A South African company with employees, VAT registration and a February year-end faces roughly 32 statutory deadlines a year: 12 EMP201s, 6 VAT201s, 2 provisional tax payments, 2 EMP501 reconciliations, 1 CIPC annual return, 1 beneficial ownership filing, 1 ITR14 and 1 set of annual financial statements. Missing any of them carries a penalty.

This page is the one-stop calendar. Each deadline links to a detailed guide where one exists.

The recurring deadlines at a glance

Return Frequency Deadline Penalty for missing it
EMP201 (PAYE, UIF, SDL) Monthly 7th of the following month, or the last business day before it 10% + interest at 10.25%
VAT201 Usually every 2 months Last business day of the following month (eFiling) or the 25th 10% + interest at 10.25%
IRP6 first provisional Annual 6 months into the year of assessment 10% + interest
IRP6 second provisional Annual Last day of the year of assessment 10% + interest, plus a 20% underestimation penalty
EMP501 interim Annual Covering March to August Administrative penalties
EMP501 annual Annual After February year-end Administrative penalties
CIPC annual return Annual Within 30 business days of the anniversary date Penalties, then deregistration
Beneficial ownership Annual, plus within 10 business days of any change With the annual return Annual return blocked entirely
ITR14 Annual 12 months after financial year end Administrative penalties
Annual financial statements Annual Within 6 months of year end Companies Act non-compliance
Workmen's compensation return of earnings Annual As gazetted Loss of good standing

Month by month, for a February year-end

March

  • EMP201 for February — by 7 March (or the last business day before)

  • VAT201 for the February period (Category B) — by month-end on eFiling

  • New tax year begins. Update payroll tax tables. The single most common payroll error is running February's tables in March.

  • National Minimum Wage increases take effect from 2 March. The rate is R30.23 per hour from 2 March 2026.

April

  • EMP201 for March

  • VAT201 for the March period (Category A)

  • Annual EMP501 reconciliation opens — for 2026 the window was expected to run 1 April to 31 May

  • IRP5 certificates to employees within 60 days of year end

  • New VAT and turnover tax thresholds took effect on 1 April 2026: compulsory VAT registration at R2.3 million, voluntary at R120,000, turnover tax at R2.3 million

May

  • EMP201 for April

  • VAT201 for the April period (Category B)

  • Annual EMP501 deadline — typically end of May. This is the month that punishes anyone who did not reconcile monthly.

June

  • EMP201 for May

  • VAT201 for the May period (Category A)

  • Annual financial statements should be complete — six months after a February year end

  • Practical point: your AFS drive the first provisional estimate in August. Leaving them until December makes that estimate a guess.

July

  • EMP201 for June

  • VAT201 for the June period (Category B)

  • Personal filing season typically opens. For 2026, auto-assessment notices ran 1 to 12 July, with non-provisional filing from 13 July.

August

  • EMP201 for July

  • VAT201 for the July period (Category A)

  • First provisional tax payment (IRP6/1) — by 31 August

  • Interim EMP501 period ends

September

  • EMP201 for August

  • VAT201 for the August period (Category B)

  • Interim EMP501 reconciliation — covering March to August

  • Voluntary third provisional payment — by 30 September, to stop section 89quat interest running

October

  • EMP201 for September

  • VAT201 for the September period (Category A). Note that in 2026 the 25th falls on a Sunday, so the manual deadline drops to Friday 23 October

  • Non-provisional individual filing deadline — 23 October 2026

November

  • EMP201 for October

  • VAT201 for the October period (Category B)

  • Good month to review whether you are on track for the second provisional estimate in February

December

  • EMP201 for November

  • VAT201 for the November period (Category A). The manual deadline falls on 24 December in 2026 — before the shutdown, not after it

  • Bonus payroll. Expect PAYE queries, and warn staff in advance

  • If closing over the festive period, pay early. Nothing about the deadlines changes because your office is shut.

January

  • EMP201 for December

  • VAT201 for the December period (Category B)

  • Provisional individual and trust filing deadline — 22 January 2027 for the 2026 filing season

  • Start the second provisional estimate now, on eleven months of actual figures

February

  • EMP201 for January

  • Second provisional tax payment (IRP6/2) — by 28 February

  • Year end. Stock count, debtor review, bad debt write-offs, asset verification

  • Retirement fund contributions must be paid before year end to be deductible this year

  • Budget Speech, typically late February — new rates and thresholds announced

The deadlines that do not follow the calendar

Three obligations run off your own dates rather than a fixed month.

CIPC annual return. Due within 30 business days after the anniversary of your company's registration date. Close corporations run from the first day of the anniversary month. Your anniversary date is fixed — find it once and diarise it permanently.

