For accountants reviewing a client's crypto activity, establishing the correct treatment is as important as assembling the transaction history, says Forvis Mazars' Dr Wiehann Olivier.
Accountants handed a client's crypto history often start by checking trading fees and totals. Dr Wiehann Olivier says the capital or revenue question deserves attention before that.
Olivier, partner and global co-head of digital assets at Forvis Mazars, discussed the issue with Carel de Jager in an interview hosted by David at TalkingCents on 13 October 2026. For accountants reviewing a client's return, he emphasised the need to establish the correct treatment and assemble the full transaction history.
Watch the excerpt: Capital or Revenue? A Key Question Before Calculating Crypto Tax.
What the classification depends on
SARS applies normal income tax principles to crypto assets (the South Africa crypto tax guide covers how this works). Whether gains fall on revenue or capital account depends on the facts, and the answer can change the tax payable considerably.
Olivier pointed to the taxpayer's intention, holding periods and overall trading behaviour as relevant considerations. He cautioned against assuming that a single rule settles every case.
An accountant receiving a software report therefore needs to understand the treatment used to prepare it. The figures should be reviewed alongside the client's circumstances and the records supporting them.
Ask for the older accounts too
De Jager described the gaps that can arise when someone has used several platforms. A sale on the client's current exchange may relate to a purchase recorded in an older account elsewhere. Asking for those accounts at the outset can save a later search for missing acquisition records.
Coinfig's data completeness score flags gaps for investigation. For a practitioner, the useful next step is to look at what caused the gap and ask the client for the records needed to resolve it. The classification still needs its own review.
Preparing the figures for a return
Olivier said he had reviewed Coinfig's reports and found their layout useful for bringing figures into a tax return. Organised reports can reduce the reconciliation work an accountant would otherwise need to do from separate records.
Before finalising the figures, practitioners can usefully ask:
- What was the client's intention, and how does their actual activity support the proposed treatment?
- Have all relevant exchanges and wallets been included, with unexplained movements investigated?
- Can the acquisition costs and other amounts used in the calculation be traced to supporting records?
The answers should help explain both the figures in the return and the reasoning behind the treatment applied.
Practitioners and their clients can use Coinfig.tax to pull a client's exchange and wallet histories into one place before the figures are reviewed.
Related reading
- The exchange has closed. What happens to your crypto purchase records?
- Missing crypto records could leave South Africans paying more tax than they owe
Olivier and De Jager spoke to TalkingCents on 13 October 2026. This article is general information, and the classification of any client's activity depends on the facts of the case.