Tax and SARS knowledge base
How do I report a foreign capital gain on the ITR12?
How do I report a foreign capital gain or loss on the ITR12?
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Direct answer
If you need to report a foreign capital gain or loss, use the current ITR12 foreign-capital-gain or loss section and prepare the evidence before you start the return. The SARS guide includes foreign CGT fields, but a foreign broker report cannot be copied across without checking the asset type, disposal facts, currency conversion and South African CGT calculation.
Start with a transaction schedule in rand. Collect the foreign acquisition and sale evidence, fees, corporate-action information, the relevant exchange-rate support and foreign tax records. This lets you distinguish a genuine disposal from income, a cash transfer or a portfolio value movement. It also creates a file you can use if SARS asks for supporting documents.
What this means in practice
Foreign investing often produces reports in a foreign currency and according to the broker's own tax framework. Those reports are valuable source documents, but they may use a different tax period, settlement convention or gain calculation. Do not assume a gain in dollars, pounds or euros is the number to enter as a South African capital gain.
Build the calculation transaction by transaction. For each disposal, identify the asset, acquisition date, disposal date, proceeds, costs, base-cost evidence and currency. Retain the source for every conversion into rand and note the conversion basis used. Do not use today's exchange rate for an historical event merely because it is easier to find.
The return process can request asset-type information and may have different questions for particular asset categories. Use the current ITR12 guide rather than a screen image from an earlier filing season. If an asset is a foreign property, primary residence, jointly owned holding, share scheme award, trust interest or was transferred rather than sold, do not force it into a generic foreign-share entry without checking the facts.
Foreign tax withheld is separate from the capital-gain calculation. Keep official proof of it, but do not state a foreign tax credit is automatic. Tax residence, treaty treatment and any relief calculation can require a separate analysis. Similarly, do not conclude that an overseas asset is outside South African reporting simply because the broker is abroad.
Step-by-step
- Identify every relevant foreign disposal.
Review all overseas brokerage and investment accounts. Separate actual sales, redemptions, exchanges and disposals from dividends, interest, deposits, withdrawals and unrealised price changes.
- Gather original evidence.
Download acquisition and sale contract notes, broker statements, fee reports and corporate-action notices. If an account was closed or moved, request its historical data promptly.
- Determine supported base cost and proceeds.
Prepare the capital calculation for each transaction. Keep an explanation where acquisitions were in stages, shares were split, or a corporate action changed the holding.
- Prepare the rand conversion record.
Write down the conversion source, relevant date or period and the numbers used. Retain the source document beside the calculation so it can be reproduced later.
- Preserve foreign tax documents separately.
Save statements or certificates that identify foreign tax paid or withheld. Do not classify broker fees or general bank charges as foreign income tax.
- Complete the current ITR12 guide workflow.
Use the foreign capital-gain or loss section applicable to the asset type. Reconcile the entered figures to your schedule before submission and retain the final return and assessment.
Documents and records to keep
- Foreign broker account statements and contract notes.
- Acquisition, corporate-action and disposal evidence.
- Rand conversion schedule and supporting exchange-rate record.
- Proof of foreign tax paid or withheld, where relevant.
- ITR12, ITA34 and any SARS correspondence.
Important limits and exceptions
This guide is a return-preparation workflow, not an opinion on tax residence, a treaty or foreign tax credits. A person who has changed residence, is married in community of property, owns the asset through a trust or company, emigrated, inherited the asset or disposed of foreign property should obtain advice before relying on a standard investor calculation.
Do not assume the foreign report's year, currency conversion, tax label or gain number matches the South African return requirement. The ITR12 layout can change, so use the current guide for the year you are filing. If the foreign tax or gain is material, arrange a review before accepting an assessment.
When to get tailored advice
Get advice where there are multiple currencies, foreign tax credits, foreign property, trust or company ownership, a residency change, an estate, a large gain or a loss that needs to be carried forward. TaxProof can help organise the transaction file and reconciliation, while cross-border tax treatment needs fact-specific advice.