Provisional tax · IRP6 Provisional tax (IRP6) without the guesswork

What is provisional tax?

Provisional tax is not a separate tax. It is a way of paying your normal income tax in advance, in two instalments during the year, instead of one large amount after you file your return.

Employees have PAYE deducted from every salary, so by year-end most of their tax is already paid. Anyone earning income that is not taxed at source — business profits, rental, freelance fees, interest above the exemption, dividends from foreign companies — would otherwise pay nothing until assessment. Provisional tax closes that gap: you estimate what your taxable income will be, pay tax on the estimate in August and February, and settle the difference when the annual return (ITR12 or ITR14) is assessed.

Who is a provisional taxpayer?

You are a provisional taxpayer if you earn income other than remuneration from a registered employer, or if SARS has told you that you are. Companies and close corporations are always provisional taxpayers. Typical individuals include:

• Sole proprietors, freelancers, consultants and contractors
• Landlords earning rental income
• Directors drawing income that is not fully taxed through PAYE
• Investors with interest, dividend or foreign income above the exemptions

You are excluded — and need not pay provisional tax — if you do not carry on a business and either your taxable income for the year will not exceed the tax threshold (R99 000 if you are under 65 for the 2027 tax year), or your taxable income from interest, dividends, foreign dividends, rental and remuneration from an unregistered employer will not exceed R30 000. We check this every year, because the answer changes as your income does.

Provisional tax deadlines for 2026/2027

Companies with a different financial year-end pay six months after the start of the year and again on the last day of the year. The second payment for February 2027 falls on Friday 26 February because the 28th is a Sunday — SARS deadlines move to the preceding business day when they land on a weekend.

How the estimate works — and where people get caught

For the first period SARS lets you use the "basic amount" — your last assessed taxable income — as the estimate, as long as that assessment is not too old. For the second period the estimate must be close to your actual taxable income for the year, and this is where penalties bite:

• If your taxable income is more than R1 million, your second estimate must be at least 80% of the actual figure.
• If it is R1 million or less, the estimate must be at least the lesser of the basic amount or 90% of the actual figure.
• Fall short and SARS charges an underestimation penalty of 20% of the difference in tax.
• Pay late and there is a 10% late-payment penalty plus interest (currently 10.25% a year).

The common mistakes are predictable: forgetting the February payment entirely, re-using last year's basic amount when the business has grown, leaving out rental or crypto gains, and estimating from the bank balance rather than the books. Because we keep our clients' bookkeeping current, the estimate is built from real year-to-date figures and a sensible projection for the remaining months.

Do you have to file an IRP6 if there is nothing to pay?

If you are registered as a provisional taxpayer, SARS expects an IRP6 for each period even when the estimate is nil — a nil return is still a return. If you no longer meet the definition we can help you deregister so the obligation falls away.

Provisional tax for companies

Every company is a provisional taxpayer from the day it is registered, whether or not it is trading. Two IRP6 returns a year, estimated from management accounts, keep the company compliant and keep its tax compliance status green — which matters the moment you tender or apply for finance.

We handle it end to end

We confirm whether you need to pay, calculate the estimate from actual figures, file the IRP6 on eFiling, send you the payment reference and amount in good time, and reconcile everything to your final return. If a payment was missed in the past, we file it, request remission of the penalty where there are grounds, and get you back on track.