On 05 December 2025, the National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) jointly published the 18th annual edition of the Tax Statistics bulletin. It 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 also includes promoting a culture of voluntary taxpayer compliance and facilitating 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-Gross Domestic Product (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, 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, up from R260.5 billion in 2023/24, 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 PIT remains the most significant contributor to tax revenue, accounting for 39.5% of total tax revenue. The tax-to-GDP ratio increased 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 had an average taxable income of R480,318.
- 2,061,259 (26.7%) of assessed taxpayers were aged 35-44.
- 4,064,846 (52.7%) of assessed taxpayers were male, 3,612,042 (46.8%) were female, and the remainder (0.5%) could not be identified by gender.
- Contributions to retirement funding (pension, provident, and retirement annuity funds) accounted for the largest share of total deductions assessed, at R278.7 billion (83.7%).
- 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%, down from 21.1% in the previous tax year.
- Statistics for 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% reported positive taxable income, 54.0% reported taxable income of 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) 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. It was liable for 37.1% of the CIT assessed, contributing the most among all sectors.
- Chapter 4 indicates that in 2024/25, there were 900,285 registered VAT vendors, of which 496,858 (55.2%) were active. Of these active VAT vendors, 82.5% were companies and close corporations. These vendors accounted for 93.8% of domestic VAT payments and received 93.3% of the VAT refunds. Although individuals (sole proprietors) comprised 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 most significant driver of Import VAT was machinery and electronics at 27.0%, whilst vehicles, aircraft and vessels accounted for the largest share of customs duties at 25.6%, with most imports originating 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 the National Treasury’s webpage.
SARS and the National Treasury welcome public comments and suggestions, which should be sent by email to taxstatistics@sars.gov.za.