SARS Income Tax Calculator South Africa 2026/27

South African income tax for individuals — 2026/27

South Africa uses a progressive personal income tax with seven brackets from 18% to 45%. Tax is calculated on your taxable income, which is total income (salary, business income, rental, interest above the exemption) less allowable deductions (retirement contributions, donations, travel claims). Only the portion of income inside each bracket is taxed at that bracket's rate — moving into a higher bracket never reduces your take-home pay.

2026/27 tax brackets (year ending 28 February 2027)

Rebates & tax thresholds

Below the threshold for your age, no income tax is payable — but UIF still applies to salaried employees.

Worked example — R360,000 a year, age 35, two medical aid members

1. Taxable income: R360,000 — this falls in the second bracket.
2. Tax before rebates: R44,118 + 26% × (360,000 − 245,100) = R73,992.
3. Less primary rebate: −R17,820.
4. Less medical tax credits: 2 members × R376 × 12 = −R9,024.
5. Annual tax payable: R47,148 — about R3,929 per month, an effective rate of 13.1%.

Notice the effective rate (13.1%) is far below the 26% marginal rate. That gap is what most people miss when they say "I'm taxed at 26%".

Income tax at a glance (under 65, no medical aid)

Deductions that legally lower your taxable income

• Retirement funding — pension, provident and retirement annuity contributions up to 27.5% of the greater of remuneration or taxable income, capped at R350,000 a year.
• Section 18A donations — up to 10% of taxable income, with a valid 18A certificate. Excess carries forward.
• Travel allowance claims — business kilometres from a logbook, against a travel allowance or company car fringe benefit.
• Home office (Section 11(a) read with 23(b)) — only where the space is used exclusively and regularly for work and the strict SARS tests are met.
• Additional medical expenses (Section 6B) — out-of-pocket medical costs above the SARS-set percentage of taxable income.

Interest, dividends and capital gains

• Local interest exemption: R23,800 (under 65), R34,500 (65+).
• Dividends withholding tax: 20%, deducted at source and final — not added to taxable income.
• Capital gains: annual exclusion of R40,000, then 40% inclusion for individuals — an effective top rate of about 18%.
• Tax-free savings account: R36,000 a year and R500,000 lifetime, all growth tax-free.

Provisional tax

If you earn income other than a salary — rental, freelance, business or substantial investment income — you are a provisional taxpayer. You file IRP6 returns by the end of August and the end of February, with an optional third top-up payment in September, and then still file the annual ITR12.

How employees, employers and SARS fit together

For salaried employees this tax is collected monthly as PAYE by the employer, declared on the EMP201 by the 7th of the following month, and reported on the IRP5 at year end. Use our PAYE calculator for the monthly deduction, UIF calculator for the 1% + 1% contribution and salary calculator for take-home pay. Payroll Africa runs all three automatically on every payroll cycle and files the returns for you.