Small Businesses – Taxpayers

What’s New? 

• 28 March 2025 – Starts soon! Employer Annual Declarations (EMP501): 1 April to 31 May 2025

Dear Employers, your tax compliance helps SARS to achieve its Higher Purpose, which is to enable the state to provide for the well-being of all South Africans. One of SARS’s strategic objectives is to improve our service to deliver a seamless taxpayer experience that provides clarity and certainty. This letter guides you on how to fulfil your tax obligations during the Employer Annual Declaration period.

See what is new this year, how to submit, more about penalties and more, click here.

• 14 March 2025 – National Legislation: Draft Bill

Published the 2025 Draft Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill (updated to incorporate changes to ETI amounts). Due date for comments is 31 March 2025. Send comments to 2025AnnexCProp@treasury.gov.za and 2025LegislationComments@sars.gov.za.

• 13 March 2025 – Frequently Asked Questions on the VAT increase

See Frequently Asked Questions: Increase in the VAT Rate from 1 May 2025 to be read with the Pocket Guide on the VAT Rate Increase from 1 May 2025.

• 12 March 2025 – National budget speech
  
  VAT is levied at the standard rate of 15% on the supply of goods and services by registered vendors. The rate increases to 15.5% from 1 May 2025 and to 16% from 1 April 2026. A vendor that makes taxable supplies of more than R1 million per annum must register for VAT. A vendor that makes taxable supplies of more than R50 000, but not more than R1 million per annum, may apply for voluntary registration. Certain supplies are subject to a zero rate, or are exempt from VAT.
  
  
• 17 February 2025 – Upgraded e@syFileTM Employer – Version 8.0 with effect 1 March 2025
  SARS has launched e@syFile™ Employer – version 8.0. The platform has been redesigned to enhance your filing experience. Version 8.0 will replace all previous versions of the software, effective 1 March 2025. Please download version 8.0 timeously to familiarise yourself with the new features. See the enhancements, system requirements and more detail here.
  
  
• 17 February 2025 – SMME Connect edition 10

As a small, medium and micro enterprise (SMME), your contributions are integral to the nation’s economic growth and stability. SARS wants to make it easier for you to fulfil your tax obligations.  In this edition we aim to provide clear and certain information to help you remain tax compliant.

SMME Newsletters

• For a complete list of the Connect Newsletters, click here.

About Us

This page is dedicated to Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME) Taxpayers.

The SMME Taxpayers is a Division in SARS that represents the needs and interests of this sub-segment in the tax environment. This will be done through:

• Providing Clarity and Certainty to Taxpayers
• Making it easy for Taxpayers
• Detecting and deterring Taxpayers who do not comply
• Working with and through Stakeholders to improve the tax ecosystem.

The purpose of this page is to share current and upcoming work being done to achieve the above mandates. If you are a SMME Trader or Traveller, see our dedicated SMME Traders and Travellers webpage here.

See our SMME video ‘A guide on small business taxes in South Africa’ here.

How to comply as a Small Business?

Complying with your tax obligations as a small business has been made a lot easier over the past few years. Read below for more information:

• If you are starting out and need to register as a company, you will have to contact the Company and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), formerly called CIPRO. Please note that Companies are first required to register with the (CIPC) offices before registering with SARS for an Income Tax reference number, click here for CIPC. Once a taxpayer registered with CIPC, SARS will automatically generate an Income Tax reference number. Taxpayer must then register on eFiling to transact electronically.
• See Registering on eFiling and services available online.
• How to obtain your Tax Clearance Information: As a Small, Micro or Medium Enterprise (SMME), at some point or another you will be required to provide / confirm / share your Tax Clearance information with another entity. This could be to apply for a tender, new contract, good standing or in respect of Foreign Investment.  
• Registering for Turnover Tax. Turnover tax is a simplified tax system for small businesses with a qualifying turnover of not more than R1 million per annum. It is a tax based on the taxable turnover of a business and is available to sole proprietors (individuals), partnerships, close corporations, companies and co-operatives. Turnover tax takes the place of VAT (in the instance that you have not decided to elect back into the VAT system), provisional tax, income tax, capital gains tax, secondary tax on companies (STC) and dividends tax. So qualifying businesses pay a single tax instead of various other taxes. It’s elective – so you choose whether to participate. For Tax Tables see below.
• Registering your business for VAT
• Registering for PAYE, UIF and SDL
• In the case where you are already registered as a company and you meet certain qualifying requirements, you may register as a small business corporation (SBC) in order to get additional tax incentives. One of the incentives for SBCs is a reduced corporate tax rate. Click here to see reduced tax rates for small businesses.

If you have recently registered, please find our welcome pack, in all official languages, with useful information on the tax obligations relating to Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) and a guide to small business taxes in South Africa:

• English 
• IsiZulu
• IsiXhosa
• Afrikaans
• Sepedi
• Setswana
• Sesotho
• Xitsonga
• SiSwati
• Tshivenda
• IsiNdebele