The National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has published its 16th annual Tax Statistics, which provide an overview of the country’s tax-revenue collection and tax-return information for the 2019 to 2023 tax years.

The report showed that in the 2022/23 fiscal year, SARS:

• Collected a total of R2.07 trillion in gross tax revenue (R183 billion or 9.7% more than in the prior year);
• Refunded taxes worth R381 billion (R60 billion or 18.7% more than in the prior year);
• Netted tax revenue amounting to R1.69 trillion (R123 billion or 7.8% more than in the preceding year).
• Secured R231.8 billion in compliance revenue from focused collection efforts (R16 billion or 7.5% more than in the preceding year).

“A broad recovery in tax bases and higher-than-average commodity prices supported the growth in tax revenues” said the revenue service.

Other key figures in the 2023 Tax Statistics:

By the end of March 2023, the country’s personal income tax (PIT) register increased by 4.5% to 25.9 million individuals whilst the number of individuals expected to submit income tax returns sits at 7,068,925.

Personal income tax, geographic, demographic, and other analyses of the assessments of the taxpayers who had been assessed showed that:

• 2,319,473 (38.7%) of assessed taxpayers were registered in Gauteng;
• 775,508 (36.3%) of assessed taxpayers lived in the Johannesburg Metro and were taxed on an average taxable income of R472,982;
• 1,533,415 (25.6%) of assessed taxpayers were from 35 to 44 years old;
• 3,070,111 (51.3%) of assessed taxpayers were male;
• 2,884,706 (48.2%) assessed taxpayers were female;
• Assessed taxpayers reported aggregated taxable income of R2.1 trillion and tax liability of R447.6 billion. The average tax rate was 21.8% (a 0.5% increase);
• Income from salaries, wages, pension, overtime and annuities accounted for 75.5% of total taxable income.

The tax-to-GDP ratio of the country increased from 23.7% in 2018/19 to 25.1% in 2022/23 – the highest ratio attained since 1994/95.

Statistics for Company Income Tax (CIT) reveal that, out of the 1,057,040 companies assessed by 30 September 2023 for the 2021 tax year:

• 20.7% declared a positive taxable income;
• 52.6% had taxable income equal to zero;
• 26.7% reported an assessed loss.

Another notable statistic was that 80.8% of active Value-Added Tax (VAT) vendors were companies and close corporations. These vendors contributed 92.6% to Domestic VAT payments and received 92.8% of the VAT refunded.

Import VAT and Customs Duties increased its revenue collection. For the 2022/23 fiscal year, import VAT was collected in the main from the importation of: 

• Machinery and Electronics (26.4%); 
• Chemical Products (13.8%);
• Vehicles, Aircraft and Vessels (11.2%).

The largest contributors to Customs Duties were: 

• Vehicles, Aircraft and Vessels (29.0%); 
• Textiles and Clothing (15.9%); 
• Food, Beverages and Tobacco (13.4%);
• Machinery and Electronics (12.3%).

SARS notes that there were various elements that impacted tax revenue collection over the year, including “global geo-political tensions, energy supply risks, constrained logistics networks, labour and social unrest, as well as weaker global and domestic economic growth and heightened inflation risks.”

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