03 - Bookkeeping

Cryptocurrency Bookkeeping

SARS-compliant crypto accounting — cost basis, CGT, mining/staking income, and payroll.

Cryptocurrency Bookkeeping

Stokly offers full SARS-compliant cryptocurrency bookkeeping. Under South African tax law, crypto is treated as an intangible asset (not currency), and every disposal is a taxable event.

Available on Professional, Enterprise, and BookkeepingOnly plans (HasCrypto flag).

What's modelled

  • Crypto Assets — Bitcoin, Ethereum, and any other token you hold.
  • Crypto Wallets — exchanges, hardware wallets, custodial accounts.
  • Crypto Transactions — Buy, Sell, Mining, Staking, Airdrop, Swap, Payment (receive), Transfer.
  • Crypto Lots — individual acquisition lots for precise cost-basis tracking.

Cost basis methods

Under Accounting → Crypto → Settings, choose:

  • FIFO (First In, First Out) — SARS default, most common.
  • Weighted Average (WAC) — simpler, averages cost over all lots.
  • Specific Identification — pick which lot to dispose on each sale.

SARS requires consistent application — once you choose a method, stick with it.

Transaction lifecycle

  1. Draft — record the details of the transaction.
  2. Post — Stokly creates the accounting lots and posts the journal entry.
  3. Void — reverses the transaction (audit trail preserved).

Posted transactions cannot be deleted (5-year retention enforced).

Journal entries

Each transaction type auto-posts the correct accounting entries:

Type DR CR
Buy Crypto Asset (1700s) Bank
Sell Bank Crypto Asset → Realised Gain/Loss (7200s)
Mining / Staking Crypto Asset Crypto Income (4530s)
Airdrop Crypto Asset (at FMV) Crypto Income (4530s)
Swap Crypto Asset (new) Crypto Asset (old) + realised G/L
Payment (receive) Crypto Asset Sales
Fees Crypto Fees (6910) Crypto Asset

Tax reporting

Under Crypto → Reports:

  • Holdings Report — current balance per asset with market value and unrealised gain.
  • Gain/Loss Report — realised gains and losses per period.
  • Tax Summary — CGT calculation with R40,000 annual exclusion and 40% inclusion rate (for individuals).
  • Transaction History — full CARF-ready export for SARS.

The Tax Summary report produces ITR12-ready numbers you can copy straight into your tax return.

Payroll in crypto

If you pay employees partly in crypto:

  • Configure a wallet address on the Employee record.
  • Add a Crypto Allowance on the Salary record.
  • Payroll will calculate PAYE/UIF/SDL on the full (cash + crypto) earnings.
  • The payroll journal splits net pay between the bank account and the crypto asset account.
  • IRP5 includes the SARS source code 3606 — Cryptocurrency Remuneration.

Record retention

Posted crypto transactions cannot be deleted. They are retained for at least 5 years to meet SARS and CARF (Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework) requirements, which took effect in March 2026.