Your Details

Select the year of assessment (1 March – 28/29 February). The monetary cap rose from R350 000 to R430 000 from 1 March 2026 — the first increase since 2016.
Age determines your primary, secondary, or tertiary tax rebate — and therefore what the deduction saves you.
Under 6565–7475+
40 years old

Your Income (annual)

Your remuneration for PAYE purposes — salary, allowances, bonuses and taxable fringe benefits, including any retirement fund contribution your employer makes on your behalf.
R
Non-remuneration income: net rental profit, business or freelance income, taxable interest. Excludes capital gains, which are entered separately.
R
Deductions other than retirement contributions — a travel claim, home office, or a rental loss. These reduce your taxable income, which is why SARS uses the GREATER of remuneration or taxable income for the 27,5% test.
R
The taxable capital gain included in your income for the year. It is deliberately excluded from both the 27,5% base and the taxable-income limit — a big capital gain does not buy you more retirement deduction room.
R

Your Contributions

Enter contributions either per month or per year — we annualise them for you.
Your own contribution plus your employer's. Your employer's contribution is a taxable fringe benefit in your hands and is then treated as if you made it, so it counts towards your 27,5%.
R
Contributions to a retirement annuity fund. All retirement funds share one 27,5% limit — an RA does not get its own.
R
Contributions disallowed in earlier years are not lost. Section 11F(3) deems them contributed in the following year, so they queue up until there is room — or they reduce the tax on your eventual lump sum or annuity.
R

Projection

How long the money keeps compounding before you retire.
20 years
Annual return after fees. Use a realistic net number — fees of 1–2% a year make a very large difference over decades.
%

This calculator provides estimates only and does not constitute tax advice or financial advice. The projection assumes a level contribution and a constant return, ignores inflation, and holds the current limits and tax tables for every future year — real returns vary and the law changes. Retirement fund money is not the same as money in your pocket: at retirement up to one third may be taken as a lump sum, taxed on the SARS retirement lump sum table, and the balance must buy an annuity that is taxed as income. The two-pot rules, provident fund vested rights, and transfers between funds are not modelled. Consult a registered tax professional and a licensed financial adviser.

Tax You Save This Year

R 29 530

R 84 000 of contributions really costs you R 54 470 — a 35.2% discount, funded by SARS.

Deduction Allowed

R 84 000

Not Deductible

R 0

Unused Room

R 81 000

2027 (Mar 2026 – Feb 2027)Marginal rate 36%Cap R 430 000

Your Section 11F Ceiling

The deduction is the lowest of three numbers. Yours is capped by 27,5% of the greater of your remuneration and your taxable income.

The R430 000 cap
R 430 000
27,5% of the greater of remuneration or taxable income
R 165 000
Taxable income before this deduction and before capital gains
R 600 000

The 27,5% is applied to R 600 000 — the greater of your remuneration (R 600 000) and your taxable income before this deduction and before capital gains (R 600 000).

You have R 81 000 of deduction room left this year. Contributing that much more — a single additional contribution before the end of February counts — would save you a further R 25 110 in tax. Unused room is not carried forward.

In 20 Years

Same cost to you each year: R 54 470 out of pocket.

The retirement fund bar is before retirement tax; the TFSA bar is entirely tax-free in your hands.

Detailed Calculation

Pension / provident (annual)R 54 000
Retirement annuity (annual)R 30 000
Contributions ClaimableR 84 000
Section 11F ceilingR 165 000
Deduction allowedR 84 000
Taxable income before deductionR 600 000
Taxable income after deductionR 516 000
Tax without the deductionR 132 907
Tax with the deductionR 103 377
Tax SavedR 29 530
Contributed over 20 yearsR 1 680 000
Retirement fund at retirementR 4 684 221
Growth earnedR 3 004 221
Growth of 9% a year, before inflation.

The TFSA leg is limited from year 1: a tax-free savings account takes at most R 46 000 a year and R 500 000 in your lifetime, and your out-of-pocket contribution of R 54 470 a year runs into that. A retirement fund has no lifetime limit — only the annual 27,5% test.

How the retirement deduction works

One limit across every fund. Pension, provident and retirement annuity contributions share a single 27,5% allowance, capped at R 430 000 for the 2027 year of assessment. Opening a second RA does not create more room.

SARS uses the greater of two income figures. 27,5% is applied to remuneration or taxable income, whichever is higher — so a large travel or home-office claim cannot shrink your retirement allowance.

A capital gain does not help. The taxable capital gain is stripped out of both the 27,5% base and the taxable-income limit. Selling an asset in the same year raises your tax bill without raising your deduction room.

Excess contributions wait their turn. Anything over the limit rolls into the next year, and whatever is still unclaimed at retirement comes off the taxable portion of your lump sum first, then your annuity income.

The deduction is worth your marginal rate. At 36%, every R100 you contribute reduces your tax by R36 — which is why the same contribution is far more valuable to a high earner.