What’s New at SARS

5 December 2025 – National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) have jointly published the 18^th 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.

• • 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.

• • 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].

To access this page in different languages, click on the links below:

• IsiZulu
• Sesotho
• Afrikaans
• Sepedi
• Xitsonga

5 December 2025 – Income Tax Act, 1962: Average Exchange Rates

• Table A – A list of the average exchange rates of selected currencies for a year of assessment as from December 2003
• Table B – A list of the monthly average exchange rates to assist a person whose year of assessment is shorter or longer than 12 months

5 December 2025 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: Publication details for tariffs amendments notice R6910, as published in Government Gazette 53796 of 5 December 2025, are now available.

4 December 2025 – Customs and Excise Act, 1964: The tariffs amendments notice, scheduled for publication in the Government Gazette, relates to the amendments to –

• Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, by the substitution of tariff subheadings 1701.12, 1701.13, 1701.14, 1701.91, and 1701.99, to increase the rate of customs duty on sugar from 364.68c/kg to 436.38c/kg in terms of the existing variable tariff formula (ITAC Minute 08/2025)

Publication details will be made available later

4 December 2025 – Income Tax Act, 1962

• Binding Private Ruling 423 – Amount paid by a company to the sole beneficiary of its shareholder constitutes a dividend

4 December 2025 – Tax Court Judgments

• SARSTC VAT 1543 (VAT) [2025] ZATC JHB (19 November 2025)
• SARSTC IT 46233 (IT) [2025] ZATC JHB (14 October 2025)

Summaries are available on the Tax Court Judgments page

4 December 2025 – Achieving our Vision of a smart, modern SARS with unquestionable integrity that is trusted and admired is of paramount importance. Pivotal to the delivery of our vision are our digital platforms and technology infrastructure. To provide clarity and certainty, make it easy for taxpayers and traders to comply with their obligations and building public trust and confidence, our technology assets must demonstrate the highest levels of availability, robustness and security.

In accordance with our Vision and Strategic Objectives, which include modernising our systems to provide Digital and Streamlined online services, we are hard at work ensuring that our digital platforms and technology infrastructure are available, robust and secure, by performing regular upgrades, enhancements and maintenance.

Considering the above, SARS Digital platform maintenance is scheduled for:

• Saturday, 06 December 2025 from 04h00 to 10h00, and
• Saturday, 06 December 2025 from 22h00 to 03h30 on Sunday 07 December 2025.

During this time, you may experience intermittent service interruption on our eFiling, Tax and Customs Digital Platforms.

4 December 2025 – The Prohibited and Restricted Imports and Exports list has been updated.

• Tariff code 9018.50 does not need a letter of Authority from NRCS.

4 December 2025 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) is preparing to implement enhancements to the Tax Directives process as indicated in the IBIR-006 Tax Directives Interface Specification Version 6.901. We recommend that you review IBIR-006 before proceeding with testing.

Trade testing dates will be communicated once confirmed. Software implementation is planned for April 2026.

4 December 2025 – Joint Statement by Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Lithuania, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom; and the United Kingdom’s Overseas Territory of Gibraltar.

In recent years, tax policy developments have greatly enhanced cross-border exchanges of tax information and international cooperation between tax administrations, combating offshore tax non-compliance and tax secrecy on financial accounts. This includes delivering transparency through automatic exchange of financial assets (through the Common Reporting Standard) and crypto-assets (through the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework).

Despite these significant advances in automatic exchange of information, there is not yet a mechanism for jurisdictions to exchange information on non-financial assets, especially immovable property.

Recognising that ownership and transactions involving immovable property often have cross-border elements, we acknowledge the need for improved mechanisms to ensure that tax authorities have access to relevant information on immovable property assets held and income derived therefrom abroad to enforce tax laws effectively. We therefore welcome the new Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on Automatic Exchange of Readily Available Information on Immovable Property (IPI MCAA) between tax authorities developed by the OECD.

