's responsibility. There is no IT3(b) or IT3(c) for crypto, which our guide on why crypto platforms do not supply IT3(b) and IT3(c) certificates explains.
How do you download your VALR transaction history?
According to VALR's article on how to view your transaction history, you open the full transaction list from your account and use the Download CSV button above it. You can filter by date range, asset and transaction type before you download. VALR offers its exports in CSV format only, which opens in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets.
Which date range should you export?
Export from the day you opened the account, not only the tax year. A sale in the 2026 year of assessment needs the cost of coins you may have bought years earlier, and that cost sits in the older rows. A tax-year-only export shows proceeds with no base cost, which overstates the gain.
What else should you keep alongside the export?
Keep your bank statements for rand deposits and withdrawals, records of any wallet you moved coins to or from, and the export files themselves. The Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 (section 29) requires you to keep the records that support your return for five years from the date the return is submitted.
How do you turn a VALR export into rand gains and losses?
You match every disposal in the export with the cost of the coins disposed of, convert both sides to rand on the transaction date, and add up the results for the tax year. The ITR12 then takes totals, not the transaction list.
What counts as proceeds on a VALR trade?
For a sale for rand, the proceeds are the rand received. For a crypto-to-crypto trade, the proceeds are the rand value of what you received at the time of the trade. Trading fees charged by VALR reduce the proceeds or form part of the cost, depending on which side of the trade they were charged on.
What counts as base cost?
The SARS Comprehensive Guide to the ITR12 describes base cost as the expenses actually incurred in obtaining the asset, plus costs directly related to acquiring and disposing of it. For crypto that means the rand you paid, or the rand value of the coin you gave up, plus the fees on the purchase.
How do you price trades between two coins?
Use a consistent rand price source for each coin at the time of each trade, and keep a note of the source. Where one side of the trade is a rand-pegged or rand-quoted pair on VALR, the executed price on the exchange is the most direct evidence of value.
- Buy crypto with rand: Tax event?: No, an acquisition; What to record: Rand paid and fees
- Sell crypto for rand: Tax event?: Yes, a disposal; What to record: Rand received, base cost
- Swap one coin for another: Tax event?: Yes, an exchange; What to record: Rand value both sides
- Earn or staking reward: Tax event?: Yes, an amount received; What to record: Rand value on receipt
- Send to your own wallet: Tax event?: No disposal; What to record: Both addresses, hash
- Pay someone in crypto: Tax event?: Yes, a disposal; What to record: Rand value paid
Are VALR Earn and staking rewards taxable?
Yes. SARS requires you to declare all crypto-related taxable income in the tax year in which it is received or accrued, as its crypto assets page sets out. A reward credited to your VALR account is an amount received in kind, so you record its rand value on the day it arrives. SARS has not published a separate rule for exchange earn or lending products; the practical step is to export reward rows as their own transaction type and value each one on its date.
What happens when you later sell coins you earned as rewards?
The rand value you recorded when the reward arrived becomes the cost of those coins. When you sell or swap them, the gain or loss is measured from that value, so the reward is not taxed twice.
Are transfers between VALR and your own wallets taxable?
No. Moving coins from VALR to a hardware wallet, or from your own wallet back to VALR, is not a sale, donation or exchange, so it is not a disposal. The coins keep their original cost and their original purchase dates.
Why do transfers still matter on the return?
Because the export shows them as withdrawals and deposits. If they are not matched, a withdrawal can look like coins that vanished and a deposit like coins with no cost, and both distort the gain. Keep the wallet addresses and transaction hashes so each transfer can be shown to start and end with you.
What if you sent crypto from VALR to another person?
A payment to someone else is a disposal at the rand value of the crypto paid. A gift is a donation, which is also a disposal and can carry donations tax; record who received it and why.
How does SARS decide whether VALR profits are capital or revenue?
SARS decides the character of your gains on your own facts. Its Budget 2026 frequently asked questions state that gains from frequent or business-like trading are taxed as ordinary income at your marginal rate, gains on crypto held as a long-term investment fall under capital gains tax, and SARS determines the classification from frequency, intent and business-like conduct.
Which facts does SARS weigh?
- Intention: why you acquired the coins, at the time you acquired them.
- Holding period: how long the coins were held before disposal.
- Frequency: how often you trade and in what volume.
