Tax planning that runs the whole year.
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals who plan the tax outcome of your savings, investments, trusts and estate, and work alongside your accountant.
Sixty minutes, at our cost, at our Durbanville office or online.
Who we usually help.
Tax planning helps most before the tax year ends, not after the return is filed.
- You pay tax at a high marginal rate and are not sure you use the deductions available to you.
- You hold investments outside retirement funds and pay tax on interest, dividends and gains each year.
- You earn from several sources, such as rental, business or foreign income, and pay provisional tax.
- You have a family trust and want to understand how its income and loans are taxed.
Allowances worth using.
Deductions and exemptions available to individuals each tax year, as SARS applies them for 2026/27.
- Retirement contributions
- Deductible up to 27.5% of the greater of your remuneration or taxable income, capped at R430,000 a year (from 1 March 2026). Any excess carries over to the next year.
- Tax-free savings
- Contribute up to R46,000 a year and R500,000 over your lifetime (from 1 March 2026). Growth is never taxed, but contributions above either limit attract a 40% penalty.
- Interest
- The first R23,800 of local interest each year is exempt, or R34,500 from age 65.
- Capital gains
- The first R50,000 of net gains each year is excluded (from 1 March 2026). Only 40% of the rest is taxed, so the effective rate is at most 18%. Gains on your home are excluded up to R3 million.
- Donations
- Donations of up to R150,000 a year are free of donations tax (from 1 March 2026). Above that the rate is 20%, rising to 25% once your donations since March 2018 pass R30 million.
- Medical scheme fees
- A monthly tax credit of R376 each for you and your first dependant, and R254 for each additional dependant (from 1 March 2026).
The tax year, in order.
The dates that matter to individuals in the 2026/27 tax year.
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1 March 2026
A new tax year starts
Annual allowances reset: the retirement contribution deduction, the tax-free savings limit, the capital gains exclusion and the donations exemption.
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31 August 2026
First provisional tax payment
Due from provisional taxpayers, based on an estimate of the year's taxable income. A voluntary top-up payment for the 2025/26 year is due by 30 September.
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23 October 2026
Most individual returns are due
The filing deadline for individuals who are not provisional taxpayers. Provisional taxpayers have until 22 January 2027.
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26 February 2027
Second payment, and the last chance
The second provisional tax payment is due on the last business day of February. The tax year ends on 28 February, and with it this year's retirement, tax-free savings, capital gains and donations allowances.
Trusts are taxed at a flat 45%. Income paid or vested in a South African resident beneficiary in the same tax year is taxed in the beneficiary's hands instead. Where a connected person lends money to a trust below the official interest rate (8% since 1 June 2026), the interest forgone is treated as a donation each year.
Your retirement annuity can move from a tired old fund to a modern one, and the taxman treats it as a non-event.
Section 14 Transfers, BKA Wealth Journal
Common questions.
Do you replace my accountant?
No. We plan the tax outcome of your investments, retirement savings, trusts and estate, and work with your accountant or tax practitioner, who stays responsible for your returns.
When should I top up my retirement annuity or tax-free savings account?
Before the tax year ends on 28 February. Contributions made after that count towards the next year's limits, so it helps to contribute a few weeks early.
Can unused allowances be carried forward?
Only some. Retirement fund contributions above the annual deduction limit carry forward to later years. The tax-free savings allowance, the capital gains exclusion and the donations exemption do not: whatever is unused at the end of February is lost.
Figures checked on 11 September 2026 against the SARS 2026/27 Budget Tax Guide, SARS rates of tax for individuals, SARS on provisional tax and SARS filing season 2026. Amounts that apply from 1 March 2026 were announced in Budget 2026 and are applied by SARS; they remain subject to Parliament's legislative process.
Talk your tax plan through with a CFP® professional.
Sixty minutes at our cost, at our Durbanville office or online. Bring your latest tax assessment if you have it.
[email protected] · 021 976 0738
Unit 3, Kings Landing Building, 17 King Street, Durbanville, 7550
