Abstract
Crypto assets have taken a great prominence in our markets. The uncertainty around crypto regulations has caused a lack of understanding of the tax treatment of crypto assets worldwide. This means that there may be a real risk of tax non-compliance by individuals who own and use crypto assets. The aim of this paper is to compare tax guidance on crypto assets made available by tax administration to taxpayers for a number of countries, including South Africa. The purpose with this comparison is to assess the level of service orientation displayed by SARS as strategy to promote voluntary compliance by taxpayers and from a South African perspective identify shortcomings in the available guidance and support currently offered to users of crypto assets. A qualitative approach was used in this study. Recommendations made by the OECD in the form of general insights that policymakers may wish to consider in the taxation of crypto assets were used to construct a set of criteria as a framework for comparing published tax guidance. Data were searched by accessing the applicable tax administrations' websites and using applicable keywords. The researchers then categorised the data using the framework constructed from the review of the OECD Report to identify similarities and differences in the guidance provided on the tax treatment of crypto assets by the tax administration in the USA, UK, Singapore and South Africa. Findings suggest that the South African tax administration is exhibiting a service-orientated approach towards taxpayers, but areas for improvement in providing information, support and making it easy to comply, were also identified.