# VAT Calculator South Africa 2026 — Add or Remove 15%

Source page: https://valem.run/calculators/south-africa/vat

South African VAT is 15%. From 1 April 2026 registration is compulsory above R2.3 million of taxable supplies a year and voluntary from R120,000 — the first increase since 2009.

**Tax year:** 2026

## How it 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.

## Worked example

With Amount of 100, this model computes Vat Amount of 15.

## Inputs

| Name | Label | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `amount` | Amount | number |
| `direction` | Direction | string |
| `annualTurnover` | Taxable supplies per annum | number |
| `reverseCharge` | B2B reverse charge applies | boolean |

## Sources

- [SARS - Value-Added Tax: standard rate of 15%](https://www.sars.gov.za/types-of-tax/value-added-tax/) (checked 2026-10-05)
- [SARS - Value-Added Tax, What is new? (25 Feb 2026): R2.3m compulsory / R120 000 voluntary from 1 April 2026](https://www.sars.gov.za/types-of-tax/value-added-tax/) (checked 2026-10-05)
- [SARS FAQ - the new threshold for VAT registration (R2.3 million)](https://www.sars.gov.za/faq/what-is-the-new-threshold-for-vat-registration/) (checked 2026-10-05)

## What this page claims

The Valem engine reproduces this model's formula through 7 self-test cases. That shows internal consistency, not that the formula matches current law; the cited sources are the evidence for that. Estimate, not tax advice.

## For agents

- Model manifest (formula, constants, test vectors): https://valem.run/calculators/south-africa/vat.json
- Compute by URL: https://valem.run/calculators/south-africa/vat.json?amount=100
- MCP: https://valem.run/mcp/calculators (call `calculate` with calculator `south-africa/vat`)