The broad adoption of the IPI MCAA is an important step towards delivering tax transparency on non-financial assets. It will strengthen our ability to monitor and enforce tax compliance, and to combat tax evasion, which undermines public revenues and unfairly shifts the tax burden onto compliant taxpayers.

We aim to join the IPI MCAA by 2029 or 2030, subject to domestic procedures as applicable.

We also encourage other jurisdictions to join this initiative in the collective effort to promote transparency, fairness and efficiency in global taxation.

3 December 2025 – Tax Administration Act, 2011

• Draft Notice – Incidences of non-compliance by a person in terms of section 210(2) of the Tax Administration Act, 2011 (Act No. 28 of 2011) that are subject to a fixed amount penalty in accordance with section 210 and 211 of the Act

Due date for comment: 28 January 2026

3 December 2025 – Income Tax Act, 1962, and Tax Administration Act, 2011

• Ntayiya v South African Revenue Service (848/2023) [2025] ZASCA 183 (1 December 2025)

Tax law – Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 – Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 – assessments of taxpayer – whether submission of nil returns by taxpayer triggers imposition of penalties under s 222 of the Tax Administration Act – whether penalties justified in the circumstances.

2 December 2025 – The e@syFile™ Employer version 8.0.1_330 release notes specify the following changes:

• • Enhancements were made to the AA88 import file to assist large entities.

See more detail in the release notes.

1 December 2025 – National Legislation

• Final Response Document – 2024 Draft Revenue Laws Amendment Bill, 2024 Draft Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill, 2024 Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, 2024 Draft Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill, Draft Global Minimum Tax Bill, and Draft Global Minimum Tax Administration Bill – January 2025

29 November 2025 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) notes the inaccurate article published on News24 titled “East London airport down to one day’s jet fuel amid SARS licensing crisis”. The article, viewed objectively, seeks to apportion blame to SARS for delays in licensing jet fuel storage facilities in Durban and East London.

There is no licensing crisis at SARS. On 14 October 2024, SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter, in an effort to avert fuel shortages at all airports, granted special permission for the importation of aviation and illuminating kerosene from 21 October 2024 until 20 October 2025. The special permission was granted to address the shift in the fuel industry, in which the country has now become an importer of aviation and illuminating kerosene, as local manufacturing has declined significantly.

After the above undertaking and almost one year later, only three entities applied for fuel storage licensing. In the middle of this year, this dispensation was further extended to ensure the security of supply is not interrupted. Again, only the three original licensees renewed their licenses.

While SARS is doing its best to ensure the security of aviation and the supply of illuminating kerosene, it is also monitoring the situation to address non-compliance in the industry, as empowered by the Customs and Excise Act. In early November 2025, SARS stopped imports into unlicensed facilities. The importers were assisted in licensing the facility. On 19 November 2025, a major importer submitted a licensing application for the tanks it used to store imported aviation and illuminating kerosene. This license was expedited and was issued on 27 November 2025

As things stand, the facility in East London has applied for a license to import aviation and illuminating kerosene but has not delicensed its previous license for the same facility, in line with the law. SARS is currently assisting this entity to expedite the process, in line with our commitment to ensuring the security of supply. As it relates to the Burgan Terminal in Cape Town, the matter of a detained jet fuel was resolved, and the jet fuel was released on Tuesday, 25 November 2025. The importer is now applying for the facility’s licensing.

SARS is enjoined by law to stamp out non-compliance with the regulations governing the storage and handling of fuel, and to ensure the strict observance of licensing requirements without undermining the security of the supply of aviation and illuminating kerosene. While the statement attributed to the industry association supports SARS’ mandate, their remarks suggest an expectation that compliance should be secondary to the security of fuel supply.

SARS recognises the vital role of the fuel industry in supplying aviation and illuminating kerosene to all major airports, and, in this regard, SARS appreciates the importance of fuel availability during this peak travel season. However, compliance with customs and excise regulations in those operations is critical to ensure lawful operation. SARS operates with a strict zero-tolerance policy towards non-compliance, as any deviation threatens the very core of its mandate, including its work of levelling the playing field. Importantly, non-compliance also threatens the fuel supply chain and can have profound implications for public safety and the economy.

