By Selloane Ntshonyane
- The South African Revenue Service collected R2.01-trillion during the 2025/26 year which is an 8.4% increase from the previous year.
- Tax officials said the high collection helped the government avoid increasing VAT which would have hurt many struggling South African households.
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has announced that it collected about R2.01-trillion for the 2025/26 financial year.
This amount is higher than what was expected and shows an increase of 8.4% compared to the year before. The money collected was also R24.7-billion more than what the government estimated in last year’s Budget.
Sars said this collection helped the government avoid increasing VAT. Raising this tax could have put more pressure on households that are already struggling.
Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter said the achievement is the result of hard work by over 14,500 employees. He said better systems also helped to improve how tax is collected from the public.
Over the past seven years, Sars has collected R11.5-trillion. This is almost half of the R25-trillion collected since 1994. The high collection happened even though the country faced challenges like Covid-19, load shedding and a slow economy.
One of the biggest parts of the revenue was PAYE which brought in R767-billion. VAT also reached over R600-billion.
Tax from companies also grew, especially among small businesses. But Sars said that not everything went well. Money from import taxes was lower than expected. The illegal economy also continues to be a big problem for the country.
Sars said South Africa loses more than R100-billion every year because of illegal activities like smuggling and tax fraud.
The organisation is now working on new digital systems to make paying tax easier. This includes automatic assessments and more online services.
Sars said these changes will help build a stronger economy and better services for all South Africans.
Pictured above: Sars building.
Image source: ActionSA
