A finance director closes the August management accounts and sees a profitable quarter. The cash position looks healthy until the IRP6 provisional tax estimate comes due, alongside payroll and VAT obligations. For South African companies, the issue is rarely one tax payment. It is the discipline of placing each SARS deadline on the right calendar.
IRP6 provisional tax requires a company to estimate its annual normal tax liability and make two compulsory submissions during its financial year. SARS expects the submissions even where the calculation produces a nil payment, so a quiet trading period does not remove the filing obligation.
The IRP6 deadlines follow your financial year
Companies generally fall within SARS’s provisional tax system. They submit an IRP6 estimate and payment through SARS eFiling for each of the two compulsory periods.
The first IRP6 falls six months after the start of the company financial year. The payment should equal half of the estimated annual normal tax, which gives SARS a payment during the year rather than only after annual accounts are complete.
The second IRP6 falls on the final day of the financial year. It brings total provisional payments up to the full estimated annual normal tax liability, after the first payment and qualifying credits.
Do not put 31 August and 28 February into every company tax deadlines calendar as fixed dates. Those dates apply only to a company with a February year-end. A company with a 30 June year-end works to a different cycle because its financial year starts and ends at different points.
For example, a company with a 28 February 2027 year-end must submit its first IRP6 by 31 August 2026. Its second submission and payment fall due on 26 February 2027, because 28 February is a Sunday and SARS requires payment on the preceding business day.
The optional third payment
A third IRP6 is a top-up payment, not an additional tax. It gives a company time to correct an estimate once its year-end figures become clearer and can reduce underpayment interest.
For a February year-end, the top-up payment falls due on 30 September after year-end. For another approved year-end, it falls six months after that year-end. A company with a 28 February 2026 year-end, for instance, had until 30 September 2026 to make that top-up payment.
If your accounts show a material increase in taxable income after the second payment, do not wait for the ITR14 return. Review whether a third IRP6 payment can limit interest exposure.
How to estimate the payment with judgement
For company years ending from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, the ordinary company income-tax rate is 27%. A company forecasting R2 million in taxable income would therefore forecast normal tax of about R540,000 before qualifying credits and other adjustments.
Its first IRP6 payment would be about R270,000. By year-end, it must bring the total paid up to its revised annual liability, so the second payment depends on what changed in the forecast after the first submission.
Take an illustrative engineering consultancy with a 28 February year-end. In August, it estimates R2 million taxable income and submits a R270,000 first payment. Its cash forecast only held R50,000 because management treated provisional tax as an annual expense, leaving a R220,000 funding gap. If it pays the R270,000 late, the 10% late-payment penalty alone could reach R27,000, before interest.
The better approach would have been to build the IRP6 into the monthly bookkeeping deadlines process from the first month of the financial year. Monthly management accounts do not need to be audited to support a prudent tax estimate, but finance leaders should document the assumptions behind the number.
SARS can impose a 20% underestimation penalty where an estimate falls below the applicable test. For taxable income above R1 million, the test uses 80% of actual taxable income. For taxable income of R1 million or less, it uses 90% of actual taxable income and the basic amount.
This is why we do not advise an enterprise to submit a low estimate simply to retain cash until year-end. The short-term cash benefit can create a penalty and interest cost when the annual tax position becomes clear.
Eligible small business corporations use graduated tax rates rather than the ordinary 27% rate. The first R99,000 of taxable income falls into the 0% band for years ending from 1 April 2026, which increased from R95,750 in the prior period. Confirm SBC eligibility before relying on those rates, because a small turnover figure on its own does not establish the tax treatment.
Take a retailer with twelve staff, a 28 February year-end and taxable income expected to reach R600,000. At the ordinary 27% company rate, its preliminary annual normal tax estimate is R162,000, before credits and adjustments. It should plan for roughly R81,000 at the first IRP6 point, then revise the balance once holiday-season trading and deductible costs are known. If management delays that review until February, it loses the chance to identify a cash shortfall early enough to use the September top-up period.
The 2026 SARS compliance calendar for companies
An IRP6 sits within a wider compliance calendar. Tax compliance consulting should align tax, payroll and accounting teams around the dates below, because each deadline draws from a different set of records.
Monthly payroll obligation
Submit the EMP201 and make the related payment by the 7th of the following month. Where the 7th does not fall on a business day, payment falls due on the preceding Friday.
The EMP201 obligation matters because it covers monthly payroll declarations and payments. A finance team that finalises payroll after the deadline creates a recurring compliance risk, even when its annual tax affairs are in order.
VAT201 cycle
A VAT vendor must submit the VAT201 and make payment by the 25th when filing manually, or by the last business day when filing electronically, subject to its allocated VAT cycle. Confirm the company’s cycle on SARS eFiling rather than assuming every vendor follows the same month-end rhythm.
Employer reconciliations
SARS sets the interim EMP501 reconciliation period from 1 September to 31 October. The annual reconciliation period runs from 1 April to 31 May.
These reconciliations require payroll data to agree with declarations and employee tax certificate information. The step teams often skip is resolving differences each month, then they face a larger reconciliation exercise when the filing window opens.
Annual company return
The company ITR14 return is due within 12 months after the company’s financial year-end. The 22 January 2027 filing deadline announced for individual provisional taxpayers in the 2026 filing season does not apply to company ITR14 returns.
That distinction matters. A February year-end company should not use an individual tax season date as its accounting deadlines calendar SA reference point.
A practical control checklist
Use a compliance calendar that names an accountable person, a reviewer and a date for each action. A date without ownership rarely survives a busy month-end.
● Confirm the company financial year-end and calculate both compulsory IRP6 dates.
● Update the taxable-income forecast before the six-month IRP6 point and again before year-end.
● Reconcile payroll records before each EMP201 deadline, not only during EMP501 season.
● Confirm the VAT cycle and filing method on SARS eFiling.
● Keep a separate September reminder for the IRP6 top-up where the company has a February year-end.
● Schedule ITR14 preparation after year-end accounts, with enough time to resolve tax adjustments before the 12-month deadline.
SARS revised its Provisional Tax Guide, revision 28, with effect from 29 June 2026. We recommend that management review provisional tax assumptions when SARS guidance changes, when a major contract change forecast profit, or when the company changes its year-end.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is an IRP6 required if our company has no payment due?
Yes. SARS requires the first and second IRP6 submissions even where the calculated payment is nil. Filing the return records the company’s estimate and prevents SARS from having to estimate taxable income and the amount due.
What penalty applies when an IRP6 payment is late?
SARS applies a 10% penalty to late first or second provisional-tax payments. The SARS guide also states that prescribed late-payment and underpayment interest is 10.25% a year from 1 December 2025, subject to Gazette changes.
Does the 2026 SARS tax season deadline apply to companies?
The 22 January 2027 deadline applies to individual provisional taxpayers for the 2026 filing season. Company ITR14 returns remain due within 12 months after the company financial year-end.
Should we wait for final annual accounts before revising our provisional tax estimate?
No. Use current management accounts, contract forecasts and known tax adjustments to make a defensible estimate. If later information shows a shortfall, assess the optional third IRP6 payment before its effective date.
M&J Consultants supports enterprises with tax compliance consulting, bookkeeping deadlines and compliance calendar controls that give leadership a clearer view of obligations before they become urgent. Speak With Our Team to review your IRP6 provisional tax timetable and 2026 SARS compliance dates.
