A tax number, an eFiling login, working out what "gross" and "net" actually mean, a tax clearance PIN when a landlord or a tender asks for one, and, for a growing number of people, the point where side income turns into something SARS treats as a small business. None of these are complicated on their own. They're just scattered across a dozen different pages, each answering one question and nothing else. Here they are together, in the order you'll actually run into them.
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Getting a SARS tax number
Most people never apply for one directly. Your first formal employer's PAYE submission registers you with SARS automatically, and a tax number is generated in the background. If you need to register yourself, before starting your first job, going freelance, or opening a business account, the fastest route is SARS eFiling: for a first-time individual registration with a valid South African ID, a tax number is issued instantly. The SARS MobiApp and any SARS branch work too, just slower.
One source of real confusion: tax number, tax reference number and TIN (Tax Identification Number) are the same thing in South Africa, a single 10-digit number that starts with 0, 1, 2, 3 or 9, issued once and valid for life. The exception is VAT and PAYE: each gets its own separate reference number when you register for those, distinct from your personal income tax number.
Logging into SARS eFiling
Desktop login is at sarsefiling.co.za. The SARS MobiApp covers the same account on your phone. Getting locked out is the most common problem: use the Forgot Password option, which verifies you against your ID number and registered cell number or email, then lets you reset it.
The other recurring mix-up: eFiling is not uFiling. eFiling is SARS's own platform, covering income tax, VAT and PAYE. uFiling belongs to the Department of Employment and Labour, a completely separate system for submitting UIF contributions and claims, used mainly by employers and anyone who employs a domestic worker. Different department, different login, no shared account between them.
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Once you've got your tax number and eFiling sorted, the next question is usually what actually lands in your account each month.
Open PAYE CalculatorWhat "gross" and "net" actually mean on your payslip
Gross salary is your full pay before anything comes off it, the number in your offer letter or employment contract. Net salary, your take-home pay, is what's actually deposited after PAYE, UIF and any other deductions, medical aid, retirement contributions, a garnishee order, have been subtracted. The gap between the two figures is entirely accounted for by those deductions; nothing else changes between gross and net.
If you've been offered a role stated as a cost-to-company (CTC) figure and want to know what actually lands in your account, use the PAYE Calculator. If it's the reverse, meaning you know what net pay you need and want to work out the gross salary to ask for, the Net-to-Gross Salary Calculator does that calculation.
Getting a SARS tax clearance certificate
The paper Tax Clearance Certificate hasn't existed since 2015. SARS replaced it with the Tax Compliance Status (TCS) system, which issues a digital PIN rather than a printed document. To get one: log into eFiling, open the Tax Status tab, select Tax Compliance Status Request, choose the type you actually need (Good Standing is the general-purpose one; Tender and foreign investment allowance are separate types for those specific situations), and submit.
SARS approves the request and issues a security PIN, sent by SMS, visible on your eFiling dashboard, or available as a printed result letter. You hand that PIN to whoever needs to verify you, a landlord, a tender committee, a bank, and it reflects your compliance status at the moment they check it, not a snapshot from whenever you applied.
If you're a remote worker, contractor or freelancer
Your relationship with SARS changes the moment nobody's deducting PAYE for you. You generally become a provisional taxpayer, filing your own return twice a year instead of having tax withheld automatically, and that status unlocks a set of deductions, a home office, retirement annuity contributions, genuine business expenses, that most employees never get to claim. See How Freelancers Pay Less Tax in South Africa for the full mechanics, deadlines and a worked example of exactly what those deductions are worth.
When does side income become a "small business" to SARS?
There's no single rand figure that flips a switch. The practical markers: income that's genuinely regular rather than a once-off payment, real expenses you're deducting against it, and crossing the thresholds SARS actually tracks. From 1 April 2026, that's R2.3 million in annual turnover for compulsory VAT registration, and the same R2.3 million threshold to qualify for Turnover Tax, a simplified presumptive system for micro businesses with a R600,000 tax-free portion built in.
Once you're genuinely operating as a business, the structure you choose changes your tax bill substantially. A sole proprietor isn't a separate legal entity: your business profit is taxed at your ordinary personal income tax rates, and you carry unlimited personal liability for the business's debts. A registered company (Pty Ltd) is a separate entity, taxed at a flat 27%, but any profit you then pay yourself as a dividend is taxed again at 20% dividends tax, a real double-tax cost worth weighing against the liability protection. If the company qualifies as a Small Business Corporation, gross income under R20 million and every shareholder an individual person rather than another company or trust, it gets a progressive rate starting at 0% instead of the flat 27%, usually the cheapest structure by a wide margin if you qualify.
| Structure | Tax on R500,000 profit |
|---|---|
| Sole proprietor (personal tax rates) | R98,417 |
| Registered company, flat 27% | R135,000 |
| Small Business Corporation | R46,970 |
The SBC figure is the tax on the company's profit only; extracting that profit as a dividend adds 20% dividends tax on top. Which structure actually wins depends on how much of the profit you need to take out personally versus reinvest, so treat this table as the shape of the comparison, not a substitute for advice specific to your numbers. If your turnover is climbing toward VAT-registration territory as a freelancer or contractor, How Freelancers Pay Less Tax in South Africa covers the current VAT thresholds in detail.