Welcome to the Schools and Community Portal
The aim of this page is to educate learners, students, teachers and lecturers, schools support staff and the community to understand their tax obligation.
Tax for Kids
Schools program
Educators and Support Staff
Tertiary Institutions
Community and Tax
Useful Links
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Why is SARS teaching tax to learners?
SARS wants to make sure that learners, not yet employed, understand the value of taxpayers paying their full amount of tax to SARS. As learners, you get the direct benefit from tax as it provides for:
• Roads to get you to school
• Pensions for old Age Pensioners – your grandparents
• Building Schools
• Paying grants to single parents to help to support their children
• Paying Teachers
• Building Hospitals
• Paying salaries of the police, army, navy – to protect citizens in the country
There are many other public services that taxes and Customs Duties help to fund. We want to ensure that we build responsible citizens who are fully aware and do pay their tax and customs duties as required.
SARS wants to create awareness, clarity and certainty to taxpayers and future taxpayers of their tax obligations. We are aiming at educating future taxpayers on the basics of taxation and the values of tax as citizens.
Learners of today are leaders of tomorrow and should be familiar with the collection of taxes by SARS so the Government can fulfil its mandate to provide its citizens with Basic Services.”
This website is specifically for:
School Learners
University Students
TVET Students
Teachers and Lecturers
Administrative staff
The Community
What does SARS do?
Businesses and individuals are bound by law to pay tax to Government. The actual tax is calculated according to salary earned and company profit. The required tax must be paid over to SARS. The tax revenue is sent to National Treasury.
What is Tax?
Tax is money collected by SARS from taxpayers to finance Government projects for the benefit of citizens of the country. This is used to pay for services like building schools, paying teachers, paying people who work for Government, for grants for the unemployed and single parents, pensions for old age and other social goods.
What is Customs & Excise?
Customs duties are paid by traders when they import goods with the aim of selling them to our citizens. Traders generally add this to the price when they sell the goods.
Customs taxes help to protect goods produced by SA firms for sale in the country which are then cheaper as they have no customs duties.
What is Excise?
Excise duties/taxes are imposed on the manufacturers of most used common things like petroleum and alcohol and tobacco products. Non-essential or luxury items like electronic equipment and cosmetics also attract excise taxes. The main reason for this is to contribute to revenue for the Government and it is supposed to discourage citizens from buying things like alcohol that can be harmful to human health or to the environment.
