SARS Tax Brackets 2026: The Full 2026/27 Income Tax Tables, Explained

The 2026/27 tax year (1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027) brought South African taxpayers something they hadn't seen in three years: inflation relief. Budget 2026 (delivered 25 February 2026) adjusted the brackets and rebates upward by 3.4% — the first inflationary adjustment since 2023/24, ending the "bracket creep" era in which frozen tables quietly taxed every inflation-matching raise at higher effective rates. Here are the complete verified tables, what the numbers actually mean for your payslip, and the legal levers that reduce the bill — and when you're done reading, our SARS income tax calculator runs your exact salary through these tables in seconds.

The 2026/27 tax table (individuals)

R1 – R245,100: 18% of taxable income;
R245,101 – R383,100: R44,118 + 26% of the amount above R245,100;
R383,101 – R530,200: R79,998 + 31% of the amount above R383,100;
R530,201 – R695,800: R125,599 + 36% of the amount above R530,200;
R695,801 – R887,000: R185,215 + 39% of the amount above R695,800;
R887,001 – R1,878,600: R259,783 + 41% of the amount above R887,000;
R1,878,601 and above: R666,339 + 45% of the amount above R1,878,600.

Rebates and thresholds: why most of the table doesn't apply to you

The table computes gross tax; the rebates then subtract a fixed amount from the answer: the primary rebate of R17,820 (everyone), plus the secondary R9,765 from age 65, plus the tertiary R3,249 from age 75. The rebates create the tax thresholds — the income below which you owe nothing: R99,000 under 65, R153,250 for 65–74, and R171,300 from 75. (The arithmetic is visible: R99,000 × 18% = R17,820 — the rebate exactly cancels the tax.) Practical consequence: earners under the threshold owe no income tax even though PAYE may have been withheld — filing a return recovers it, which is why "I earn too little to file" is precisely backwards for many part-year and low-income workers.

Marginal tax, demystified: your raise is never "eaten by tax"

The most expensive misunderstanding in South African payrolls: "the raise pushed me into a higher bracket, so I take home less." False, always. The brackets are marginal — each rate applies only to the slice of income inside its band. An earner on R400,000 doesn't pay 31% on everything: they pay 18% on the first R245,100, 26% on the next slice, and 31% only on the rand above R383,100. A raise is taxed at your marginal rate — at R400,000, each extra R1,000 costs R310 in tax and banks R690 — but it never reduces take-home pay. The useful personal numbers to know: your marginal rate (what the next rand costs — decisive for valuing raises, overtime, RA contributions) and your average rate (total tax ÷ total income — always well below marginal; on R400,000, roughly 17% after the rebate). Confusing the two is how people decline overtime that would have paid them.

The legal levers: reducing the bill the sanctioned way

Retirement contributions — the heavyweight: contributions to RAs, pension and provident funds are deductible up to 27.5% of the greater of remuneration or taxable income, capped at R430,000 a year (2026/27, up from R350,000 in Budget 2026). At a 36% marginal rate, every R1,000 contributed costs R640 after the refund — the state co-funds your retirement at your marginal rate. Our tax refund calculator shows the rand effect of a top-up before you commit;
Tax-free savings accounts — R46,000 a year from 1 March 2026 (up from R36,000; R500,000 lifetime) growing with zero tax on interest, dividends or gains — the shelter for savings beyond retirement funds;
Interest exemptions — the first R23,800 of local interest (R34,500 from 65) is tax-free annually, unchanged in Budget 2026, sheltering a substantial emergency fund;
Medical tax credits — R376 a month for each of the first two medical-scheme beneficiaries and R254 a month for each additional dependant (2026/27), plus the additional-medical-expenses credit when contributions and out-of-pocket costs run high enough;
Capital gains treatment — investment growth realises at CGT rates (40% inclusion; maximum effective 18%) rather than income rates, with a R50,000 annual exclusion (raised from R40,000 in Budget 2026; R440,000 in the year of death) and a R3 million exclusion on the gain from your primary residence — structure long-term wealth as capital, not income, where honestly possible;
Legitimate deductions — home-office (strict requirements), wear-and-tear on work tools, donations to registered PBOs (with section 18A certificates, up to 10% of taxable income).

What isn't on the list: schemes. The gap between avoidance (arranging affairs within the law) and evasion (hiding income) is prison-shaped, and SARS's data-matching now sees bank interest, medical contributions, retirement contributions and crypto-exchange records automatically.

The provisional taxpayer note

Earn meaningful income outside PAYE — freelancing, rental, a side business — and you're likely a provisional taxpayer: two estimated payments a year (August and February) against your eventual liability, with penalties for serious underestimation. The discipline that prevents the February crisis: transfer your marginal-rate share of every non-salaried rand into a separate pocket the day it arrives, and it's sitting there when the return comes due (our sole-prop vs company guide covers the structures around this). Side-hustle income is taxable from the first rand — the R99,000 threshold applies to your total income, not to each stream.

