South Africa: Draft business requirement specifications for FATCA, CRS, and CARF

Updated to align South Africa’s AEOI framework with revised OECD CRS.

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November 3, 2025

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) on October 21, 2025, issued a draft version of the business requirement specification for the automatic exchange of information (AEOI), which provides detailed technical and XML schema guidance for FATCA and the common reporting standard (CRS). The draft specification has been primarily updated to align South Africa’s AEOI framework with the revised OECD CRS.

In addition, SARS on October 20, 2025, issued a draft version of the business requirement specification for the cryptoasset reporting framework (CARF). The draft specification outlines the technical and XML schema guidance for CARF reporting, supporting both international exchanges between competent authorities and domestic reporting by reporting cryptoasset service providers (RCASPs).

South Africa has confirmed alignment with the OECD CARF implementation timeline, targeting September 2026 for the start of domestic reporting and September 2027 for the first international exchange of information.

Technical enquiries on either the FATCA/CRS XML schema or the CARF XML schema may be submitted to SARS via email at Bus_Sys_CDSupport@sars.gov.za by November 7, 2025.

Read a November 2025 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in South Africa

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