What Changed in the 2026 Budget

Every February, the Budget Speech sets the tax rules for the year ahead, and buried in it are the numbers that decide your take-home pay. Here's what the 2026 Budget changed that actually affects your payslip — in plain terms.

The headline for most earners is that the tax brackets were adjusted upward for inflation. When brackets move up, you can earn a little more before crossing into a higher rate — modest relief that stops "bracket creep," where inflation quietly pushes you into higher tax even though your real income hasn't grown. After a stretch of years where the brackets were left unchanged, an inflationary adjustment is genuinely welcome for take-home pay.

The rebates — the flat amounts subtracted from everyone's tax — moved up in step, which is what lifts the tax-free threshold: the point below which you pay no income tax at all.

The change worth knowing if you save for retirement is the retirement contribution annual cap, which rose to R430 000. This is the ceiling on how much you can contribute to retirement funds and still get the tax deduction. For most people the percentage limit (27.5% of income) bites first, but higher earners benefit directly from the higher cap.

What didn't change: the top marginal rate stayed at 45%, and the overall structure of brackets, UIF, and medical credits remained as before.

For the exact current figures — brackets, rebates, credits, and the retirement cap — our calculator and its guide articles carry the verified numbers, and our methodology page explains how we source and check them.

This is general information, not tax advice. To see the current tables applied to your salary, use the calculator.