SARS: 2009 Tax Statistics

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) and National Treasury today release the 2009TaxStatistics publication which builds and expands on the first publication in 2008. The objectives that guided the development of the first edition were to make available comprehensive tax revenue data to all interested parties. These objectives remain valid and underpin the contents of this publication. SARS and the National Treasury are committed to providing and publishing data obtained from taxpayers through their compliance with tax legislation.

The 2009TaxStatistics publication provides an analytical framework that compliments other published economic and demographic data. It provides data on trends in the tax base and is meant to contribute to an understanding of the socio-economic profile of our country. The data has been used for strategic and policy decisions, not only by government but also by the private sector, academia and non-governmental organisations.

Comments on the first Tax Statistics published in 2008 were in general very positive and included a broad range of requests for additional data and information. Given the magnitude of data provided and recent administrative reforms implemented to enhance the quality of the data captured on the systems, this will be an evolving process aimed at increasing the availability of further and improved taxpayer data. Following comments received, more regular updates may be made available electronically throughout the year.

The publication consists of the following chapters:

• Chapter 1 is a summary of aggregate tax revenue collection trends in South Africa;
• Chapter 2 is an overview of assessed Personal Income Tax (PIT) revenues of registered individual taxpayers, with information on tax revenues by taxable income group, province, age, gender, source of income, allowances, fringe benefits and other deductions;
• Chapter 3 is an overview of Corporate Income Tax (CIT) with information on corporate income tax by taxable income group, economic activity, sector (industry) and type of business entity;
• Chapter 4 is an overview of Value Added Tax (VAT) with a breakdown of Domestic VAT receipts and refunds by sector, payment category and type of business entity;
• Chapter 5 provides information on the customs value of imported goods by product type as well as VAT, customs duties, and ad valorem excise duty revenues on imported goods.

Some enhancements made to the publication include:

• A new table on capital gains tax (CGT);
• The taxable income groupings in the CIT chapter have been regrouped to provide a more representative spread of taxable income;
• A glossary of terminology used has also been added; and
• For ease of reference, all tables are included in Annexure A at the back of the publication.

Both the National Treasury and SARS hope to continually improve on subsequent publications and would welcome comments on the types of data that should be included in future editions. Such improvement in the quality of data, and its availability, will also enhance the tax policy reform process. The publication also promotes greater transparency in the tax policy reform process and tax administration.

An electronic version of this publication as well as the excel tables are available on the websites of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) (http://www.sars.gov.za/) and that of the National Treasury (http://www.treasury.gov.za/). Comments, queries and suggestions are welcome and can be emailed to taxstatistics@sars.gov.za.

Look out for the 2010TaxStatistics that will be released towards the end of 2010.

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