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Career Information Literacy Libguide: Income Tax Matters

The purpose of this guide is to prepare the SPU students for the job market and guide them through their career journey

Common Concepts

SARS

This stands for South African Revenue Service. It is responsible for managing the South African tax system, customs service  and also serves as the country's tax collecting authority.

PAYE

This stands for Pay as You Earn. It is a method of taxation used in South Africa to collect income tax from workers. If you work for an employer, this means that they will deduct money from your paycheck each month to pay your income tax bill.

IRP5 

An IRP5 is the employee's tax certificate, which is given to him or her at the end of each tax year and lists all earnings, deductions, and taxes associated with employers and employees. This is used by the employee specifically to complete his/her income tax return for a specific year.

eFiling 

SARS eFiling is a free online method for submitting returns, declarations, and other associated services. Through this free service, taxpayers, tax professionals, and businesses can register without charge, submit returns and declarations, make payments, and engage in a variety of other contacts with SARS in a secure online setting.