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Gross salary calculation and PAYE?



Phyllis says:
29 March 2022 at 14:37

I have a net salary of R49950, how do I calculate the PAYE tax and gross salary. Please help. No other benefits

TaxTim TaxTim says:
29 March 2022 at 16:15

For individuals, gross income is the sum of all wages, salaries, profits, interest payments, rents, and other forms of earnings, before any deductions or taxes. The PAYE calculated as a result is based on the employee's earnings and includes basic salaries, bonuses, fringe benefits and other allowances.

PAYE is calculated monthly and paid to SARS by your employer monthly, even if you are paid weekly / fortnightly. When your employer calculates your PAYE, your earnings get multiplied by 52 weeks, 26 weeks or 12 months (depending on how often you get paid) to get an annual amount, before being applied to the SARS tax tables to calculate annual tax. This is how you work it out if under the age of 65 and received a monthly salary of R49950: 

Taxable income = Annual gross salary - Pension / Provident / RAF (limited to 27.5% of salary, limited to R350k) - 20% of travel allowance
(You are taxed on 80% of the travel allowance in your Gross salary, so we subtract 20% for the calculation of Taxable income.)
Taxable income = R 599,400.00 - R 0.00 - R 0.00
Taxable income for the year: R 599,400.00
The tax you will pay / PAYE (Pay As You Earn) for your age group and income bracket: R 11,875.75  (as per PAYE tables provided by SARS)
Take home pay = Gross salary - PAYE - UIF
(UIF / Unemployment Insurance Fund is levied at 1% of your gross income, at most R177.12)
Take home pay = R 49,950.00 - R 11,875.75 - R 177.12
Take home pay: R 37,897.13 per month :) Please make use of our SARS income tax calculator and work backwards to see what your gross should be.

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