- Business-like conduct: whether the activity is organised and run like a business, for example with leverage, bots or a trading system.
No single fact decides it, and the same person can hold one set of coins as an investment and trade another. The character is decided on the taxpayer's own facts, which is why the records of intention and holding period matter as much as the figures.
What is the difference in tax between the two?
Revenue gains are taxed in full at your marginal rate. Capital gains are reduced by the annual exclusion, which the Budget 2026 FAQ sets at R50 000 for the 2027 year of assessment, up from R40 000, and the maximum effective capital gains rate for individuals is 18%, according to the SARS CGT rates page. The annual exclusion is shared across all your capital gains for the year, not per platform.
How do you declare VALR gains on the ITR12 on eFiling?
You answer the crypto questions in the return wizard, then complete either the capital gains section or the business and trade section with your totals, depending on the character of your gains.
Step 1: Update the return wizard on eFiling
Open the ITR12 for the year and work through the questions at the start of the return. For capital gains, the wizard asks 'Did you dispose of any local capital assets attracting capital gain or loss (including crypto assets)?', as the Comprehensive Guide to the ITR12 shows. Answer it for VALR, which is a local platform.
Step 2: Complete the Capital Gain/Loss section for investment gains
Enter the proceeds and base cost of your disposals. The return calculates the gain under source code 4250 or the loss under 4251 for local assets. The guide confirms that crypto is a financial instrument under the Income Tax Act and that capital gains and losses on crypto are declared in this section.
Step 3: Complete the Local Business, Trade and Professional Income section for trading profits
If your trading is revenue in nature, the profit goes in the section the guide titles Local Business, Trade and Professional Income (including crypto asset(s)). The Budget 2026 FAQ gives source code 4522 for income from crypto trading.
Step 4: Declare your crypto holdings where the return asks for assets
Where your return includes the assets and liabilities statement, the guide lists a separate field for 'Financial instruments - crypto asset(s)' at market value.
Step 5: Keep the working papers ready for verification
Before you submit, save the VALR export, your calculation and your bank statements in one place. If SARS selects the return for review, our guide to SARS verification supporting documents sets out what to upload.
What is CARF and what will VALR report to SARS?
CARF is the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework. SARS's CARF page states that it took effect in South Africa on 1 March 2026, that crypto-asset service providers must collect reportable information from that date, and that the return for the first period must reach SARS by 31 May 2027.
What information do providers collect from you?
The SARS CARF page lists identification details such as your name, identity number, address, tax residence and tax reference number, together with aggregated transaction data for exchanges, purchases, disposals and transfers. Our guide to CARF self-certification on a crypto exchange explains the form you complete.
Does CARF change how VALR trades are taxed?
No. The Budget 2026 FAQ states that CARF is a reporting framework and does not change how crypto assets are taxed. What changes is that SARS will hold platform data it can compare with your ITR12.
What are the common mistakes with VALR on a tax return?
- Declaring only rand withdrawals. Swaps between coins are disposals even when no rand leaves VALR.
- Exporting only the tax year. Without the earlier purchases, there is no base cost to set against the proceeds.
- Leaving rewards out. Earn and staking rewards are declared in the year received, valued in rand on the day.
- Counting transfers as sales. Moves to your own wallet are not disposals, but they must be matched to show it.
- Claiming the annual exclusion twice. It applies once across all capital gains, not once per exchange.
- Ignoring other platforms. Coins bought on Luno or abroad and sold on VALR carry their cost with them, so every platform is reconciled together.
- Skipping earlier years. Undeclared gains from earlier years are better regularised through the SARS Voluntary Disclosure Programme before SARS opens an audit.
What about losses on VALR?
The Budget 2026 FAQ states that all crypto gains and losses must be reported, that trading losses can be offset against other income and that capital losses are carried forward. Our guide to crypto losses on your tax return covers how they are used.
Do You Need Help With VALR?
We prepare crypto tax returns for South African tax residents, starting from the VALR export and reconciling it with your other platforms and wallets before anything reaches the ITR12. Our crypto tax service explains how we work, the crypto tax pricing page sets out the fixed fees, and our article on choosing a registered crypto tax practitioner covers what to check before you appoint anyone. For a worked example of the calculation itself, see how to calculate crypto capital gains tax, and for the wider topic, the crypto tax hub. When you are ready, contact us and we will tell you what we need from your VALR account.
