South Africa PAYE
Tax Calculator 2025/26

Seven progressive bands apply: 18% up to R237,100; 26% from R237,101 to R370,500; 31% from R370,501 to R512,800; 36% from R512,801 to R673,000; 39% from R673,001 to R857,900; 41% from R857,901 to R1,817,000; and 45% above R1,817,000. The primary rebate of R17,235 effectively makes income below R95,750 tax-free for taxpayers under 65.

Contributions to approved pension funds, provident funds, and retirement annuity (RA) funds are deductible up to 27.5% of the greater of your remuneration or taxable income, with an annual rand cap of R350,000. This directly reduces your taxable income before PAYE is applied. It is the single biggest legal tax reduction tool for most South Africans.

Employee UIF is 1% of gross salary, and the employer also contributes 1%. The monthly earnings ceiling for 2025/26 is R17,712. If your gross salary exceeds this, UIF is capped at R177.12 per month as the employee contribution. UIF funds temporary unemployment, maternity, illness, and death benefits.

Medical Scheme Fees Tax Credits (MTC) are fixed monthly amounts deducted directly from your PAYE tax payable, not from your income. For 2025/26 the credits are R364 per month for the main member, R364 for the first dependant, and R246 for each additional dependant. Your employer applies these automatically if you contribute via payroll.

Both are employer obligations. UIF is 1% of each employee's remuneration (up to the R17,712 ceiling), paid to the Department of Employment and Labour. SDL (Skills Development Levy) is 1% of total payroll, paid to SARS for workplace training. Neither is deducted from employee salaries. Both are costs above the gross salary for the employer.

If your employer deducts PAYE and you have only one income source below R500,000, you may qualify for auto-assessment and not need to file. You must file if you have other income (rental, freelance, investments), want to claim deductions not applied by your employer, or received a tax directive. The 2025/26 filing season typically opens July 2026 via SARS eFiling.

Tax rebates reduce your calculated PAYE directly. For 2025/26: primary rebate is R17,235 (all taxpayers), secondary rebate is R9,444 (age 65+), and tertiary rebate is R3,145 (age 75+). These mean the tax-free threshold is R95,750 for under-65s, R148,217 for 65–74, and R165,689 for 75+. Rebates are applied automatically by your employer.

Due to the primary rebate of R17,235, individuals under 65 effectively pay no tax on income below R95,750 per year (approximately R7,979/month). For those aged 65–74, the threshold rises to R148,217 thanks to the secondary rebate. For those 75 and older, it increases further to R165,689 with the tertiary rebate.

From September 2024, retirement fund contributions are split into a savings pot (one-third) and a retirement pot (two-thirds). Withdrawals from the savings pot before retirement are taxed as income at your marginal rate. The first R2,000 of savings pot withdrawals is tax-free. This is separate from the R27,500 tax-free withdrawal on retirement.

If you receive a travel allowance, you can claim actual business travel costs using a logbook. SARS publishes deemed cost rates annually (currently R4.64/km for vehicles over 100kW). Without a logbook, 80% of the allowance is taxable if the employer is satisfied business travel exceeds 80%, otherwise 100% is taxed. Keep accurate records.