Tax on Selling Krugerrands and Gold Coins in South Africa

When you sell Krugerrands at a profit, the gain is usually subject to capital gains tax rather than ordinary income tax, provided you held the coins as a long-term investment. A Krugerrand is not a personal-use asset, so, unlike selling your private car, the gain is not disregarded. It falls into the capital gains tax net, where for the 2026 tax year the first R40,000 of your total capital gains is excluded, and only 40% of what is left is added to your taxable income.

The word "usually" matters. If SARS decides you were dealing in coins rather than investing in them, the profit is taxed as ordinary income at your full marginal rate, with none of the capital gains tax relief. So the first question is always whether your gain is capital or revenue.

Capital gain or ordinary income: what decides it

There is no bright line in the number of coins or the size of the profit. SARS looks at your intention when you bought and held them, tested against what you actually did. Coins bought and held for years as a store of value, sold occasionally to realise growth, point to a capital gain. Frequent buying and selling, short holding periods, and a scheme to profit from price movements point to a trading operation, which produces ordinary income taxed on the normal sliding scale.

If your gain is capital, the capital gains tax figures below apply. If it is revenue, the whole profit is added to your income for the year and taxed at your marginal rate, without the R40,000 annual exclusion and without the 40% inclusion rate. Most private investors who hold Krugerrands for the long term fall on the capital side. It is the same investor-versus-trader line drawn for listed shares in share trader versus investor tax.

Why gold coins are not a personal-use asset

The Eighth Schedule to the Income Tax Act disregards the capital gain or loss on a "personal-use asset", which is why selling your private car triggers no capital gains tax. Krugerrands do not get that treatment. Paragraph 53 specifically excludes a coin made mainly of gold or platinum from the personal-use category, so a Krugerrand sits in the capital gains tax net like any other investment asset. The gain is not disregarded, and a loss is not disregarded either, which means a genuine capital loss on coins can be set off against other capital gains.

The numbers on a typical sale

Take an investor who bought ten Krugerrands in 2015 for R120,000 and sells all of them in the 2026 tax year for R250,000. They held them as a long-term investment, and it is their only capital disposal for the year.

Capital gain: R250,000 - R120,000 = R130,000.

Less the annual exclusion for the 2026 year: R130,000 - R40,000 = R90,000.

Apply the 40% inclusion rate: R90,000 x 40% = R36,000. That R36,000 is the taxable capital gain added to their taxable income.

If their other taxable income is R400,000, adding R36,000 takes them to R436,000, still inside the 31% bracket (R370,501 to R512,800) on the 2026 table. So the R36,000 is taxed at 31%: R36,000 x 31% = R11,160.

On a R130,000 gain, that is an effective rate of about 8.6%. The maximum a capital gain can reach for an individual is 18% (the 40% inclusion applied at the top 45% marginal rate). You can model your own disposal in the capital gains tax calculator and read the guide to tax on selling property or shares for the mechanics.

The record-keeping trap

Your capital gain is proceeds less base cost, and base cost is what you paid, plus buying costs such as dealer premiums. For coins bought years ago, often in cash, proving that base cost is the real problem. Without a purchase record, SARS can treat your base cost as low or nil, which inflates the gain and the tax. Keep the original invoices, dealer slips and bank records for as long as you hold the coins, and note the date and price of every purchase.