What is Code 4473 on a South African IRP5?
Your employer's provident fund contribution explained — why it's not a deduction from your pay, and how it factors into your retirement deduction limit.
4473Code 4473 is the total amount your employer contributed to your provident fund during the tax year. It does not come off your payslip and is not a tax credit — it is a reporting figure SARS uses, together with your own contribution under code 4002, to check your total retirement fund contributions against the Section 11F deduction limit.
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What Code 4473 Means
Code 4473 records the total amount your employer paid into your provident fund during the tax year, on top of whatever you contributed yourself. It excludes any amount already reported under code 4586, which covers employer contributions made for a member who has already retired from the fund or for the dependants of a deceased member — code 4473 is specifically for current, active employees.
This is a reporting code, not a payslip deduction. Nothing under code 4473 is taken from your salary — it simply tells SARS how much your employer put into the fund on your behalf, separate from your own contribution under code 4002.
Section 11F of the Income Tax Act caps how much of your total retirement fund contributions — yours plus your employer's, combined — qualify for a tax deduction: 27.5% of the greater of remuneration or taxable income, up to R430,000 per year. SARS needs your employer's contribution reported separately under code 4473 to calculate that combined total correctly.
Code 4473 vs Code 4002 — Who Pays What
These two codes together tell the complete story of your provident fund contributions for the year:
- Code 4002 — your own contribution, deducted from your salary each pay period and tax-deductible up to the combined Section 11F limit.
- Code 4473 — your employer's contribution, paid on your behalf without affecting your take-home pay, but counted toward the same combined Section 11F limit.
A generous employer contribution can use up a meaningful share of your available deduction room, which is why both figures matter when working out how much more you could still contribute tax-effectively — for example, through a top-up retirement annuity. Use our Provident Fund Calculator to see your combined contributions and projected growth.
Is Code 4473 Taxable to Me?
For most standard employees, the amount under code 4473 is not added to your taxable income as cash remuneration — it is treated as part of your retirement fund contribution structure, not a fringe benefit paid to you directly. This is different from certain other employer-paid benefits (like employer-paid medical aid, reported under code 3810) which can be added to taxable income as a fringe benefit in specific circumstances. Code 4473 does not work that way — it stays outside your taxable income and simply feeds the Section 11F calculation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does code 4473 mean on my IRP5?
Code 4473 is the total amount your employer contributed to your provident fund during the tax year, excluding any amount already reported under code 4586 (contributions for a retired or former employee). It is a reporting figure required by SARS — it does not represent money deducted from your salary.
Does code 4473 reduce my PAYE?
Not directly. Code 4473 itself is not a deduction from your PAYE. Its main role is to feed your Section 11F retirement fund deduction limit calculation — SARS adds your own contribution (code 4001 or 4002) to your employer's contribution (code 4473) to determine your total retirement fund contributions for the year, which is then capped at 27.5% of remuneration or taxable income, up to R430,000 per year.
Do I pay tax on the amount shown under code 4473?
For most standard employees, no — the employer's provident fund contribution reported under code 4473 is not added to your taxable income as cash pay. A separate taxable fringe benefit for employer retirement fund contributions can arise in narrower circumstances, reported under a different code, but code 4473 on its own is informational for the deduction-limit calculation.
What is the difference between code 4473 and code 4002?
Code 4002 is your own provident fund contribution — deducted from your salary each month and tax-deductible up to the Section 11F limit. Code 4473 is your employer's contribution — money your employer pays into the fund on your behalf, which does not come off your payslip but is added to your own contribution when SARS works out how much of your total retirement fund contributions qualify for the tax deduction.
Why does my employer's provident fund contribution matter for my tax deduction?
Section 11F of the Income Tax Act caps your total deductible retirement fund contributions — your own plus your employer's combined — at 27.5% of the greater of remuneration or taxable income, subject to an annual ceiling of R430,000. A generous employer contribution can use up more of that combined limit, which is why SARS needs code 4473 reported separately from your own contribution under code 4002.