South Africa’s domestic VAT payments and refunds by industry

Finance and related services led allocated payments

Financial intermediation, insurance, real estate and business services had 201,718 active vendors in 2024/25. They made R240.98 billion in domestic VAT payments and received R67.02 billion in refunds. That left R173.96 billion when subtracting the recorded refunds within this table. Source 1

Mining was the largest recipient of VAT refunds

Mining and quarrying made R22.11 billion in domestic payments and received R78.31 billion in refunds in 2024/25. It accounted for about 21.5% of refunds and 3.9% of payments. The report identifies the large volume of zero-rated mineral exports as a reason for the sector’s negative net position. Source 1 Source 2

Trade and manufacturing had large flows in both directions

Wholesale and retail trade, catering and accommodation made R80.55 billion in payments and received R70.60 billion in refunds. Manufacturing made R75.35 billion in payments and received R69.56 billion in refunds. A large gross payment total can coexist with a much smaller amount after refunds. Source 1

Sector records and national collections have different scopes

The table allocates R563.75 billion in domestic VAT payments and R363.43 billion in refunds across vendors in 2024/25. The separate national collection figures were R561.4 billion in domestic collections and R365.5 billion in refunds. SARS identifies allocation timing, offsets against other tax debts and journals between tax periods as reasons for differences. Keep the sector dataset on its own reporting basis. Source 1 Source 2

Sources

• South African Revenue Service and National Treasury, Tax Statistics 2025, chapter 4 tables
• South African Revenue Service and National Treasury, Tax Statistics 2025