12 November 2025 — The South African Revenue Service (SARS) welcomes the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) tabled in Parliament today by the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana. The Minister revised the 2025 Budget net tax-revenue estimate from R1 985.6 billion to R2 005.3 billion.
Commissioner Edward Kieswetter expressed SARS support of the Minister’s statement, which charts a clear and pragmatic roadmap for South Africa’s fiscal sustainability. “The MTBPS sets out bold measures to strengthen the country’s economic resilience. SARS is committed to supporting these objectives by focusing on robust revenue collection, improved compliance and trade facilitation through consistent effort, operational excellence, and innovation,” said Kieswetter.
By 30 September 2025, SARS had collected a net revenue of R924.7 billion, drawn from gross collections of R1 157.6 billion and refund payments of R232.9 billion. This marks year-on-year growth of R78.6 billion and an overall surplus of R18 billion against the printed estimates, indicating a promising trajectory for the second half of the financial year. Nearly 50% of the better than estimated performance came from compliance efforts.
SARS’ compliance programme continues to deliver results. In the same period, SARS secured R131.6 billion from compliance activities, up from R122.6 billion in the previous year. Debt collections reached R47.1 billion, an increase of R3.3 billion (7.5%), reinforcing SARS’ contribution to the national fiscus.
Kieswetter credits SARS’ achievement to the effort of its employees and compliant taxpayers. “Behind these numbers are the dedicated SARS employees who perform millions of little things daily, and many compliant taxpayers whose contribution make this success possible. Their commitment is to help to strengthen South Africa’s fiscal outlook and build momentum for the future. These results underscore SARS’ effectiveness in revenue collection and is positive for the country’s fiscal outlook,” he adds.
Building on this momentum, revenue collection has demonstrated resilience across major tax categories. Collections from Corporate Income Tax (CIT), PAYE, Dividends Tax, Domestic VAT, General Fuel Levy (Imported), as well as lower-than-estimated VAT-refund payments, consistently outperformed expectations, reinforcing SARS’ role in sustaining fiscal stability.
- Corporate Income Tax (CIT): Year-to-date CIT Provisional Tax payments amounted to R164.5 billion, growing by R14.2 billion (9.5%) and exceeding the printed estimates by R4.7 billion (3.0%). Collections were boosted by SARS invoking Paragraph 19(3) that yielded an additional R10.0 billion. The main contributors being companies in the Mining and Finance sectors. The Mining sector continues to encounter significant challenges because of softening commodity prices for palladium, iron ore, and coal. These price fluctuations affect the profitability of companies, resulting in downward pressure on CIT provisional payments.
- PAYE collections of R371.0 billion recorded growth of R30.9 billion (9.1%) against the prior year and exceeded the printed estimate by R3.2 billion (0.9%). The year-on-year growth was driven mainly by payments from employers in the Finance and Community sectors. Tax proposals announced at Budget 2025 included no inflationary adjustments to PIT tax brackets and rebates; measures expected to yield R16.7 billion for the full year. In the first half of the year, PAYE collections from Two-Pot withdrawals were based on a total gross withdrawal of R18.2 billion and taxable amounts valued at R5.2 billion.
- Dividend tax collections amounted to R22.3 billion, growing by R5.3 billion (31.0%) against the prior year and recording a surplus of R4.6 billion (25.7%) against the printed estimates. This included a significant once-off payment of R1.4 billion, whilst the main drivers of this growth were the Finance, Manufacturing, and Wholesale & Retail sectors.
- Domestic VAT collections totaled R292.7 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of R21.1 billion (7.8%). This was driven mainly by growth in the Finance, Wholesale & Retail, and Manufacturing sectors, and partially offset by the Transport sector. Year-to-date Domestic VAT collections exceeded the printed estimates by R5.2 billion (1.8%).
- Import VAT significantly underperformed by R3.7 billion due to a lower growth in the value of imports 1.2%, which were expected to grow by 5.4% over the full year.
- Lower than expected VAT refund payments, totaled R183.9 billion, or a marginal increase of R0.2 billion (0.1%) from the prior year. This positive outcome is the result of the continued focus on SARS efforts to curb impermissible and fraudulent refund claims. Refund risk management contributed most significantly to the solid improvement in overall Net VAT revenue.
- General Fuel Levy collections of R44.7 billion were R2.1 billion (5.0%) higher than in the prior year and exceeded the printed estimates by R2.3 billion (5.3%). Fuel declarations for April to September 2025 recorded a total year-on-year net growth of 2.1% (241.9 million litres) in volume. Declarations from importers increased by 133.1% (3 605.3 million litres) and were partially offset by declarations from local manufacturers, which contracted year-on-year by 39.0% (3 363.4 million litres).
