How your take-home pay is worked out
Your annual taxable income is taxed across SARS’s sliding scale of brackets. Retirement-fund contributions (up to 27.5% of your pay, capped at R430,000 a year) are deducted before tax. The income tax is then reduced by your age-based rebate and, if you belong to a medical scheme, by the monthly medical tax credits. Employees also pay 1% UIF, capped at R177.12 a month.
AfriTaxCalc uses the official 2026/27 figures and is checked against a set of hand-computed SARS examples on every change.
The 2026/27 figures
| Annual taxable income | Rate on this band |
|---|---|
| R0 – R245,100 | 18% |
| R245,101 – R383,100 | 26% |
| R383,101 – R530,200 | 31% |
| R530,201 – R695,800 | 36% |
| R695,801 – R887,000 | 39% |
| R887,001 – R1,878,600 | 41% |
| R1,878,601 and above | 45% |
- Primary rebate: R17,820 a year (R9,765 more at 65+, R3,249 more at 75+).
- Medical scheme credit: R376 a month each for the first two members, then R254 for each additional dependant.
- Retirement deduction: up to 27.5% of pay, capped at R430,000 a year.
- UIF: 1% of pay on earnings up to R17,712 a month: a maximum of R177.12 a month.