SARS Tax Refund Calculator (2025/2026)

Start with the year printed on your tax documents. The 2026/2027 tax year runs from 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027. Returns submitted during the 2026 filing season normally cover 2025/2026. Mixing documents from those two years can change the result because the brackets, rebates and medical credits differ. This calculator defaults to the current tax year and lets you select earlier years.

On your IRP5, code 3699 is the taxable remuneration total and code 4102 is the employees’ tax already withheld. Add totals from every employer or pension payer for the same year. Use annual amounts, including taxable benefits, rather than a monthly salary or the amount that reached your bank account. Do not subtract PAYE from remuneration: the tool compares PAYE with your final estimated tax.

Gather your bank interest certificate, retirement-fund certificates, medical scheme certificate and receipts for unreimbursed qualifying medical expenses. Retirement contributions should be counted once, even when an employer contribution also appears as a taxable benefit. For donations, use the amount supported by a valid section 18A receipt. An ordinary donation receipt is not enough to claim this deduction.

Other income here means South African interest before its exemption and positive rental or freelance profit after allowable expenses. Enter only income that is not already included in your IRP5 total. Rental losses, foreign income, capital gains and retirement lump sums need rules beyond this estimator. If you paid provisional tax, use the provisional-tax calculator and reconcile those payments separately.

The estimate starts with your remuneration and taxable other income, subtracts allowable retirement and section 18A deductions, then applies the selected year’s SARS brackets. It subtracts your age rebates and medical credits and stops the liability at zero. The final comparison is simple: PAYE paid minus estimated annual liability. A positive amount suggests a refund; a negative amount suggests you may owe SARS.

The breakdown lets you see where the number came from. A deduction reduces taxable income; a credit reduces the tax itself. Neither guarantees a payout. Medical credits are non-refundable, so unused credits do not turn a zero liability into a negative one. The SARS tax tables and income-tax calculator explain how brackets and age rebates affect your annual tax.

This is a planning tool, not your Notice of Assessment. It uses the figures you enter and models the common salary, interest, retirement, donations and medical-credit case. SARS can have additional information or disallow an unsupported claim. This estimate excludes travel deductions, capital gains, foreign income, lump sums, assessed losses, prior-year carry-forwards and provisional-tax payments. Do not use it as a complete return calculation when any of those apply.

PAYE is collected during the year, while the return works out the full year’s liability. If you stopped working partway through the year, your total annual income may be lower than the payroll estimate used while you were employed. Enter the actual remuneration and PAYE from your certificates. Do not multiply part-year earnings into a full-year salary: that would describe a different income.

Retirement contributions that were not fully recognised in payroll can reduce taxable income, within the statutory limits. Use the retirement contribution calculator to explore that deduction and the deductions guide to check supporting documents. A contribution does not produce a refund rand-for-rand; its effect depends on your taxable income and the tax already paid.

Medical credits can also reduce liability when they were missing from payroll. Enter the actual covered months and scheme members you paid for, plus annual contributions and qualifying expenses. This form assumes the same member count for all those months. If the count changed, this simplified estimate cannot reconcile the full return; check your annual certificate and SARS assessment. The medical-credit calculator and medical-credit guide explain section 6A and the additional section 6B credit.

Two employers or pension payers may each calculate PAYE using only the income they pay you. Your annual return combines those sources, which can move some income into a higher bracket. A second job therefore does not automatically produce a refund. Add every certificate before comparing the estimated liability with all the PAYE withheld.

Freelance profit, rental profit and interest above the age-based exemption can increase your taxable income without corresponding PAYE. Missing those amounts makes an estimate look more favourable than your return. Keep the profit calculation and certificates with your records, and check whether provisional-tax obligations apply to you.

Use eFiling to check the assessment and your Income Tax Statement of Account. SARS explains that the statement shows the refund transaction and payment date, while the Notice of Assessment shows the due date for an amount owed. The number here cannot tell you whether SARS has approved a payment or when it will reach your account.

Refunds can be held up by incorrect or unverified banking details, verification or audit, outstanding returns and existing tax debt. SARS may use a refund against outstanding debt before paying the remaining credit. Check requests for supporting documents and respond through SARS’s official channels. Keep your registered details current and compare the assessment with your certificates before assuming a difference is an error.

For an auto-assessment, review the third-party information SARS used, including employers, banks and schemes. This calculator does not receive that information and cannot accept or amend an assessment. The filing-season hub explains the next steps for checking documents and preparing your return.

These examples use the same engine and tax-year configuration as the tool, so the figures follow the SARS rules used in the calculation. All four taxpayers are under 65 and have no qualifying disability.

• SARS — Individual rates, rebates and thresholds
• SARS — Medical scheme credits
• SARS — Additional medical expenses tax credit
• SARS — Filing season
• SARS — What can delay a refund
• SARS — Refund and payment dates on eFiling