IRP6 due in six days: avoid penalties
If you run a business, freelance, or earn income outside a regular salary, your provisional tax deadline lands on Monday the 31st. This week decides whether you file a clean, accurate IRP6 or hand SARS a reason to add penalties and interest to your bill. Here is exactly what to do with the six days you have left.
Provisional tax is not a separate tax on top of what you already owe. It is how SARS collects your normal income tax in two instalments during the year instead of one large bill after your return is assessed. The IRP6 is the return you submit to declare your estimated income and calculate that instalment.
You fall into the provisional taxpayer category if you are a registered company or close corporation, a director or member of one, a sole proprietor or independent contractor, or an individual earning income beyond a salary, such as rental yield, investment interest, or dividends. If any of that describes you, treat the IRP6 as a routine check on your finances rather than a crisis. Filing it accurately is what keeps this six-monthly deadline from turning into a scramble.
When you submit your second IRP6 for the tax year, SARS expects your estimate to land within 80% of your actual taxable income. The figures do not need to be exact, but they do need to be realistic.
Under-estimate by more than that 20% margin and SARS will levy an under-estimation penalty automatically, calculated at 20% of the tax payable on the shortfall. Interest then accrues on the outstanding balance from the original due date. A rushed guess submitted just to beat the deadline can end up costing far more than the time it would have taken to get the numbers right. A proper review of your management accounts, ideally with an accountant, is what keeps that 20% threshold from catching you out.
Compliance can feel like paperwork for its own sake, but staying current with your provisional tax deadline gives you a clear, realistic picture of your cash flow all year round. Miss it, or file a careless estimate, and you end up negotiating with SARS and unwinding penalties instead of running your business.
It also matters to the people around you. Lenders, investors, and partners read a clean compliance record as a sign the business is managed properly, and a Tax Clearance Certificate is often the first document they ask for. If your company is registered with the CIPC, keeping your tax affairs current alongside your CIPC filings makes that certificate far easier to obtain when you need it. Our team handles this review for clients every provisional tax cycle, so the numbers are checked before they ever reach SARS.
Days 1-2: Gather your records. Pull your latest bank statements, outstanding invoices, and expense records, and make sure your accounting software is up to date. You cannot estimate accurately from incomplete numbers.
Day 3: Finalise your estimate. Calculate your year-to-date income and project realistic earnings for the months still to come. Be thorough about the expenses you are entitled to deduct.
Day 4: Account for what you have already paid. Deduct any PAYE already paid this year, along with your first provisional tax payment, before you calculate what is still owed.
Day 5: Get a second set of eyes on it. Have a qualified tax practitioner review your calculations. This is usually where a missed deduction, or a figure that breaches the 20% threshold, gets caught before it becomes a penalty.
Day 6: File and pay. Submit your IRP6 via SARS eFiling and settle the payment ahead of the deadline on Monday the 31st. Paying late adds an immediate 10% penalty on top of whatever else is owed.
Late submission triggers an administrative penalty, and late payment adds an automatic, non-negotiable 10% penalty on the amount owed, plus interest. If you are going to miss the deadline, contact your accountant immediately so they can start managing the exposure with SARS.
No. Your estimate has to include every source of taxable income, not just your salary. That means rental income, freelance earnings, Capital Gains Tax, and investment interest all need to be in the calculation. Leaving any of them out is one of the most common ways businesses breach the 20% threshold.
You still need to submit a nil return. Skipping the IRP6, even when no payment is due, damages your compliance status with SARS and can block you from getting a Tax Clearance Certificate.
CGT is the tax on the profit from selling an asset, such as property or shares. You need to include any realised capital gain in your estimate for the period the asset was sold. Leaving out a large asset sale is a common reason estimates fall short.
Monday the 31st is close, but six days is enough time to get this right if you start today. Pull your records, run the numbers properly, and get a second opinion before you file, and your provisional tax deadline becomes a routine task rather than a source of stress. For more guidance on staying ahead of SARS deadlines, visit our blog.
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