The South African Revenue Service (Sars) collected more than R11-billion in taxes from the two-pot retirement withdrawals system since it was established in September last year.
Sars Commissioner Edward Kieswetter said the country’s tax-collecting authority collected R11,87-billion tax from the two-pot retirement withdrawals system since it took effect on September 1 2024.
Since September last year to date, Sars collected R11,87-billion tax from the 2, 535 252 two-pot withdrawal applications that were finalised.
Middle class families
He said majority of the finalised applications come from middle class families.
The two-pot retirement system is a reform that allows retirement fund members to make partial withdrawals from their retirement funds before retirement, while preserving a portion that can only be accessed at retirement, to help improve retirement outcomes.
This means members need not resign to access part of their retirement benefit if they are in financial distress.
Kieswetter revealed this on Tuesday when he was announcing the preliminary outcome of the revenue collection figures for 2024-2025 financial year.
He made the announcement at a media briefing at the Hilton House Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, Pretoria.
Kieswetter was joined by various Deputy Commissioners of Sars at the briefing on tax revenue collection. He revealed figures for the 2024-2025 financial year. Deputy Finance Minister Arshor Sarupen and Governor of the South African Bank Lesetja Kganyago were also present.
R1,855-trillion
The 2024-2025 financial year runs from April 1 2024 to March 31 2025.
Meanwhile, Sars collected net revenue of R1,855-trillion during the 2024-2025 financial year.
Sars outperformed the revenue estimate or target of R1,846-trillion set by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana by R8,8bn (0,5%).
The gross revenue collected by Sars for the 2024-2025 financial year is R2,302-trillion.
“We are not declaring any victory. We have a long way to go. The funding challenges remain…” said Kieswetter.
Personal Income Tax
Kieswetter said the largest contributor to the 2024-2025 tax revenue collection is the Personal Income Tax (PIT). It contributed R733,180-billion.
He said the major contributor to the 2024-2025 tax revenue collection is the financial sector. Also the intermediation, insurance, real estate, and business services sector.
These contributed R686,568-billion towards the R1,855-trillion collected.
Kieswetter added that the tax on gross domestic product (GDP) improved from 20.2% in the 1994-1995 financial year to 24.8% in the 2024-2025 financial year.
During the 2023-2024 financial year, Sars collected a net revenue of R1,7-billion, an annual increase of 3,2% from the R54,2-billion collected during the 2022-2023 financial year.
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