Net capital gain on listed shares, with the annual exclusion and inclusion-rate tax.
CGT due
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Net gain or loss
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Included in income
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There is no separate capital gains tax in South Africa
That sounds odd, but it is true and it changes everything about how share profits are taxed. South Africa has no standalone CGT rate. Instead, a portion of your net gain is added to your ordinary taxable income and taxed at your marginal rate. For an individual the inclusion rate this calculator applies is 40 percent, so only 40 cents of every rand of gain is exposed to tax. This tool nets your buys and sells across several trades, subtracts dealing costs and the annual exclusion, includes 40 percent of what is left, and shows the extra tax that creates.
From gross profit to the tax you owe
The path runs in clear steps. First, net all your gains and losses for the year and take off dealing costs such as brokerage. Then apply the annual exclusion, which this calculator sets at R40,000, so the first R40,000 of net gain escapes entirely. Include 40 percent of the balance, add that to your other income, and the tax is the difference your marginal bracket makes. Because the inclusion is only 40 percent, the most an individual can ever pay is about 18 percent of a gain, that being the 45 percent top rate applied to the 40 percent included. Confirm the inclusion rate and the R40,000 exclusion with SARS, as these are the tool's assumptions.
A R100,000 net gain on top of a R450,000 salary
Suppose your share disposals leave you with a net gain of R100,000 for the year, you have R450,000 of other taxable income, and you are under 65. Using the rates this calculator applies, you first subtract the R40,000 annual exclusion, leaving R60,000. Include 40 percent of that and R24,000 is added to your income. At a R450,000 income your next rand sits in the 31 percent bracket, so the extra tax is R24,000 times 31 percent, which is R7,440. Across the full R100,000 gain that is an effective rate of only 7.44 percent.
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The chart shows how little of the gain is actually taxed: the exclusion and the 60 percent that is never included shrink the gain down to the slim slice the tax falls on.
Investor or trader, a line that changes the tax
The biggest risk on this page is assuming CGT always applies. It does not. If you buy and sell shares frequently with a profit-making scheme in mind, SARS can treat the shares as trading stock and tax the full profit as ordinary revenue, with no 40 percent inclusion and no annual exclusion to soften it. A useful rule of thumb is that shares held for at least three years are generally accepted as capital in nature, but day traders and active speculators are firmly on the revenue side. If your trading is busy, take advice before you assume the gentle CGT treatment this calculator models.
What happens to a capital loss on shares?
A net capital loss is not refunded and cannot be set against your salary or other ordinary income. It is carried forward and used to offset capital gains in future years. This calculator reflects that: if your buys and sells net to a loss, it shows no CGT for the year and notes the loss carrying forward. So a bad trading year reduces tax only when you later make gains, not against your wages.
Are shares in a tax-free savings account subject to this?
No. Gains, dividends, and interest inside a tax-free savings account are completely exempt, so there is no CGT on shares held there and nothing to enter in this calculator. The trade-off is the contribution limit, an annual cap and a lifetime cap on what you can put in. For most ordinary share investing outside that wrapper, the CGT treatment shown here is what applies.