South African VAT201 Deadline & Penalty Calculator
Your VAT201 return and payment are due on the 25th of the month after your tax period (or the last business day if you eFile and pay electronically). For a Category B period ending 30 April 2026, that is 25 May 2026 (manual) or 29 May 2026 (eFiling). Miss it and SARS adds a 10% late-payment penalty under section 39 — on R100,000 of unpaid VAT that is R10,000, plus s39 interest. Work out your own dates and figures below.
The last day of your VAT tax period. The due date is the 25th of the next month (manual) or the last business day (eFiling).
Net VAT payable on the VAT201 that was paid late (for the 10% penalty + interest).
Each month or part of a month counts as a full month (SARS practice).
eFiling + electronic payment: 29 May 2026
The 10% penalty (VAT Act s39(1)) is settled. The interest rate is the SARS Table 1 prescribed rate — point-in-time and re-checked at deploy; interest is simple, charged per month or part of a month (SARS practice).
The rules behind the dates.
Every figure traces to the VAT Act or a published SARS source. Here are the provisions this calculator applies.
Vendor categories & tax periods (A–E)
Your tax-period category sets when each period ends — Category A and B are two-monthly (A ends Jan/Mar/May/Jul/Sep/Nov, B ends Feb/Apr/Jun/Aug/Oct/Dec); Category C is monthly (mandatory above R30 million turnover); Category D is six-monthly (Feb/Aug, for small farmers ≤ R1.5 million and micro businesses); Category E is annual. Only the period-end date changes by category — the due-date rule is the same for all.
When the VAT201 is due
Paying manually or over the counter, the return and payment are due on the 25th day of the month after the tax period ends. If the 25th is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, it moves to the last business day before the 25th. If you both submit on eFiling and pay electronically, you have until the last business day of that month.
The 10% late-payment penalty
Pay your VAT late and SARS levies a penalty of 10% of the outstanding VAT under section 39(1) of the VAT Act. It is a one-time fixed percentage of the unpaid amount — separate from, and on top of, the interest that also accrues on the overdue tax.
Interest on overdue VAT
Section 39 interest accrues on overdue VAT at the prescribed rate in SARS Interest Rates Table 1 (currently 10.25% per annum from 1 March 2026). It is simple interest, charged for each month or part of a month the VAT is outstanding. The prescribed rate changes about quarterly, so it is re-checked against the live SARS table at each deploy.
VAT deadlines, answered.
When is the VAT201 return and payment due in South Africa?
What is the penalty for paying VAT late?
How is interest on late VAT calculated?
What are the VAT categories A, B, C, D and E?
A VAT deadline missed is a penalty earned. Let AI watch every period.
Practacular tracks every VAT201 and revenue-authority deadline across your whole client portfolio, drafts the filings, and cites the legislation — so a late payment never becomes a 10% penalty in the first place.
This calculator is a practice management tool and does not constitute formal tax advice. The 10% penalty and due-date rules are source-anchored to the VAT Act and SARS VAT 404 Guide; the prescribed interest rate is point-in-time and the simple per-month-or-part-thereof interest basis follows SARS practice — see our methodology. Always consult a registered tax practitioner for binding opinions.