SARS penalty calculator
Put a rand figure on a SARS penalty in South Africa: 10 percent of a late VAT, PAYE or provisional tax payment, 1 percent a month up to 10 percent for a late EMP501, or 20 percent of the shortfall on an underestimated second IRP6, plus interest. It is for practices and the businesses they file for, and needs no sign-up.
Late payment penalty at 10 percent
R10,000
SARS charges it once, as soon as the payment misses its date, on VAT, PAYE and provisional tax alike. Enter the days outstanding to see the interest running on top.
Rates verified against SARS on 27 September 2026. The prescribed rate moves with the repo rate, and it is worth confirming the current rate before you rely on an interest figure.
What penalties does SARS charge?
A missed payment date on VAT, PAYE or provisional tax costs a flat 10 percent of the amount, and interest at the prescribed rate runs on the debt from the due date until it clears. A late EMP501 reconciliation accrues 1 percent of the year's employees tax for every outstanding month, capped at 10 percent. An underestimated second-period IRP6 attracts 20 percent of the shortfall when the estimate falls below the paragraph 20 threshold. Each one turns an administrative slip into a real cost, which is why the rand figure is the number worth looking at before a deadline.
Rates verified against SARS on 27 September 2026, for the 2027 year of assessment. Estimate for review only. The figures here show the exposure, and the amount owed is whatever SARS levies on assessment, which it can remit on request in defined circumstances.
SARS penalty questions
- What is the penalty for paying SARS late?
- A flat 10 percent of the amount paid late, levied as soon as a VAT, PAYE or provisional tax payment misses its date, so R100,000 of VAT paid one day late carries a R10,000 penalty. Interest at the prescribed rate then runs on the unpaid balance until it clears.
- What is the penalty for a late EMP501?
- One percent of the year’s employees tax for each month the reconciliation stays outstanding, up to 10 percent. On a payroll withholding R600,000 a year, every late month costs R6,000 and the ceiling sits at R60,000, which is why the reconciliation deadline belongs in the diary as a fixed date.
- What is the penalty for underestimating provisional tax?
- Twenty percent of the shortfall where the second-period estimate misses the paragraph 20 threshold: 90 percent of actual taxable income or the basic amount at or under R1 million, and 80 percent of actual above it. The calculator prices the shortfall in rands.
- Does this calculator store anything I type in?
- No. Every figure is worked out in your browser, and the numbers you type are masked before anything leaves it, so they stay on your own device. There is no sign-up and no email field. Anonymised analytics and an anonymised session replay do run across the site so we can see which pages confuse people, and one click in the footer switches both off.
The dates these penalties hang off are in our provisional tax calculator, and C-Suite Commercial watches those deadlines across every business client a practice looks after. Our guide to the underestimation penalty explains the paragraph 20 mechanics in full.
One exposure priced, or the whole client book's
This page prices one exposure at a time. Across a practice's client book the same deadlines fall in the same week, and in a free one-week pilot on your own book C-Suite runs these checks across every client while there is still time to pay or file before SARS levies a penalty.
More free SARS tools
- EMP501 reconciliation checker Test EMP201 totals against IRP5 certificates before submission and see the differences that would fail the reconciliation.