Total tax revenue collections for 2020/21 declined by 7.8% to R1 249.7 billion from the R1 355.8 billion collected in the previous year, tax statistics have revealed.
The figures are contained in the 14th annual edition of the Tax Statistics published by the National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) on Tuesday.
The Treasury and SARS in a statement said the 2021 edition provid
Total tax revenue collections for 2020/21 declined by 7.8% to R1 249.7 billion from the R1 355.8 billion collected in the previous year, tax statistics have revealed.
The figures are contained in the 14th annual edition of the Tax Statistics published by the National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) on Tuesday.
The Treasury and SARS in a statement said the 2021 edition provided an overview of tax revenue collections and tax return information for the 2017 to 2021 tax years, as well as the 2016/17 to 2020/21 fiscal years.
The document indicates that revenue collections in the 2020/21 fiscal year were “severely impacted” by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown restrictions and an already struggling economy that contracted by 7% in 2020.
Among key points in the 2021 edition were that the total tax revenue collected by SARS increased from R1 144 billion in 2016/17 to R1 249.7 billion in 2020/21, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.2% over this period.
They said this was significantly lower than the CAGR of 9.0% attained in the previous five-period from 2011/12 to 2016/17.
The document reveals that Personal Income Tax (PIT) at 39.1%, Corporate Income Tax (CIT) at 16.4% and Value-added Tax (VAT) at 26.5%, in aggregate remain the largest sources of tax revenue and comprise 81.9% of total tax revenue collections.
“The tax-to-GDP ratio moderated from 23.8% in 2019/20 to 22.5% in 2020/21. This was mainly due to annual reductions in the revenue collected from personal income tax, value-added tax, and domestic specific excise duties,” the Treasury and SARS said in the joint statement.
Chapter 2 of the document on PIT, geographic, demographic and other analysis of the assessments of the taxpayers who had been assessed as at the end of September 2021 for the 2020 tax year results were telling.
They reveal that:
- 2 091 559 (40.1%) of assessed taxpayers were registered in Gauteng;
- 687 261 of assessed taxpayers lived in the Johannesburg Metro and were taxed on an average taxable income of R481 209;
- 1 365 098 (26.2%) of assessed taxpayers were aged between 35 to 44 years;
- 2 792 845 (53.6%) of assessed taxpayers were male; 2 420 951 (46.4%) were female;
- Assessed taxpayers had aggregate taxable income of R1.8 trillion and a tax liability of R407.2 billion. Their average tax rate was 22.4% compared to 22.3% in the previous tax year; and.
- Income from salaries, wages and other remuneration as well as pension, overtime and annuities accounted for 91.6% of total taxable income.
Statistics in Chapter 3 regarding corporate income tax reveal that out of the 812 306 companies assessed as at September 2021 for tax year 2019, 24.0% had positive taxable income, while 48.3% had taxable income equal to zero and the remaining 27.7% reported an assessed loss.