SARS would like to remind once again the fuel industry involved in the management, storage, importation and distribution of aviation kerosene to note and ensure compliance with the following:

1. Prohibition of movement of levy goods: Imported aviation kerosene must be stored exclusively in licensed Special Storage Facilities (SOS), with adherence to legislative guidelines for movement.
2. Registration and compliance: All entities involved in managing and distributing aviation kerosene must ensure they are appropriately registered with SARS, which is crucial for maintaining compliance and accurate record-keeping.
3. Separation of accounting: Clients must account separately for imported and locally manufactured aviation kerosene to facilitate compliance.
4. Pipeline intermixtures: Accurate documentation of any intermixtures in pipelines is required, with clients responsible for necessary amendments to declarations.

SARS Commissioner Mr. Edward Kieswetter said: “SARS remains committed to transparent communication and expeditious handling of compliance matters while ensuring the integrity of our processes. I encourage all stakeholders in the fuel industry to work closely with SARS to obviate any unnecessary challenges and to ensure that any movement of fuel is dealt with in line with all relevant regulations, including the Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1964”.

For further information, contact [email protected].

28 November 2025 – National Legislation: The following regulations have been promulgated:

Effective 1 March 2026

• Regulations for purposes of paragraph (c) of the definition of “international tax standard” in section 1 of the Tax Administration Act, 2011, promulgated under section 257 of the Act, specifying the changes to the OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework International Standard for the Exchange of Tax-Related Information between Countries
• Regulations for purposes of paragraph (a) of the definition of “international tax standard” in section 1 of the Tax Administration Act, 2011, promulgated under section 257 of the Act, specifying the changes to the OECD Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters

28 November 2025 – South Africa recorded a preliminary trade balance surplus of R15.6 billion in October 2025. This surplus was attributable to exports of R192.2 billion and imports of R176.6 billion, inclusive of trade with Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia (BELN).

See the full Media Release here.

Or visit the Trade Statistics webpage.

27 November 2025 – Achieving our Vision of a smart, modern SARS with unquestionable integrity that is trusted and admired is of paramount importance. Pivotal to the delivery of our vision are our digital platforms and technology infrastructure. To provide clarity and certainty, make it easy for taxpayers and traders to comply with their obligations and building public trust and confidence, our technology assets must demonstrate the highest levels of availability, robustness and security.

In accordance with our Vision and Strategic Objectives, which include modernising our systems to provide Digital and Streamlined online services, we are hard at work ensuring that our digital platforms and technology infrastructure are available, robust and secure, by performing regular upgrades, enhancements and maintenance.

Considering the above, SARS Digital platform maintenance is scheduled for:

Saturday, 29 November 2025 from 22h00 to Sunday, 30 November 02h00.
Sunday, 30 November 2025 from 14h00 to 19h00.

During this time, you may experience intermittent service interruption on our eFiling, Tax and Customs Digital Platforms.
Arrival and exit management functions will be available at land border posts for declarations and manifests.
Stakeholders are therefore urged to submit all Goods Declarations (bills of entry) and Road Manifest, especially those deemed priority, by Saturday, 29 November @ 20h00 and on Sunday, 30 November 2025 @ 10h00 and plan land-based cargo movements accordingly to avoid any delays.

27 November 2025 – Mossel Bay SARS Customs is moving on 28 November 2025 and will open on 1 December 2025 at their new location:

Unit 3 (first floor)
Block A
13 Bally Crescent
Voorbaai
Mossel Bay

26 November 2025 – Tax Administration Act, 2011

• Inhlakanipho Consultants (Pty) Ltd v CSARS (A333/2024) [2025] ZAGPPHC 1210 (25 November 2025)

Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 – Parties bound by agreement entered into lawfully – agreement represented the final agreed position between the parties – intention of the parties can be ascertained from the agreement – intention was a settlement of the appellant’s liabilities of the specified periods – confidence in agreements entered with SARS and its abiding with the terms of those agreements is paramount – appeal upheld.