Tax guide

PAYE and the IRP5: tax already paid

If you are paid through a payroll, the deposit in your bank is usually net. SARS taxes the gross and credits the PAYE your employer withheld. The IRP5 is the certificate for that year, not a guess from one payslip.

What the IRP5 is for

An IRP5 / IT3(a) is the employer’s year certificate. It shows remuneration source codes (often 3601 salary, 3605 commission, 3616 independent contractor), deductions such as retirement (4001) and medical (4005 / 4474), and employees’ tax (PAYE). You copy those figures onto the ITR12 or accept the pre-populate after checking them.

Gross, not the bank credit

Taxable income starts from the IRP5 totals, not from “what landed”. If Taxzi only sees net salary on a statement, it can estimate PAYE from the tax tables. Replace that estimate with the IRP5 PAYE total when you have the certificate. A figure like R20.75 against a full salary book is almost always a typing slip.

OneSolve-style gross vs payroll net

Some contractors are paid the full invoice with no PAYE. That deposit is taxable in full and may make you provisional. Named payers on your Taxzi profile (PAYE withheld vs none) stop the worksheet treating every large credit as a salary after tax.

What Taxzi will not invent

We do not file an IRP5 for you. We do not treat a SARS refund credit as salary. We do not stack an IRP5 PAYE total on top of a separate estimate for the same salary.

Disclaimer: This is general guidance based on the South African Income Tax Act and published SARS Interpretation Notes as at the 2026/2027 year of assessment (1 March 2026 – 28 February 2027). It is not professional tax advice. Deductibility depends on your facts. Confirm current figures on sars.gov.za before you file.

Find the income your IRP5 misses in your bank statements

Upload bank statements. Taxzi flags lines that may qualify under SARS rules. Mixed shops stay out until you say what they were. You confirm every claim. This is guidance — not a filed return.

Works with FNB, Standard Bank, Absa, Nedbank, Capitec, Investec and Discovery Bank PDF statements.

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