{"id":854538,"date":"2026-04-09T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=854538"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T08:18:18","slug":"income-tax-warning-for-taxpayers-who-choose-to-stay-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/854538\/income-tax-warning-for-taxpayers-who-choose-to-stay-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Income tax warning for taxpayers who choose to stay in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South African taxpayers face the possibility of higher taxes in the future as the tax base continues to shrink, mainly due to skilled individuals leaving the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the feedback from Tanya Tosen, Tax and Remuneration Specialist at Tax Consulting SA, who said the pressure on the tax base is already severe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She noted in an interview that the country has \u201cbeen there for a while\u201d when it comes to too few taxpayers carrying too much of the burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Treasury projections, the government expects to collect around R844 billion from individual taxpayers in the current tax year\u2014significantly more than revenue from VAT or corporate taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This growing reliance on personal income tax comes as the number of taxpayers declines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you look at the number of taxpayers year on year that Treasury forecasted for the 2026\/27 year, there actually seems to be a reduction of 96,721 taxpayers,\u201d Tosen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key driver behind this decline is emigration, particularly among skilled workers. Tosen pointed to data showing that more than a million taxpayers have left South Africa over the past two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s more concerning is it\u2019s not just any taxpayers\u2014it\u2019s taxpayers who\u2019ve got degrees, postgraduate degrees, so very highly technical skills,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, she noted that the trend is not limited to high earners. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing a trend that even your lower-income taxpayers are looking to or have left the country. So that trend of people leaving South Africa isn\u2019t slowing down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added that another concern is that many of those who leave do not intend to return, further eroding the long-term tax base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) is intensifying enforcement efforts to extract more revenue from those who remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tosen said authorities are increasingly focused on personal income taxpayers, with measures such as lifestyle audits and expanded data-sharing initiatives coming to the forefront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little relief for taxpayers <\/h2>\n\n\n
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Tanya Tosen, Tax and Remuneration Specialist at Tax Consulting SA.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

She added that enforcement now extends beyond SARS itself. \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of media that the lifestyle audit powers are expanded to at least 14 government bodies, including the Financial Intelligence Centre,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While these measures may improve compliance, Tosen warned they could also have unintended economic consequences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s also one area which could really chase possibly certain income generators out of the country,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSARS is putting a very hard line down on enforcement, and really, there is nowhere else to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She stressed that taxpayers need to remain fully compliant, cautioning that tax liabilities can be revisited indefinitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTax liabilities never prescribe; they can go as far back as they want to. It\u2019s a dangerous game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With limited options available to raise additional revenue, the government has also explored alternatives such as a wealth tax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Tosen believes this could be risky. \u201cIt might be politically attractive in the short term, but it is economically very risky,\u201d she said, adding that authorities are also considering other avenues like gambling taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although taxpayers received some relief through inflationary adjustments to tax brackets, Tosen said this offers only limited comfort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t be ungrateful for little mercies, but if you look at the bigger scheme of things, it really doesn\u2019t account for much,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, she warned that global pressures could further strain South Africans\u2019 finances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith this whole war in the Middle East and oil prices, it will have a massive knock-on effect to everything and everyone\u2014 inflation, food prices, you name it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South African taxpayers face the possibility of higher taxes in the future as the tax base continues to shrink, mainly due to skilled individuals leaving the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":830478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[853,19922,12796],"class_list":["post-854538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-south-africa","tag-south-african-revenue-service-sars","tag-tax-consulting-sa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854538"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":854547,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854538\/revisions\/854547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}