The tax threshold is the annual taxable income below which no income tax is payable, once rebates are applied. For 2026/2027 it’s R99,000 for under-65s, R153,250 for ages 65–74, and R171,300 for 75 and older. Anyone earning below their threshold owes no tax (though PAYE may still have been withheld and need a refund).
The threshold is derived, not legislated directly — it’s the income at which the bracket calculation produces tax exactly equal to the primary rebate (and secondary/tertiary rebates for older taxpayers). When SARS adjusts brackets or rebates each February, the threshold moves as a side-effect.
Earning below the threshold doesn’t always mean you don’t have to file. Provisional taxpayers, foreign-income earners, and anyone with capital gains above R40,000 must still submit a return. Salaried earners below the threshold with a single IRP5 are usually exempt under SARS’s annual tax-season notice.