South Africa VAT calculator

How vat in South Africa is calculated

SARS states the rate plainly: *"VAT is levied at the standard rate of 15% on the supply of goods and services by registered vendors."* There is one rate, with zero-rated and exempt supplies rather than a reduced band.

The registration figures **changed on 1 April 2026**, the first increase since 2009. Compulsory registration now starts above **R2.3 million** of taxable supplies a year, up from R1 million, and voluntary registration from **R120,000**, up from R50,000. Below R120,000 registration is not available at all, which is why this page reports a registration status rather than a yes/no — a business at R90,000 cannot opt in.

If you are checking this against SARS directly, be ready for the page to disagree with itself. The body of SARS’s own Value-Added Tax page still reads *"more than R1 million per annum"* and *"more than R50 000"*, even though it carries a last-updated date months after the increase took effect; the current figures appear separately in its *"What is new?"* note of 25 February 2026. The note is the current part. A business sitting at R1.5 million would have been obliged to register under the old figure and is not under the new one, so the difference is not academic.