Similar to the recently published Global Minimum Tax – GloBE Information Return (GIR) business specification, SARS published a 79-page Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) on 12 February 2026. The CARF framework has gone through four revisions starting in 2013. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) on November 28, 2025, announced the promulgation of regulations to implement the OECD’s crypto asset reporting framework (CARF), as well as the OECD’s amendments to the common reporting standard (CRS 2.0) within South Africa’s domestic framework. These regulations become effective on March 1, 2026.
Two OECD reference documents form the basis of the final framework:
- Crypto Asset Reporting Framework XML Schema July 2025
This document contains the user guide for the XML schema that supports the automatic exchange of information pursuant to the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), as part of international tax transparency efforts. - Crypto Asset Reporting Framework Status Message XML Schema May 2025
This CARF Status Message XML Schema allows Competent Authorities that have received CARF information through the XML Schema to report back to the sending Competent Authority on whether the file contained any file-level or record-level errors. This document outlines the structure of the CARF Status Message XML Schema and provides a user guide with practical instructions for its implementation.
One of the biggest global challenges faced by the financial sector in recent years has been the emergence of crypto and other forms of electronic money products as an alternative to FIAT currencies. Amongst the interventions by the Organisation for Economic Development are most notably two initiatives under the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI), namely Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) and Common Reporting Standard (CRS).
CRS, similar to FATCA for the USA, is designed as a platform for competent authorities to collect and share foreign income accounts and related transactions; the latest revision includes electronic money products and Central Bank Digital Currencies.
CARF, on the other hand, is for the collection, reporting and exchange of information on crypto assets. Crypto-assets can, for instance, be transferred and held without interacting with traditional financial intermediaries and without any central administrator having full visibility on either the transactions carried out or the location of crypto-asset holdings.
These developments have reduced tax administrations’ visibility on tax-relevant activities carried out within the sector, increasing the difficulty of verifying whether associated tax liabilities are appropriately reported and assessed, which poses a significant risk that recent gains in global tax transparency will be gradually eroded. In light of the specific features of the crypto-asset markets, the OECD, working with G20 countries, has developed the CARF, a dedicated global tax transparency framework which provides for the automatic exchange of tax information on transactions in crypto-assets in a standardised manner with the jurisdictions of residence of taxpayers on an annual basis.
The CARF consists of three distinct components:
- Rules and related commentary that can be transposed into domestic law to collect information from reporting crypto-asset service providers with a relevant nexus to the jurisdiction implementing the CARF.
These rules and commentary have been designed around four key building blocks:
i) The scope of crypto assets to be covered;
ii) The entities and individuals subject to data collection and reporting requirements;
iii) The transactions subject to reporting, as well as the information to be reported in respect of such transactions; and iv) the due diligence procedures to identify crypto-asset users and controlling persons and to determine the relevant tax jurisdictions for reporting and exchange purposes.
- A Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Information pursuant to the CARF (CARF MCAA) and related Commentary (or bilateral agreements or arrangements); and
- An electronic format (XML schema) to be used by Competent Authorities for purposes of exchanging the CARF information, as well as by Reporting Crypto-Asset Service Providers to report CARF information to tax administrations (as permitted by domestic law). SARS took a position to adopt the OECD Schema for domestic purposes also, i.e., the collection of CARF information from RCASPs with a reporting nexus to South Africa (ZA). This is perfectly aligned to the OECD intended purpose for the CARF XML Schema. This also reduces the risk of misalignment during the exchange of CARF information between competent authorities.
The OECD schema is structured to allow alignment with domestic tax legislation. Sections that relate to the domestic (South Africa) use of the schema are reflected in italics and/or highlighted with a light blue colour in this BRS for ease of reference. For additional third-party data required by SARS for domestic
purposes only, a special wrapper is included on the CARF XML Schema, additional data fields will be added from time to time on the CARF XML Schema aligned to the South African domestic tax legislation (e.g., the Tax Administration Act), and within the well-established collaborative engagement platforms between SARS and all impacted stakeholders; for more details on the schema, refer to section 13 of this BRS.
South Africa is a signatory to the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) and has aligned itself with the OECD’s implementation timeline, targeting 2026 for the rollout of new reporting obligations. Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) in South Africa will be required to begin reporting relevant data from September 2026. Furthermore, the exchange of information between competent authorities is scheduled to start in September 2027, ensuring South Africa’s participation in the global initiative to enhance tax transparency and compliance in the rapidly evolving crypto-asset sector.
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN
The OECD Schema for exchanges pursuant to the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) is divided into logical sections based on the schema and provides information on specific data elements and any attributes that describe each data element.
The main sections of the CARF schema are:
I. The message header, with the sender, recipient, message type, and reporting period;
II. The Organisation Party type, used for identifying entities, i.e., both Entity Reporting Crypto-Asset Service Providers and Entity Crypto-Asset Users:
III. The Person Party type, used for identifying individual Reporting Crypto-Asset Service Providers and individual Crypto-Asset Users, as well as the natural persons controlling certain entities Crypto Asset Users;
IV. The CARF Body, which contains two sub-sections:
- RCASP, containing the required information with respect to the identity of the Reporting Crypto Asset Service Provider that is reporting pursuant to the CARF and its nexus to the reporting jurisdiction;
- Crypto Users, containing information on the Reportable Users’
i. Identity, which identifies the individual or Entity Crypto-Asset User (and any Controlling Persons) subject to exchange under the CARF; and
ii. Relevant Transactions, which includes information on the Relevant Transactions carried out by a Crypto-Asset User that are reportable under the CARF, namely exchanges between Relevant Crypto-Assets and Fiat Currencies, exchanges between one or more forms of Relevant Crypto-Assets and Transfers (including Reportable Retail Payment Transactions and Transfers to unhosted wallets) of Relevant Crypto-Assets.
The CARF XML Schema is designed to be used for the exchange of information reported under the CARF between competent authorities that have activated exchange relationships under the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Information pursuant to the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (“CARF MCAA”), or a similar exchange instrument. Where appropriate, jurisdictions could also consider using the schema domestically for the purpose of gathering the required information from their respective Reporting Crypto-Asset Service Providers.
The requirement field for each data element and its attribute indicates whether the element is validation or optional in the schema. Every element is one or the other in the schema.
“Validation” elements MUST be present for ALL data records in a file, and an automated validation check can be undertaken. The sender should do a technical check of the data file content using XML tools to make sure all “Validation” elements are present, and if they are not, correct the file. The receiver may also do so and, if incorrect, may reject the file. Where there is a choice between two validation elements under a validation parent and only one is needed, this is shown as “Validation (choice)”.
There may be different business rules for elements that are optional in the schema:
- Some optional fields are shown as “(Optional) Mandatory” – an optional element that is required for CARF reporting as specified in the CARF reporting requirements depending on availability of information or legal factors. Mandatory elements may be present in most (but not all) circumstances, so there cannot be a simple IT validation process to check these. For example, the CARF provides an exception with respect to place of birth information, which is not required to be reported unless the Reporting Crypto-Asset Service Provider is otherwise required to obtain and report it under domestic law and it is available in the electronically searchable data maintained by the Reporting Crypto-Asset Service Provider.
- Optional elements may be provided but are not required to be completed.
- Certain elements may be included in the CARF schema for structural consistency with other schemas but are not required (e.g., the nationality element). This information should not be reported in a CARF schema file, and these elements are indicated as “Optional (non-CARF)”. ”.
For more information, please access the SARS web page via the link: https://www.sars.gov.za/latest-news/crypto-asset-reporting-framework-carf-external-brs/