SARS amended its payment guide to designate Investec Bank for Global Minimum Tax foreign payments, separating them from other foreign tax payments processed through First National Bank.
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has updated its SARS Payment Guide, effective 16 October 2026, clarifying that Investec Bank is now the designated bank for Global Minimum Tax (GMT) foreign payments.
Other foreign payments still go through First National Bank (FNB), but GMT payments are excluded from that channel and must be made by Swift.
Foreign payments
Foreign payments are only for foreign taxpayers with no access to domestic payment channels. Anyone holding a South African bank account cannot use them. Payments must be made in South African rand, and bank charges cannot be deducted from the tax owed. Swift payments typically take three days, so they must be submitted at least three business days before the due date.
- Standard payments (FNB): account number or IBAN SARS-FOR-999, Swift code FIRNZAJJ, branch code 255005. The charges option “OUR” must be selected.
- GMT payments (Investec Bank): account number or IBAN 727746837832, Swift code IVESZAJJ, branch code 580105. The account is exclusively for GMT, and payments for other taxes will be rejected.
Transfer Duty, Securities Transfer Tax, Estate Duty, Donations Tax and Air Passenger Tax cannot be paid through foreign Swift channels. They must be paid through eFiling.
General rules
SARS recognises a payment only when it reflects in its bank account, and payments received after the due date are treated as late. Taxpayers must know their bank’s cut-off times, and failure to do so attracts penalties, interest or both.
Unemployment Insurance Fund and Skills Development Levy payments are processed under the PAYE reference number. Customs and Excise clients required to declare goods electronically must use eFiling, whether or not they are registered for deferment. Exempt clients may use internet banking. Cash deposits at bank branches and ATMs are no longer permitted for these clients.
Domestic channels
- eFiling: Payments are initiated on eFiling and authorised in the payer’s own banking product. Once authorised, they are irrevocable. Some banks cap transactions at ZAR 5 million, so larger payments must be split. Air Passenger Tax is no longer offered as an ad-hoc eFiling payment.
- Electronic funds transfer (EFT): Public beneficiary IDs have replaced Sars account numbers. They are SARS-CUS (Customs), SARS-EXC (Excise), SARS-ITA (income tax and administrative penalties), SARS-PAYE (PAYE, UIF and SDL), SARS-PROV (provisional and turnover tax), SARS-VAT (VAT) and SARS-WHT (Secondary Tax on Companies and Dividends Tax).
- Customs branch offices: Only travellers may pay cash, up to ZAR 2,000 in banknotes per transaction. Traders are prohibited from paying cash. Card facilities are available at major ports of entry.
- SARS MobiApp: Personal income tax can be paid through the Statement of Account, which allows a chosen amount, or the Notice of Assessment (ITA34), which requires the full amount owed.
Payment reference numbers
Every payment request, assessment notice or return carries a pre-populated 19-digit Payment Reference Number (PRN). EFT payments require the exact PRN to be accepted. If it is not pre-populated, taxpayers can derive it from the 10-digit tax reference number, a 1-digit tax type identifier (“T” for income tax, “P” for provisional tax) and period digits, such as 00mmyyyy for provisional periods or 00000000 for income tax.
Separate payments must be made for different tax types and periods. Unreferenced or partial payments may be allocated to the oldest debt first on a first-in, first-out basis.
This announcement was made on 16 October 2026.
