Firstly, you are taxed on all offshore interest earned, except the first R3000, if you are a natural person (and didn't earn at least R3000 taxable foreign dividends, since the exemption would be utilised against foreign dividends first. As to the question at hand, I think there would be two possible answers (but you really need a tax expert for this): 1. It could be argued that CFD's and spread betting constitutes gambling on the stock markets, in which case you will not pay any tax (unless you are really hard-core and basically make a living out of it - then it would be taxable, probably at normal tax rates). 2. It could also be argued that CFD's and spread betting are the same as any other derivative, in which case capital gains tax will be payable, or even normal tax, since it could easily be deemed speculative. The reason I think that you might call it gambling, is that (unlike other derivatives) the underlying investment will never be delivered. Instead you are literally making a bet on price movements, which is not much different from betting on the outcome of roulet in a casino. As to the likely outcome if you just accept SARS's judgement: normal tax, simply because 1) they want the maximum tax possible and 2) the nature of the items suggests in itself a speculative intent.
