Collect tax in South Africa

In South Africa, Stripe Tax supports calculation and collection of VAT for remote sellers. You must have no physical presence in the country to collect this tax on Stripe.

When to register for tax collection

See Thresholds to get insights about your potential tax registration obligations in South Africa. Stripe also notifies you with email and Dashboard alerts when you need to register to collect tax. Learn more about how the monitoring tool works.

A non-resident business supplying goods and services in South Africa becomes liable to be registered if the total value of taxable sales is more than 1 million ZAR in a 12-month period, or is expected to exceed this amount. Where a non-resident company is liable to register for VAT purposes, they must appoint a VAT representative. The obligation to appoint a VAT representative doesn’t apply to providers of digital services.

Non-residents supplying digital services from a place outside South Africa to South African customers (both B2B and B2C) must register by the end of any month if they exceed the threshold of 1 million ZAR in any consecutive 12-month period and any two of the following three circumstances apply:

• The recipient of the services is a resident of South Africa
• The payment for the services originates from a bank registered under the Banks Act 94 of 1990 (the Banks Act)
• The recipient of the services has a business, residential, or postal address in South Africa

For example, if you’re based outside South Africa and sell digital services to consumers in South Africa and cross the threshold during any 12-month period (from February of the past year to January of the current year, for example) you must register by the end of the month that you crossed the threshold in.

Threshold: 1 million ZAR

Period: 12 months

Included transactions: Any taxable transaction.

Register to collect tax

Find more information on how to register for VAT in South Africa on the government website:

• General information about VAT in South Africa
• How to register

After you’ve registered to collect tax in South Africa, go to Registrations to add your registrations to Stripe in the Dashboard. This turns on tax calculation and collection in Stripe for your transactions in South Africa.

Learn more about how to add your registration in the Dashboard.

How we calculate taxes

Stripe calculates VAT for your transactions in South Africa.

Generally, most transactions are taxable in the jurisdiction where your customer is. Stripe assumes the sale of most goods or services to be taxable unless specifically exempted.

Report and file your taxes

Stripe provides reports of your completed tax transactions. Go to Registrations to access these reports. Learn more about the different types of reports.

You’re responsible for filing and remitting your taxes to South Africa. Stripe doesn’t file taxes on your behalf. However, we do have trusted partners who can help manage your filing and remittance.