Africa-Press – South-Africa. The National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) have published the 18th annual Tax Statistics, providing an overview of tax collection and tax return data for the 2024/25 financial year.
The data also provides insights into the breakdown of demographics, sectors, and locations of taxpayers contributing the most to SARS’ tax haul.
Tax collections 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%.
Over this period, South Africans remained highly taxed, with the average tax-to-GDP ratio hitting 22.3%. However, it hit a record high in 2025 at 25.1% of GDP.
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).
It 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).
The main source of tax revenue comes from individual taxpayers, with Personal Income Tax accounting for R733.2 billion, or 40% of the total collected.
This is followed by VAT (26.5%), Corporate Income Tax (CIT – 17.4%), and other taxes, which balance it out.
SARS noted that the increase in PIT was mainly due to above-inflation growth in pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) in key sectors, as well as the gains from Two-Pot withdrawals, which were higher than expected.
CIT was driving by Provisional Tax collections, which were higher than in the prior year. In contrast, domestic VAT growth was driven by improved consumer sentiment, lower interest rates, contained inflation, and early pension-fund withdrawals.
“The broad rise in revenue can also be attributed to enhanced strategies and diligent implementation of compliance measures,” SARS said.
This includes the taxman’s Compliance Programme interventions, which secured R304.0 billion in compliance revenue compared to R260.5 billion secured in 2023/24, marking a 16.7% year-on-year increase.
A portion of this revenue can be attributed to cash collection initiatives, amounting to R156.1 billion. Strategies to prevent revenue leakage contributed another R147.9 billion.
This is who is paying South Africa’s tax
Zooming in on the biggest tax group, individual taxpayers, it is clear that the bulk of South Africa’s taxes are coming from a relatively small group.
SARS has 26.2 million registered individual taxpayers, with only 9.15 million active and submitting tax returns. This represents about 14.5% of the total population.
Examining the broader data, the statistics reveal that males over the age of 35 residing in Johannesburg, Gauteng, are the primary taxpayers in South Africa.
2.9 million (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.
Two million (26.7%) of assessed taxpayers were between 35 and 44 years old.
Four million (52.7%) of assessed taxpayers were male.
Notably, South Africa’s tax income is still primarily coming from a very small base.
According to SARS, nearly 50% of individuals earned less than R95,750, accounting for 8.8% of taxable income.
The proportion of individuals with taxable income above R95,750 to R500,000 stood at 39.3% with a
taxable income share of 42.3% and a tax liability share of 25.4%.
Only 1.2% of individuals were in the above R1.5 million taxable income group, with a taxable income share of 15.0% and a tax liability share of 30.1%.
The graphics below show the breakdown of where South Africa’s income taxes are sourced, demographically.
Tax by Province
Gauteng accounts for 38% of registered taxpayers and contributes 47% of the country’s personal income tax. This is in line with the province having the largest population, though it only accounts for 25% of the total estimated population of 63 million in 2025.
The province maintains its reputation of being the economic heartland of South Africa.
Tax by Municipality in Gauteng
Within Gauteng, Johannesburg and Tshwane are the richest municipalities, both with average taxable income over R400,000. However, it is notable that none of the municipalities in the province have an average below R300,000.
Tax by Age Group
Across age groups, the bulk of individual taxpayers are between 25 and 54 years old, with the 35 to 44 year old range the largest contributor.
Tax by Gender
Looking at gender, males out-earn females in South Africa in every income category except the R350,000 to R500,000 bracket. The imbalance is most notable in the top brackets, where less than a third of females earn over R1 million.
A small percentage of taxpayers (0.5%) could not be identified by gender.
Tax by Sector
The largest contributing employment sector to individual tax is the finance, insurance, real estate and business services sector, accounting for R316 billion, or 45% of all tax.
The second-largest contributor is the community, social, and personal services sector. Notably, this sector includes the government and public service sector.
Source: businesstech
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