Tax guide · reviewed 27 July 2026
Tax on selling in South Africa
Selling your own personal gold jewellery usually has no tax to pay. The tax really bites on gold held as an investment: the gain you make on Krugerrands and other gold coins falls inside Capital Gains Tax, because SARS treats them as assets, not as tax-free personal effects. Here is how that is worked out, and the figures you must confirm each year.
Annual exclusion
The first R50 000 of your combined capital gains in a tax year is taken off before any tax is worked out. It rises to R440 000 in the year a person dies. Confirm the current figure each Budget.
Inclusion rate
Only 40% of an individual’s net capital gain is added to taxable income. The other 60% is not taxed at all.
Maximum effective rate
The most CGT can ever cost on a rand of gain, being the 40% inclusion rate times the 45% top marginal income tax rate. Most sellers pay well below this.
Natural person. Source: SARS ABC of CGT for Individuals, Issue 13 (18 March 2025). Figures set annually; confirm each Budget.
Why Krugerrand gains sit inside CGT
Most people assume a coin is currency, and currency is not taxed, so a Krugerrand must be tax-free. That is the trap. SARS says that although any currency is excluded from the definition of an asset, "any coin made mainly from gold or platinum is included" (ABC of CGT for Individuals, para 3.1). A Krugerrand is therefore an asset for Capital Gains Tax, and the gain you make on it is in the net.
The second half of the point is the personal-use exemption. Ordinary personal effects can be exempt, and collectors sometimes hope their coins qualify. They do not. The SARS exclusions guidance lists stamp and coin collections but expressly excludes "gold or platinum coins whose value is mainly derived from the metal content". Because a Krugerrand’s worth tracks the gold in it, it is not a personal-use asset, and its gains are taxable. That is the single most common mistake in the tax implications of Krugerrands.
Your personal gold jewellery is a different case. It is a manufactured article you owned and wore, and selling it is generally not the taxable disposal that coins and bullion are. Keep it simple: jewellery you owned, usually nothing to pay; investment coins, expect Capital Gains Tax on the gain.
A worked example
Say you bought Krugerrands some years ago and sell them this year for R100 000 more than you paid, with no other capital gains in the year. Using SARS’s own arithmetic, the sum runs like this. The numbers are illustrative.
| Working | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gain on the coins (sale price less what you paid) | R100 000 |
| Less: annual exclusion | (R50 000) |
| Net capital gain | R50 000 |
| Taxable capital gain (40% inclusion rate) | R20 000 |
| Tax due, if the 45% top marginal rate applies | R9 000 |
That R9 000 is 9% of the R100 000 gain. The bill only climbs toward the roughly 18% ceiling on very large gains, where the R50 000 exclusion barely registers, and it is lower for anyone whose marginal rate is below 45%. Your own base cost, any other gains in the year and your marginal rate all change the result, which is why the figures here are a worked illustration, not your number.
The example above assumes you are an investor: holding coins as a store of value and selling occasionally, so the gain is a capital gain. If instead you buy and sell gold coins frequently, as a scheme to turn a profit, SARS can treat the profit as ordinary income rather than a capital gain, taxed at your full marginal rate of up to 45%, with no annual exclusion and no 40% inclusion discount. Whether a disposal is capital or revenue turns on your intention and the facts, not on a fixed number of trades. This is a long-standing income-tax principle, not a bright line, so if you deal regularly, take advice on your own position.
A private seller charges no VAT
You are not a registered VAT vendor, so selling your own gold or your own Krugerrand does not add VAT.
New jewellery carries 15% VAT
Buy a newly made piece from a VAT-registered jeweller and the standard 15% rate is already in the price.
A Krugerrand coin is zero-rated
Section 11(1)(k) of the VAT Act zero-rates the supply of a Krugerrand as such, so buying the coin adds no VAT.
Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991, standard rate 15%; s11(1)(k); SARS Binding General Ruling (VAT) 43.
Two live matters could move the VAT picture for bullion. Neither is settled, so we do not publish fixed VAT-on-bullion guidance here.
- The 2026 National Budget (25 February 2026) proposed repealing section 11(1)(f) of the VAT Act, which zero-rates gold supplied to the Reserve Bank, the South African Mint and registered banks. It is a proposal, not law, and it sits on the production side of coins and bullion, not on your personal sale.
- The correct reading of section 11(1)(f) is before the Constitutional Court in Lueven Metals (Pty) Ltd v CSARS (CCT 320/23), heard on 13 November 2025, with judgment awaited.
We will update this box as each is decided. Until then, treat bullion VAT as unsettled.
The Goldza desk
General information, not tax advice. Tax figures are set annually; confirm the current year with SARS or a tax practitioner before acting. Sources: SARS ABC of Capital Gains Tax for Individuals (Issue 13, 18 March 2025); SARS Capital Gains Tax exclusions guidance; Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991 (s11(1)(k)); SARS Binding General Ruling (VAT) 43. The 2026 Budget s11(1)(f) proposal and Lueven Metals (Pty) Ltd v CSARS (CCT 320/23) are still developing at the date shown.
Common questions
Tax on selling gold, answered
- Do I pay tax when I sell my own gold jewellery in South Africa?
- Usually not. Selling personal jewellery that you owned and used is generally not the disposal SARS is looking to tax. The tax question bites on gold held as an investment, chiefly Krugerrands and other gold coins, whose gains fall under Capital Gains Tax. This is general information; your own facts can differ, so confirm your position with SARS or a tax practitioner.
- Is there capital gains tax on Krugerrands?
- Yes. SARS treats a coin made mainly from gold or platinum as an "asset" for CGT (ABC of CGT for Individuals, para 3.1), and Krugerrands are not "personal-use assets" because their value comes mainly from the metal (SARS CGT exclusions guidance). So the gain when you sell a Krugerrand is subject to Capital Gains Tax.
- How much CGT will I pay on a gain from gold coins?
- For an individual, the first R50 000 of your total capital gains in the year is excluded, then 40% of the rest is added to your taxable income and taxed at your marginal rate. Because the top marginal rate is 45%, the effective CGT rate tops out at about 18%, and most people pay less. These figures are set annually, so confirm the current year. A worked example is on this page.
- Do I charge VAT when I sell my Krugerrand or gold?
- No. A private individual is not a registered VAT vendor, so no VAT arises on your sale. Newly made jewellery bought from a VAT-registered jeweller includes VAT at the standard 15% rate, and a Krugerrand supplied as a coin is zero-rated under section 11(1)(k) of the VAT Act. Note that a 2026 Budget proposal and a Constitutional Court case may change parts of the bullion VAT picture; see the dated box on this page.