Reading your payslip against the table

PAYE is your employer applying this table monthly: annualise the month's taxable earnings, compute the year's tax, subtract rebates, divide by twelve. Where payslips surprise people: bonuses are taxed at your marginal rate (the annualisation makes the month look rich — the year-end return trues it up, which is why bonus months feel over-taxed and refunds follow); fringe benefits (company car, employer contributions) land in taxable income; and two employers without coordinated PAYE each apply the full rebate, engineering an April liability — ask the second employer to withhold at a flat rate matching your true marginal bracket. Ten minutes with this table and your IRP5 converts filing season from anxiety into arithmetic — and our tax calculator hub bundles the take-home, refund and UIF tools that do the annualising for you.

Worked examples: three salaries through the 2026/27 table

R180,000 a year (R15,000/month): gross tax = 18% × R180,000 = R32,400; minus the R17,820 primary rebate = R14,580 for the year (about R1,215/month) — an average rate of 8.1% despite the 18% bracket. R420,000 a year (R35,000/month): falls in the 31% band — R79,998 + 31% × (420,000 − 383,100) = R91,437; minus R17,820 = R73,617 (about R6,135/month) — average rate 17.5%, marginal rate 31%. R780,000 a year (R65,000/month): the 39% band — R185,215 + 39% × (780,000 − 695,800) = R218,053; minus R17,820 = R200,233 — average rate 25.7%, marginal 39%. Notice the pattern the examples teach: average rates run far below marginal rates at every level, and the retirement-contribution lever grows with the marginal rate — the R420,000 earner gets 31% of every RA contribution back; the R780,000 earner gets 39%. (Figures exclude medical credits and other rebates — your personal result improves from here. To see your own salary, medical credits included, use the income tax calculator.)

Filing season: dates, auto-assessments and refunds

The tax year the tables govern (March 2026–February 2027) gets filed in the season that follows, with SARS increasingly running auto-assessments for straightforward salaried taxpayers: SARS pre-populates from employer, bank, medical-scheme and retirement-fund data and issues an assessment you accept or edit. The rules of engagement: check the auto-assessment rather than blindly accepting (missing deductions — the RA top-up, the section 18A donation, the home office — are yours to add, and auto-assessments only know what third parties reported); file even when you're under the threshold if PAYE was withheld (that's a refund waiting); and keep the supporting documents (SARS can request verification for years). Refunds pay into your verified bank account within days to weeks of a clean assessment — and the perennial scam warning writes itself: SARS never sends links requesting banking logins or 'refund release fees'; every filing-season SMS with a link deserves deletion.

Frequently asked questions

What are the tax brackets for 2026/27?

Seven marginal bands from 18% (up to R245,100) to 45% (above R1,878,600), applying from 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027 — adjusted 3.4% for inflation in Budget 2026.

How much can I earn before paying tax?

R99,000 a year under 65 (R153,250 from 65; R171,300 from 75). Below the threshold, withheld PAYE is refundable on filing.

Does a raise into a new bracket reduce my take-home pay?

Never — brackets are marginal, so the higher rate applies only to the rand above the line. A raise always increases take-home; it's just shared with SARS at your marginal rate.

How much of my retirement contribution is deductible?

Up to 27.5% of the greater of remuneration or taxable income, capped at R430,000 for 2026/27 — the single most powerful legal lever on your tax bill.

Why was my bonus taxed so heavily?

It's withheld at your marginal rate because PAYE annualises the bonus month. The final return reconciles it — over-withholding comes back as a refund.

Do I pay tax on side-hustle income?

From the first rand — total income across all streams is what the table taxes, and meaningful non-PAYE income makes you a provisional taxpayer with twice-yearly payments. Set aside your marginal share as you earn.

What changed from last year's tables?

A 3.4% inflationary uplift across brackets, rebates and thresholds — the first since 2023/24 — plus the TFSA limit up to R46,000, the retirement deduction cap up to R430,000, the CGT annual exclusion up to R50,000 and medical credits up to R376/R376/R254 a month. If your raise merely matched inflation, the adjustment means your average tax rate roughly held instead of creeping up, which was the frozen-table era's quiet annual increase.

Where do I verify these numbers?

The National Treasury's Budget 2026 tax pocket guide (treasury.gov.za) and SARS's rates-of-tax page publish the official individual tables, updated each Budget. The figures in this guide come from those tables for the 2027 tax year (1 March 2026 – 28 February 2027); cross-check there whenever a new Budget lands, because the brackets, rebates and retirement caps are the lines that move.