Provisional Tax Calculator (IRP6)

Who is a provisional taxpayer

Provisional tax is not a separate tax. It is the way SARS collects income tax during the year from people whose income is not fully covered by PAYE. If you earn anything other than a salary from an employer registered for PAYE, you are a provisional taxpayer: freelance and consulting fees, sole proprietor profits, rental income, foreign income, and pay from an employer who does not deduct PAYE all count. Directors of private companies are not provisional taxpayers on their director's fees alone; they become one only if they have other business income.

SARS excludes an individual who does not carry on a business, as long as one of two tests is met for the year:

• taxable income does not exceed the tax threshold, which for 2026/2027 is R99,000 under 65, R153,250 from 65 to 74, and R171,300 from 75; or
• taxable income from interest, dividends, foreign dividends, rent from letting fixed property and pay from an unregistered employer is R30,000 or less.

The business test matters most. A teacher who tutors on Saturdays is carrying on a business, so neither exclusion helps, even if the tutoring earns R5,000 a year. Deceased estates, approved public benefit organisations and recreational clubs are also excluded.

How the August and February payments are worked out

Both payments start from the same thing: an estimate of your taxable income for the whole year of assessment, March to February, including the taxable part of any capital gain. Tax on that estimate is worked out from the normal tables, then reduced by the primary, secondary and tertiary rebates and by the medical scheme fees credit and the additional medical expenses credit. That gives the tax for the year.

For the first period, you pay half of the year's tax less the PAYE your employer withheld from March to August. For the second period, you pay the full year's tax less all PAYE for the year and less the first payment you actually made. If you skipped the August payment, February has to carry the whole year, and the late August amount still attracts its own penalty and interest.

Worked example for 2026/2027

Lerato is 42 and works for herself as a bookkeeper. She expects taxable income of R420,000 for the year, has no salary and pays R3,200 a month to a medical scheme for herself and her son.

• Tax from the tables on R420,000: R91,437.00
• Less the primary rebate: R17,820.00
• Less the medical scheme fees credit for two people (R752 a month for 12 months): R9,024.00
• Tax for the year: R64,593.00

Her first payment, due by 31 August 2026, is half of that: R32,296.50. If she pays it in full and her estimate does not change, the second payment by 26 February 2027 is another R32,296.50. Her effective rate is 15.4%, while each extra rand she earns is taxed at 31%.

Payments at different income levels

For someone under 65 with no PAYE and no medical aid, using the 2026/2027 tables. Each period is half of the tax for the year.

The basic amount and the 90% and 80% tests

The basic amount is SARS's yardstick for a reasonable estimate. It is the taxable income on your latest assessment, provided that assessment was issued at least 14 days before you submit the IRP6, less any taxable capital gain and any retirement fund or severance lump sum. If that assessment is for a year that ended more than 18 months before the estimate, the basic amount goes up by 8% a year. The SARS guide gives the case of a R195,000 basic amount from four years back, which becomes R257,400.

Your estimate is not supposed to be lower than the basic amount unless SARS agrees, and SARS can ask you to justify any estimate and raise it. The penalty rules then look only at the February estimate, against the taxable income finally assessed:

• Actual taxable income up to R1,000,000: a penalty applies if the estimate is below 90% of actual taxable income and also below the basic amount. It is 20% of the difference between the lower of the tax on 90% of actual income and the tax on the basic amount, and the PAYE and provisional tax you paid by year end.
• Actual taxable income above R1,000,000: a penalty applies if the estimate is below 80% of actual taxable income. It is 20% of the difference between the tax on 80% of actual income and the tax already paid.

Take an estimate of R380,000, a basic amount of R400,000 and an assessment that comes in at R500,000. The estimate is below both R450,000 and the basic amount. Tax on the lower benchmark is R67,417.00; the two payments made on the estimate total R61,372.00. The penalty is 20% of the gap: R1,209.00, on top of the tax still owed.

Late payment, interest and the top-up

Paying either period late costs a 10% penalty on the late amount under paragraph 27, plus interest at the prescribed rate. Where both apply, the paragraph 20 penalty is reduced by the paragraph 27 penalty. Separately, if your taxable income is above R50,000 and the year's tax is more than what you paid, interest runs on the shortfall from the effective date, seven months after year end. A voluntary third payment by 30 September 2027 stops that interest from building up. The SARS penalty calculator shows what a late payment adds.

Due dates for 2026/2027

• First period: period ends Monday, 31 August 2026; pay by Monday, 31 August 2026.
• Second period: period ends Sunday, 28 February 2027; pay by Friday, 26 February 2027.
• Voluntary top-up: by Thursday, 30 September 2027.

Submit each IRP6 on eFiling and pay with the 19-digit payment reference on the return. Electronic payments can take two to five days to clear, so pay before the last day. The SARS deadline checker lists these dates next to your VAT and payroll deadlines. If you work for yourself, the freelancer tax calculator helps you arrive at the taxable income estimate in the first place, and the SARS tax tables show the brackets behind every figure here.