5 December 2025 – National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) have jointly published the 18th annual edition of the Tax Statistics bulletin. The 2025 edition reviews tax-revenue collection and tax-return information for the 2021 to 2024 tax years, as well as for the 2020/21 to 2024/25 fiscal years.
By building a solid foundation for sustainable tax revenue growth, SARS continues to fund a significant portion of government expenditure. It is the nation’s tax-collecting authority, whose mandate is also to promote a culture of voluntary taxpayer compliance and facilitate legitimate trade across our borders. Tax collections have increased from R113.8 billion in 1994/95 to R1 855.3 billion in 2024/25, at a compounded annual growth rate of 9.8% and an average tax-to-GDP ratio of 22.3%. In the 2024/25 fiscal year, SARS collected R2.3 trillion in gross tax revenue (R147.8 billion or 6.9% more than in 2023/24); refunded taxes worth R447.3 billion (R33.4 billion or 8.1% more than in the prior year); and netted tax revenue amounting to R1.9 trillion (R114.4 billion or 6.6%% more than in the preceding year).
In 2024/25 growth in net Personal Income Tax (PIT) was mainly as a result of above-inflation growth in the Financial Intermediation, Insurance, Real-estate and Business Services and Community, Social and Personal Services sectors’ pay-as-you-earn (PAYE), as well as the gains from Two-Pot withdrawals (which were higher than expected). In the 2024/25 fiscal year, Company Income Tax (CIT) Provisional Tax collections were higher than in the prior year and which growth was mainly due to the Financial Intermediation, Insurance, Real-estate, and Business Services sector, which was buoyed by improved profits. In contrast, the Mining and Quarrying sector continued to contract, mainly due to low commodity prices. Domestic Value-Added Tax (VAT) growth in the 2024/25 fiscal year was driven by improved consumer sentiment, lower interest rates, contained inflation, and early pension-fund withdrawals, all of which have bolstered household consumption in the last quarter of 2025.
The broad rise in revenue can also be attributed to enhanced strategies and diligent implementation of compliance measures. The SARS Compliance Programme interventions secured R304.0 billion in compliance revenue as compared to R260.5 billion secured in 2023/24, marking a 16.7% year-on-year increase. A portion of this revenue could be attributed to cash-collection initiatives, amounting to R156.1 billion. Strategies to prevent revenue leakage contributed another R147.9 billion.
Key figures in the 2025 Tax Statistics bulletin:
- Chapter 1 of the bulletin shows that the Personal Income Tax (PIT) remains the largest contributor to tax revenue with a contribution share of 39.5%. The tax-to-GDP ratio showed an increase from 22.3% in 2020/21 to 25.1% in 2024/25. The cost ratio of revenue collection decreased from 0.85% in 2020/21 to 0.72% in 2024/25.
- In Chapter 2 of the publication, the data reveal that by 31 March 2024, the PIT register had grown annually by 4.3% to 27.1 million individuals. The number of individuals expected to submit Income Tax returns was 7.7 million for the 2024 tax year. Income tax, geographic, demographic and other analyses of the assessments of the taxpayers who had been assessed by 26 August 2025 for the 2024 tax year showed that:
- 2 929 742 (38.0%) of assessed taxpayers were registered in Gauteng.
- 970 892 (36.0%) of assessed taxpayers in Gauteng lived in the Johannesburg Metro and were taxed on an average taxable income of R480 318.
- 2 061 259 (26.7%) of assessed taxpayers were between 35 to 44 years old.
- 4 064 846 (52.7%) of assessed taxpayers were male and 3 612 042 (46.8%) were female; the remainder (0.5%) could not be identified by gender.
- Contributions to retirement funding (pension, provident and retirement annuity funds) were the largest share of deductions at R278.7 billion (83.7%) of total deductions assessed.
- Assessed taxpayers reported an aggregated taxable income of R2.7 trillion and tax liability of R563.3 billion. The average tax rate was 20.8% compared to 21.1% in the previous tax year.
- Statistics for Company Income Tax (CIT) in Chapter 3 highlighted that, out of the 1 228 437 companies assessed by 31 August 2025 for the 2023 tax year, 21.7% declared a positive taxable income, 54.0% had taxable income equal to zero, and the remaining 24.3% reported an assessed loss. Of the companies assessed, 630 large companies (0.2% of the companies with positive taxable income) that each had taxable income of more than R200 million and were liable for 59.6% of the CIT assessed. The Financial Intermediation, Insurance, Real-estate, and Business-services sector accounted for 279 525 (22.8%) of the assessed companies and was liable for 37.1% of the CIT assessed, contributing the most among all the sectors.
- Chapter 4 indicates that in 2024/25, there were 900 285 registered Value-Added Tax (VAT) vendors, of which 496 858 (55.2%) were active. Of these active VAT vendors, 82.5% were companies and close corporations. These vendors contributed 93.8% to Domestic VAT payments and received 93.3% of the VAT refunds paid. Although individuals (sole proprietors) composed 10.4% of active VAT vendors, they contributed 1.6% to Domestic VAT payments and received 0.6% of the VAT refunds paid.
- As detailed in Chapter 5, Import VAT and Customs Duties accounted for 14.1% and 4.1% of the year’s Total Tax Revenue, respectively. In aggregate, these revenue sources accounted for 18.2% of Total Tax Revenue, which was higher than the 18.0% average attained over the preceding five fiscal years. The largest driver of Import VAT was Machinery and Electronics at 27.0%, whilst Vehicles, Aircraft and Vessels accounted for the most significant portion of Customs Duties at 25.6%, with most imports derived mainly from China.
- Finally, Chapter 6 deals with other taxes and collections, such as Capital Gains Tax (CGT), Transfer Duty, Mineral and Petroleum Resources Royalty (MPRR), Southern African Customs Union (SACU) payments, and Diesel refunds.
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- MPRR payments by extractors contracted by R5.3 billion (33.4%) from R16.0 billion to R10.6 billion in 2024/25 due to a significant decline in commodity prices, particularly PGMs, Iron Ore and Coal. This contraction was less severe due to improved Gold prices, which effectively offset the decline in MPRR payments.
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- Regarding SACU arrangements, South Africa contributed 97.1% to the Customs Revenue Pool (CRP) total in 20 24/25, compared to 97.5% in 2023/24. The 2024/25 CRP of R143.3 billion grew by R11.9 billion (9.1%) compared with 2023/24, supported by increased imports of vehicles, machinery, electronics, clothing, footwear, beer, and spirits. Shares received by South Africa in 2024/25 amounted to R81.4 billion (R79.7 billion in the prior year), equal to 47.5% of the R171.3 billion total shared revenue pool (50.0% of R159.5 billion in the prior year). The portion for Botswana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, and Namibia (collectively referred to as BELN) amounted to R89.8 billion (52.5%).
The 2025 Tax Statistics bulletin and supporting documents are available on the SARS tax Statistics webpage and www.treasury.gov.za.
SARS and National Treasury welcome comments and suggestions from the public. Please send them by e-mail to [email protected].
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