South African Gambling Tax

A: Generally, lottery winnings would be considered capital in nature and would not be subject to normal tax in South Africa. However, you would need to declare it in your tax return within 'amounts considered not taxable'. I won a house in a competition, however I did not declare this on my tax return during that tax year. South Africa is bankrolling its new democracy with a multi-million pound gambling craze in which this week the latest phase of Caesar's Palace, modelled on its Las Vegas namesake, opened in.

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• At present, in South Africa, gambling winnings are generally not subject to tax in the hands of the individual, unless gambling is that person‟s business or trade. Paragraph 60(1) of the Eighth Schedule of the Income Tax Act states that a.
• According to figure put together by the governing body of land-based operators, the Casinos Association of South Africa, in 2018 the gross gambling revenue for the country dropped by 2%, something the CASA believes can be firmly laid at the door of the illegal operators.
• When betting sports, winnings are not taxed, but for horseracing a 6% tax in the form of VAT is deducted from winnings. As of 2015, no additional tax is charged to recreational bettors, and there is no need to include gambling winnings on income tax returns. List of Licensed South African Bookies. There are many South African licensed bookies.

Look’s like you earning a healthy some of money, did you know that online sports betting, lottery and horse racing betting is legal in South Africa, below is the list of the top 4 most trusted online sports betting sites, why not take a bet and see whether you can beat the odds. All winnings are tax free.

South Africa Gambling Tax

The title says it all, but we’ll say it again, should a punter pay tax on his / her gambling winnings in South Africa? Well you’ve come to the right place to have that question answered. This is our guide to Gambling Tax South Africa

Before we get started we’d like to say we are not tax lawyers or accountants so please do your own research if you are making enough money that you think you should be paying tax. This post is meant as a guide for those who think they should and would like to do the right thing.

South African Gambling Tax Calculator

Gambling Tax in South Africa

Lottery winnings

Lottery wins are not included in an individuals taxable income and are generally exempt from taxes. You would need to declare the winnings to Sars however. They won’t tax it but they’d like to know about it!

South Africa Sports Betting Tax

Gambling winnings

We’re sure this is the reason why you are here. Gambling winnings and tax can get a bit murky and complicated so we’ll try keep it simple. We’re going to group winners into two different camps, the first being Joe Public who bets / goes to the casino every so often as a hobby and John Sharp who is a professional gambler who spends all his time playing poker and sipping cocktails at Kenilworth racetrack and is paying Gambling Tax.

Joe Public has a job and only gambles for fun and to try make some extra money. Joe is basically the majority of the gambling / betting population. He’ll have a few wins and lots of losses and won’t make enough to get SARS interested in taxing him. Now there are circumstances where Joe might have won R300000 on a pick 6 / blackjack and he is worried that the taxman will come chasing him for some Gambling Tax.

Fear not Joe, you are safe. SARS treats Joe Public’s winnings like it treats Lottery winners winnings as “It’s not a scheme of profit making”. Which means Joe Public will not have to pay tax but he should declare the winnings to SARS. Now if Joe keeps winning and decides that he can make money out it then he becomes John Sharp.

John Sharp is only in the business to make money off the casinos, bookies and dice rollers in his local alley. Because his business (well personal business) is to make money this makes him a Professional in the eyes of the Taxman, so what does this mean for John and the R200000 he won at Kenilworth thanks to a tip from his uncle? Well it mean’s he is going to have to declare those winnings making them subject to normal tax, on the bright side he can also claim losses on his tax which does make things a bit fairer.

Full time gamblers pay tax

For those of you who are full time punters / gamblers and are making a profit you should be declaring this to SARS and you will be taxed accordingly. These scale on what your income tax scales so you’ll need to refer to the SARS website for more details on what exactly one would need to pay if they profited R10000 or R1000000 in one month. You’d obviously pay more the more you profit.

We hoped this article was helpful and if you’d like more detailed information then we’d suggest giving your account a shout and he’d be able to explain things in more detail. Otherwise best of luck Joe and John, I hope you guys walk out with a healthy profit.

For more information please see the SARS website.