Beneficial ownership. Filed with the annual return, and within 10 business days of any change in beneficial ownership. CIPC blocks the annual return entirely if beneficial ownership is not up to date — so this is not a separate obligation, it is a precondition.

ITR14. Due 12 months after your financial year end, so 28 February 2027 for a February 2026 year end.

If your year end is not February

The payroll and VAT deadlines are unchanged — they follow the calendar and your VAT category, not your year end. What moves is everything driven by the year of assessment.

Year end First provisional Second provisional ITR14 due
28 February 31 August 28 February 28 February following year
30 June 31 December 30 June 30 June following year
30 September 31 March 30 September 30 September following year
31 December 30 June 31 December 31 December following year

What each penalty actually costs

Failure Cost
Late VAT or PAYE payment 10% of the amount, plus 10.25% interest a year
Late return submission Administrative non-compliance penalties per return, per month
Provisional underestimation 20% of the shortfall where the second estimate is below 80% of actual
Late CIPC annual return Escalating penalty by turnover band, then referral for deregistration
No beneficial ownership filing Annual return blocked; penalties; possible deregistration

Beyond the direct cost, every one of these puts your tax compliance status at risk — which blocks tax clearance certificates, tender bids, CSD standing and, increasingly, corporate customer onboarding.

Building a calendar that works

1. Diarise the actual dates, not the rules. "The 7th" is a rule. "Friday 6 November" is a date you can act on. Four of the next eight EMP201 deadlines fall earlier than the 7th.

2. Set a books-closed date, not just a deadline. Put a reminder 5 to 10 days before each filing date for the work to be finished. Reconciling on the due date leaves no room for a missing invoice.

3. Separate the tax money on receipt. VAT and PAYE are not your money. Businesses that move them to a separate account on receipt never have a funding crisis at the deadline.

4. Reconcile payroll monthly. Ten minutes a month makes the EMP501 a formality instead of a two-week reconstruction in May.

5. Diarise the anniversary date permanently. The CIPC annual return is the deadline most often missed, because it is the only one that does not repeat on the same calendar date as a tax return.

6. Pay a day early. Payment must reflect in the SARS account by the deadline, not leave yours.

Frequently asked questions

What are the tax deadlines for a South African business? Monthly EMP201 by the 7th, VAT201 usually every two months by the last business day of the following month on eFiling, two provisional tax payments at six months and twelve months into the year of assessment, two EMP501 reconciliations a year, the CIPC annual return within 30 business days of the company's anniversary date, and the ITR14 twelve months after financial year end.

When is the CIPC annual return due? Within 30 business days after the anniversary of your company's registration date. Close corporations file from the first day of their anniversary month. Beneficial ownership must be up to date or CIPC will block the annual return.

When is the company income tax return due? Twelve months after your financial year end. For a company with a February year end, the ITR14 for the year ended 28 February 2026 is due by 28 February 2027.

What happens if I miss a tax deadline in South Africa? Late payment of VAT or PAYE attracts a 10% penalty plus interest at 10.25% per annum. Late submission attracts administrative non-compliance penalties per return. All of them affect your tax compliance status, which blocks tax clearance certificates and tender applications.

Do the deadlines change if my year end is not February? Payroll and VAT deadlines follow the calendar and your VAT category, so they do not change. Provisional tax and the ITR14 follow your year of assessment, so they shift with your year end.

What is the difference between the EMP201 and the EMP501 deadline? The EMP201 is monthly, due by the 7th. The EMP501 is a reconciliation submitted twice a year — an interim reconciliation covering March to August, and an annual reconciliation after the February year end.

Thirty-two deadlines, none of them yours to remember

Every deadline on this page carries a penalty, and most carry a compliance-status consequence that costs far more than the penalty itself.

Smartbook tracks and files all of them — EMP201s, VAT201s, provisional tax, EMP501 reconciliations, CIPC annual returns, beneficial ownership, annual financial statements and the ITR14 — for one fixed monthly fee.

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Last reviewed: 26 July 2026. Written by the Smartbook team — SAIPA and SAICA accredited, SARS registered tax practitioners. Dates are calculated on the standard South African public holiday calendar and on SARS's published 2026 filing season information. Confirm individual dates against SARS and CIPC before relying on them — filing season dates in particular are only fixed once the Commissioner publishes the annual notice.

Primary sources: SARS — Obligations of a VAT vendor · SARS — Completing the monthly employer declaration (EMP201) · SARS — Budget 2026 FAQs · CIPC — Annual Returns · CIPC — Beneficial Ownership