Who Has to Pay Provisional Tax in South Africa, and By When?
Freelancers, landlords and directors: if you earn income outside PAYE, your first IRP6 for the 2027 tax year is due 31 August 2026. Who pays, and how.
You must pay provisional tax if you earn income that PAYE does not cover: freelance or business income, rental profit, or director's income beyond a salary. Payments are made twice a year on an IRP6 return: for the 2027 tax year, the first is due by 31 August 2026 and the second by the end of February 2027.
If that deadline made you sit up: good. It is under four weeks away as this publishes, and SARS does not send you a bill. Provisional tax is self-assessed. Here is who it applies to, who is exempt, and how to get it done on eFiling without penalties.
Provisional tax is not a separate tax
The name misleads people. Provisional tax is not an extra tax. It is simply a way of paying your normal income tax during the year instead of in one painful lump at assessment. Employees have PAYE deducted monthly; provisional tax is the equivalent for income no employer is withholding on. When you later file your annual ITR12 return, SARS sets your provisional payments off against your final liability. Overpaid, you get a refund; underpaid, you settle the difference.
Who counts as a provisional taxpayer?
SARS's definition, in plain English: anyone who earns income other than remuneration on which employees' tax is being withheld. In practice that catches:
- Freelancers and independent contractors invoicing clients directly
- Sole proprietors running any business in their own name
- Landlords earning rental profit from property
- Company directors and members who draw income beyond a PAYE salary
- Anyone with a side hustle alongside a full-time job. A salary does not exempt the extra income
- Companies, which are automatically provisional taxpayers
Who is exempt?
You generally do not need to pay provisional tax if:
- You earn only a salary from an employer that deducts PAYE, nothing else;
- You do not run a business, and your total taxable income is below the income tax threshold for the year; or
- You do not run a business, and your taxable income from investment and rental income comes to R30,000 or less for the tax year.
The two dates that matter (and one optional extra)
The 2027 tax year runs from 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027. Individual provisional taxpayers pay against it as follows:
| Period | Deadline | What you pay |
| --- | --- | --- |
| First (IRP6 period 1) | 31 August 2026 | Half of your estimated tax for the full year, less any PAYE already deducted |
| Second (IRP6 period 2) | End of February 2027 (last business day) | The balance: tax on your full-year estimate, less the first payment and PAYE |
| Third (voluntary top-up) | End of September 2027 | Any shortfall you choose to settle before SARS assesses your ITR12 |
Both compulsory deadlines require the IRP6 return and the payment. Filing without paying is half a job.
How the first estimate works
By 31 August 2026 you estimate your taxable income for the entire 2027 tax year, six months of it not yet earned, and pay half of the tax on that estimate, minus any PAYE already withheld. SARS pre-populates the IRP6 with your "basic amount", essentially your last assessed taxable income. Adjust it if your income has changed materially: a stale basic amount is a classic route to an underestimation penalty at year-end.
For example: if you estimate R600,000 taxable income for the year and the tax on that comes to, say, R140,000 with no PAYE withheld, your August payment is R70,000. In February you re-estimate with real numbers and pay the remainder.
The penalties, in one honest paragraph
Two stings to know about. Late payment: miss a deadline and SARS levies a 10% penalty on the amount due. Underestimation: when your second-period estimate is compared with your actual taxable income, it must come to at least 90% of the real figure (or at least the basic amount) if your taxable income is R1 million or less, and at least 80% of the real figure if it is above R1 million. Fall short and SARS can add a 20% penalty on the shortfall in tax. Deliberately lowballing August to ease cash flow, then "fixing it in February", is exactly the pattern these rules were written to punish.
How to register and file the IRP6 on eFiling
1. Log in at efiling.sars.gov.za (register a profile first if you have never used it).
2. Activate provisional tax under your tax types. On the current layout: Home → User → Tax Types, tick Provisional Tax (IRP6) and submit.
3. Go to Returns → Provisional Tax, and request the IRP6 for the relevant period.
4. Complete the estimate: expected turnover and taxable income, deductions, and any PAYE already withheld. The form calculates the tax and your payable amount.
5. Submit the return, then pay via eFiling or your bank, cleared by the deadline, not merely initiated.
Estimating the annual liability is the genuinely hard part, especially with mixed income. Our SARS Income Tax Calculator (R49) is built for exactly this: it works out your 2026/27 liability across salary, freelance and rental income using the current SARS tables, so your IRP6 estimate is a number you can defend. If you invoice clients, the Professional Invoice Template (R49) keeps the income records that make filing season a formality.
5 common mistakes to avoid
1. Waiting for SARS to contact you. It will not. Provisional tax is self-initiated; the obligation exists whether or not anyone reminds you.
2. Assuming your day job's PAYE covers the side income. It covers the salary only. The side income can make you a provisional taxpayer on its own.
3. Accepting the basic amount blindly after a strong year. That is the 20% penalty trap.
4. Treating the return and the payment as separate chores. Both are due by the deadline.
5. Thinking provisional payments replace the annual return. Your ITR12 must still be filed; provisional payments are set off against it.
Quick FAQ
I started freelancing in June 2026, do I really pay by 31 August 2026?
If you expect to owe tax for the 2027 tax year, yes. Register for provisional tax on eFiling, estimate your taxable income for the whole year (1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027), and pay half the tax on that estimate by 31 August 2026.
I earn a salary and rental income. Am I a provisional taxpayer?
Usually, yes, unless your rental and investment income falls within the R30,000 exemption. Your PAYE is set off on the IRP6, so you only top up the difference; for modest rental profit the August payment can be small. The filing obligation, however, is not.
What happens if I miss 31 August 2026?
SARS levies a 10% late-payment penalty on the amount due, so file and pay as soon as you can rather than waiting for February to fix it.
Do companies follow the same dates?
Companies are automatically provisional taxpayers, paying six months into their financial year and again at year-end. The dates above track the standard February year-end; a company with a different year-end pays relative to its own.
This is general information, not tax advice. For anything beyond a straightforward return, a registered tax practitioner is worth every Rand.
