On 05 December 2025, the National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service SARS jointly published the 18 th annual edition of the Tax Statistics bulletin. It reviews tax revenue collection and tax return information for the 2021 to 2024 tax years, as well as for the 2020/21 to 2024/25 fiscal years.
By building a solid foundation for sustainable tax revenue growth, SARS continues to fund a significant portion of government expenditure. It is the nations tax-collecting authority, whose mandate also includes promoting a culture of voluntary taxpayer compliance and facilitating legitimate trade across our borders. Tax collections have increased from R113.8 billion in 1994/95 to R1,855.3 billion in 2024/25, at a compounded annual growth rate of 9.8 and an average tax-to-Gross Domestic Product GDP ratio of 22.3. In the 2024/25 fiscal year, SARS collected R2.3 trillion in gross tax revenue R147.8 billion or 6.9 more than in 2023/24 refunded taxes worth R447.3 billion R33.4 billion or 8.1 more than in the prior year and netted tax revenue amounting to R1.9 trillion R114.4 billion or 6.6 more than in the preceding year.
In 2024/25, growth in net Personal Income Tax PIT was mainly as a result of above-inflation growth in the financial intermediation, insurance, real-estate and business services and community, social and personal services sectors pay-as-you-earn PAYE, as well as the gains from Two-Pot withdrawals which were higher than expected. In the 2024/25 fiscal year, Company Income Tax CIT Provisional Tax collections were higher than in the prior year, mainly due to the financial Intermediation, insurance, real estate, and business services sector, which was buoyed by improved profits. In contrast, the mining and quarrying sector continued to contract, mainly due to low commodity prices. Domestic Value-Added Tax VAT growth in the 2024/25 fiscal year was driven by improved consumer sentiment, lower interest rates, contained inflation, and early pension-fund withdrawals, all of which have bolstered household consumption in the last quarter of 2025.
