Ayesha, 41: no payslip, no PAYE
Use MaxWealth to improve your own financial future. Ayesha is a made-up person, but her numbers are real calculations. See what SARS will ask of someone like her, and how to stop it being a shock — then run your own.
Not a real person, and not advice. Ayesha is a made-up example: 41, a freelance designer with a taxable profit of R55 000 a month (R660 000 a year). Nobody deducts PAYE for her, so she is a provisional taxpayer. She has R300 000 in an old pension and adds nothing to it.
Ayesha’s situation
SARS 2025/26 tables · under 65 · retirement figures in today’s Rands
About R78 600, twice a year.
With no employer deducting PAYE, a person like Ayesha pays SARS herself in two provisional payments, by the end of August and the end of February — roughly R78 616 each. Putting aside R13 103 every month means neither one is a shock.
Effective rate 23.8% · marginal rate 36%R55 000 a month; falls in the 36% bracket (R512 801 – R673 000).
On the 2025/26 tables, after the R17 235 primary rebate.
One twelfth of the year’s tax — the same figure the tax calculator shows as PAYE.
Tax saved a year: R60 000 deducted at her 36% rate.
A month, after the tax saving.
What her R300 000 alone pays at a 4% drawdown — 6% of the R41 250 she needs.
Her choices, and what each one does
| Choice | Tax for the year | Pot at 65 | Retirement income | Share of what she needs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay SARS from whatever is in the account in August and February | R 157 232 | R 0.77m | R 2 563 | 6% |
| Put aside R13 103 every month for SARS | R 157 232 | R 0.77m | R 2 563 | 6% |
| Set aside for SARS and pay R5 000 a month into a retirement annuity | R 135 632 | R 3.11m | R 10 380 | 25% |
- Setting money aside does not lower the tax — it removes the shock, and the risk of paying late.
- The retirement annuity does both jobs: R21 600 less tax a year, and a pot that grows from R0.77m to R3.11m by 65.
- Retirement contributions are deductible within the legal limits — 27.5% of income, capped at R350 000 a year. Her R60 000 is well inside that.
Now run your own numbers
Ayesha’s story is an illustration. Yours is the one that counts. In the tax calculator, enter your monthly taxable profit as the salary: the income tax is the same SARS tables (ignore the UIF line, which applies to employees).
How the numbers are worked out
- Same tax formula as the live tax calculator — SARS 2025/26 tables, primary rebate R17 235, no medical aid credits.
- Provisional payments are shown as two equal halves of the year’s tax. SARS works out each one from your own estimate, so real amounts differ.
- Retirement figures use the retirement calculator’s formula: growth 4% a year after inflation, 4% drawdown, income needed 75% of income.
Illustration, not advice. Ayesha is not a real person and her figures are not a prediction or a tax return. MaxWealth is not an authorised financial services provider or a tax practitioner and never names or recommends a financial product; for advice, speak to an authorised financial adviser or a registered tax practitioner.