People in one province pay nearly half of all personal income tax in South Africa

South Africa’s latest tax statistics revealed that people living in Gauteng pay 48% of all personal income tax (PIT).

The National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) jointly published the statistics on Tuesday, 10 December 2024.

The 2024 edition reviews tax-revenue collection and tax-return information for the 2020 to 2024 tax years and the 2019/20 to 2023/24 fiscal years.

Tax collections have increased from R113.8 billion in 1994/95 to R1 740.9 billion in 2023/24, at a compounded annual growth rate of 9.9%.

In the 2023/24 fiscal year, SARS collected R2.2 trillion in gross tax revenue, R87.0 billion or 4.2% more than the prior year.

PIT is the biggest source of tax revenue in South Africa and has remained buoyant despite economic challenges.

By 31 March 2023, the PIT register had grown annually by 4.5% to 25.9 million individuals and by a further 4.3% to 27.1 million at the end of March 2024.

Assessed taxpayers reported an aggregated taxable income of R2.3 trillion and tax liability of R499.9 billion. The average tax rate was 21.3% versus 21.5% in the previous tax year.

The number of individuals expected to submit income tax returns was 7.6 million for the 2023 tax year.

The report revealed that 2,361,099, or 35.5%, of assessed taxpayers in South Africa were registered in Gauteng.

Of the 2.4 million assessed taxpayers in Gauteng, 855,274, or 36.2%, lived in the Johannesburg Metro and were taxed on an average taxable income of R484,672.

The average taxable income in the Western Cape was R344,515, followed by the Northern Cape at R319,358 and Limpopo at R318,969.

The North West had an average taxable income of R317,980, Mpumalanga at R312,544, KwaZulu-Natal at R309,528, and the Free State at R294,502.

The Eastern Cape had the lowest average taxable income, at R294,056.

The tables and images below provide an overview of personal income tax in South Africa by province.

Assessed individual taxpayers and tax assessed by province

Average taxable income per assessed taxpayer by province

Assessed individual taxpayers by province