Capital gains tax calculator: what you keep when you sell

The gain is the selling price, less the costs of selling that the law lets you set against it, less your base cost (what you paid plus transfer duty, transfer costs and improvements). If it was your home, the primary residence exclusion of R3 000 000 takes off the part of the gain for the years you lived in it. A yearly exclusion of R50 000 comes off next, and 40% of what remains is added to your taxable income, so the tax is at most 18% of the gain.

The primary residence exclusion applies to the share of your years in the home that you lived there. If you lived in it for 6 of 10 years and let it for 4, the exclusion covers six tenths of the gain (up to R3 000 000) and the other four tenths is taxed. Only the years since 1 October 2001 are counted. This calculator does not apply the five-year letting rule, so a registered tax practitioner can check whether it helps you.

Choose "Before 1 October 2001" in the calculator. Count the years you lived in the home and the years it was let only from that date, because the years before it are ignored when the primary residence exclusion is shared. Your base cost is not what you paid: for a home bought before that date it is the value on 1 October 2001, plus improvements since. Paragraph 26 lets you fix that value as the market value on that date (which needs a valuation made by 30 September 2004, paragraph 29(4)), as 20% of the proceeds after first deducting what you spent on the home after 1 October 2001, or by time-apportionment. Enter that figure. A registered tax practitioner or financial adviser can advise on your own situation.

Yes. The commission and its VAT, the compliance certificates and the rates clearance are costs of selling that reduce the gain. The bond cancellation attorney and any early-termination charge to your bank do not. Selling privately leaves less to set against the gain, so some of the commission saved goes to capital gains tax (at most 18% of it) and the rest stays with you.

An agent's commission is typically 5 to 7.5% plus VAT of the price. Selling privately through Privately costs up to R199 once and R199 a month while the listing is live, and less for members with a free place (see the pricing page). The calculator shows both side by side for your price, with the electrical certificate and rates clearance and the bond cancellation if you have a bond.

No. A capital loss is not taxed. If it was your home, the part of the loss for the years you lived in it is disregarded; the part for the years it was let, after the R50 000 yearly exclusion takes off first, can be carried forward as an assessed capital loss against later gains. Money you spent on improvements counts towards the base cost.

No. It runs in your browser with the same engine as the Counter That game, and nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.