The surpluses on the above tax products were partially offset by lower-than-expected collections from PIT Provisional taxes, PIT Assessments, and Customs taxes; as well as higher-than-estimated PIT refund payments:
- The 2025/26 printed estimate for PIT Provisional Tax is R51.5 billion, with a full-year targeted growth rate of 19.1% against the prior year. Year-to-date collections of R17.4 billion recorded growth of R1.5 billion (9.4%) against the prior year and fell short of the printed estimates by R1.5 billion (8.2%).
- PIT assessment tax collections of R9.9 billion recorded growth of R0.4 billion (3.8%) against the prior year and fell short by R1.1 billion (9.7%). The growth was driven mainly by the Community sector and partially offset by a contraction in the Mining sector.
- The 2025/26 full year printed estimates for Customs trade taxes are R360.6 billion, requiring a year-on-year growth rate of 5.5%. By 30 September 2025, collections had yielded R156.7 billion, representing a lower-than-expected growth of R5.0 billion (3.3%), primarily driven by Import VAT of R2.7 billion (2.3%) and Customs Duties of R2.3 billion (7.2%). The year-to-date collections fell short of the printed estimates by R3.4 billion (-2.1%), primarily due to a deficit in Import VAT, and were partially offset by a surplus in Customs Duties debt collections.
- PIT Refunds of R32.2 billion recorded growth of R4.5 billion (16.2%) against the prior year and exceeded the printed estimates by R1.4 billion (4.4%).
- 7.3 million PIT returns were received (compared to 6.6 million at the same time in the prior year). Of these, 5.7 million returns were auto-assessed compared to 4.8 million for the previous year. 4.6 million returns resulted in credit assessments totaling R31.2 billion, matching the prior year’s volume but reflecting a R1.9 billion increase in value.
Commissioner Kieswetter reaffirmed SARS’ commitment to building a smart, modern institution anchored in integrity and trust. “Our role extends beyond revenue collection; we advance national fiscal goals in the face of persistent challenges such as debt, unemployment, and inequality. With government depending on tax revenues for around 90% of expenditures, strong domestic resource mobilisation is essential to safeguard fiscal integrity and reduce reliance on external funding”.
To accelerate these gains at Budget 2025, Minister Godongwana allocated an additional R7.5 billion to SARS over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (2025/2026; 2026/2027; 2027/2028).
SARS is pioneering Tax Administration 3.0, a modernisation strategy focused on developing a smart, digitally integrated platform powered by advanced data science. This approach encompasses eight generational projects:
- Upskilling employees to remain relevant in a future world of work in an era of artificial intelligence.
- Establishing a unique digital identity system to improve the integrity and ease of authentication.
- Creating a comprehensive taxpayer account portal enabling employees to better serve taxpayers
- Modernising a case management platform that is more intelligent, embedded in data science and artificial intelligence.
- Embedding an entity-based compliance model into the platform to drive a shift from a reactive, declaration-based risk profiling towards a real time proactive risk profiling.
- Building an instant payment system (in partnership with the South African Reserve Bank) to increase payment integrity through greater financial inclusion and reducing cash utilisation.
- Modernising the end-to-end administration of VAT
- Modernising the physical and technological customs and excise administration infrastructure.
The illicit economy has proliferated in South Africa. In 1994, the illicit economy was estimated to account for approximately 4% of the country’s GDP. This figure is now reported by various studies, to have grown to a staggering figure of between 10% – 15% of GDP in 2024. This is an unacceptably high level in our national economy and must be met with swift and determined efforts to reverse its impact. The illicit activities in tobacco and cigarettes, alcohol, fuel and fuel adulteration, counterfeiting, illegal mining, and the smuggling of gold and other minerals are a stark expression of this phenomenon.
SARS will continue to work to eliminate valuation fraud and identify unexplained wealth while integrating the informal economy into the broader tax framework. The organisation remains committed to striking a balance between service excellence, protection of taxpayer rights and responsible enforcement where necessary. The success of our country depends on our efforts to decisively deal with the scourge of the illicit economy. Let it be said that we have and will continue to incessantly fight against this scourge that weighs down our economy.
Commissioner Kieswetter extended his sincere gratitude to SARS’ 14 000 employees for their unwavering commitment and professionalism. He said that “the work we do as SARS has a transformative impact on the most vulnerable in our society and fulfils our commitment to the higher purpose we serve”. He also thanked the taxpayers, and other stakeholders, for their contribution to helping our country meet its commitment to all its citizens.
For further information, please contact SARS at [email protected]
