Income Tax Calculator for South Africa
| Bracket | Rate | Amount in bracket | Tax in bracket |
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How SARS tax brackets actually work
South Africa's income tax brackets are slices, not a single rate applied to your whole income. Moving into a higher bracket does not mean all of your income is taxed at that higher rate, only the portion that falls inside it. Someone earning R400,000 a year is not taxed at 31 percent on the whole amount: the first R245,100 is taxed at 18 percent, the next slice up to R383,100 at 26 percent, and only the remainder above that at 31 percent. The breakdown above shows exactly how much of your own income falls into each slice.
Marginal rate versus effective rate
Your marginal rate is the rate charged on your next rand of income, the rate of the bracket you are currently in. Your effective rate is your total tax divided by your total taxable income, averaged across every cheaper slice below it. The effective rate is always lower than the marginal rate, and it is the more honest measure of how much of your income actually goes to tax.
What the rebates and thresholds mean
A rebate is a fixed amount subtracted directly from the tax you would otherwise owe, not from your income. Everyone gets the primary rebate; people 65 and older get an additional secondary rebate on top of it, and people 75 and older get a further tertiary rebate on top of that. The tax threshold is simply the income level at which those rebates fully cancel out your tax bill, below it you owe nothing. It rises with age because the rebates stack.
How the medical credit differs from a deduction
The medical scheme fees tax credit is subtracted from your tax bill directly, the same way a rebate is, not from your taxable income. A deduction only saves you your marginal rate on the amount deducted; a credit saves you the full rand amount regardless of which bracket you are in. This calculator applies the credit using the main member and first dependant rate for the first two people on the scheme, and the lower additional dependant rate for anyone after that.
What this calculator does not do
- It is an estimate, not tax advice, and not a SARS calculation.
- It does not handle the additional medical expenses tax credit for out of pocket costs.
- It does not handle rental income, capital gains, foreign income, travel allowances or lump sums.
- Local dividends are not included, since they are taxed at 20 percent at source and never enter this tax table. Do not add dividend income to the interest field above.
Figures for the 2027 tax year are taken from the SARS Budget 2026 Tax Guide. For the authoritative source, see SARS's rates of tax for individuals.