If you freelance in South Africa, SARS wants an estimate twice a year, and the money to go with it. Decimo keeps a running set-aside from the invoices you are already sending, so 31 August arrives with the figure worked out and the cash already put by.
The South African tax year runs 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027. Provisional tax splits it in half.
IRP6 period 1
Halfway through the tax year. You estimate your full-year taxable income and pay tax on half of it. Underestimate badly and SARS can levy a penalty, so the estimate matters.
IRP6 period 2
The last day of the tax year. You settle the rest, based on your actual income for the year less what you already paid in August.
Most people put by a round percentage and hope. South African income tax is progressive, so a round percentage is wrong at both ends: too much in a quiet year, nowhere near enough in a good one.
Provisional tax is assessed on your whole year, so judging it from income so far understates the rate badly. Decimo projects your part-year income to a full year before running the brackets, which is the figure SARS actually cares about.
A flat percentage is materially wrong at both ends of the income range. Decimo runs your projected income through the actual SARS tables for the 2026/27 tax year, applies the primary rebate, and adds the age rebates if you are 65 or 75 and over.
Most South African freelancers also have, or recently had, a salary. Taxed in isolation your freelance income looks cheap; stacked on top of a salary it is taxed at your real marginal rate. Decimo adds the two together, subtracts your retirement annuity under section 11F, applies your medical tax credits, and nets off the PAYE your employer already withheld, so what you see is what the freelance work actually costs you.
Deductible business expenses lower your net taxable income, so your set-aside drops as you log them. You see the effect immediately instead of discovering it at assessment.
Decimo gives you a planning estimate. It is not tax advice, and it does not file anything with SARS on your behalf.
It does not handle capital gains, and it assumes your trade profit is what you have actually recorded, so an unlogged invoice or expense moves the figure. Rates are set each February, so a tax year Decimo has no table for falls back to the most recent one it does have, and says so.
Use it to reach the deadline with the money set aside and the numbers in front of you. Confirm anything that matters with a registered tax practitioner.
A tax estimate is only as good as the income behind it. Decimo is a full client and invoicing system first, so the set-aside is calculated from work you have actually invoiced rather than numbers you remembered to type into a spreadsheet.
Broadly, anyone earning income that is not salary with PAYE already deducted. For most freelancers and sole proprietors invoicing their own clients, that means yes. SARS sets out the exemptions, and if you are unsure a registered tax practitioner can confirm your position in minutes.
Twice a year. The first period (IRP6 P1) is due 31 August, halfway through the tax year that runs 1 March to the end of February. The second (P2) is due on the last day of February. Decimo shows both dates for the tax year you are looking at, not just the current one.
Because South African income tax is progressive, a flat percentage is wrong at both ends. Set aside 25 percent on a low year and you have over-reserved money you could have used; set aside 25 percent on a good year and you are short when the bill arrives. Decimo uses the real brackets so the figure tracks what you will actually owe.
No. Decimo is not a filing tool and does not submit anything to SARS. It keeps a running estimate of what to set aside and shows you when the deadlines fall, so you reach them with the money there and the numbers to hand. Filing happens on eFiling, by you or your accountant.
It is a planning estimate, not tax advice. It does handle the things that usually move the number: a salary alongside your freelance work, retirement annuity contributions deductible under section 11F, medical tax credits, PAYE your employer has already withheld, and the age rebates. It does not handle capital gains, and it can only work from income and expenses you have actually recorded. Treat it as a well-informed reserve and confirm anything that matters with a qualified tax practitioner.
Yes. The SARS view is specific to South African accounts, set by your country in Settings. Everything else, clients, conversations, invoicing, income and expenses, works the same anywhere, and non-South-African accounts get a simpler percentage-based set-aside instead.
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