DATA DEVELOPERS

Michael Kilumelume / UNU-WIDER

Bruce McDougall / UNU-WIDER

DATA SCIENTIST

Christopher Pillay / UNU-WIDER

RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

Fadzayi Chingwere / UNU-WIDER

Noreen Kajugusi UNU-WIDER

Raisibe Gololo / UNU-WIDER

Sanelisiwe Hlatshwayo/UNU-WIDER

 

Data

Introduction

The National Treasury Secure Data Facility (NT-SDF), established through the collaboration between the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and National Treasury (NT), provides researchers with partially anonymised tax data for research. South Africa is one of only a few countries globally to grant access to this type of data for research purposes. This is a unique opportunity as access to national administrative data for researchers outside of senior officials is rarely granted. The administrative data plays a central part in the SA-TIED programme and aims to inform policy formulation.

Data access

Located on the 20th floor of the NT building in Pretoria, the NT-SDF has a number of terminals available to researchers. Researchers with successful applications in response to calls for proposals, listed under the opportunities tab, can secure access the data to conduct their research.

Apart from responding to the request for proposals, researchers can send proposals (max five pages) to the National Treasury (ntsdf@treasury.gov.za) to request access to the data. Proposals should outline the research question, the relevant literature, the proposed methodology, exact data requirements, and the anticipated time needed in the data lab. In addition, the researcher should ensure that their proposal illustrates their familiarity with papers on the tax data relevant to their proposal. This will ensure they understand the data limitations and place their proposed contribution into the tax data literature.

Data description

The partially anonymised tax data available at the NT-SDF includes the Corporate Income Tax (CIT), Personal Income Tax (PIT), Customs, and Value Added Tax (VAT) dataset. Researchers also have access to the SARS Treasury matched firm-level panel and the individual panel. Below are the latest versions of the datasets at the NT-SDF. Please see the Data-Resources tab for more information on the contents of the datasets.

  • Corporate Income Tax (CIT)
    • (Latest version: v4, Tax years: 2007/2008 to 2017/2018)
    • This panel contains information from the IT14/ITR14 forms.
  • Pay-As-Your-Earn (PAYE, payroll or IRP5)
    • (Latest version: v4; Tax years: 2007/2008 to 2017/2018)
  • Value-Added Tax (VAT)
    • (Latest version: v4; Tax years: 2008/2009 to 2017/2018)
  • Customs data
    • (Latest version: v4; Tax years: 2008/2009 to 2017/2018)
  • Individual Panel
    • (Latest version: v4; Tax years: 2010/2009 to 2017/2018)
    • This panel merges IRP5 and ITR12 data
  • SARS-NT/CIT-IRP5/SARS Treasury matched firm (STMF) panel 
    • (Latest version: 4, Tax years: 2007/2008 to 2017/2018)
    • This panel merges the CIT, IRP5, customs and VAT data

All research papers using the data at the NT-SDF should include a data appendix and correctly cite the datasets. The Data-Resources tab contains a document with guidelines on compiling a data appendix and citing the tax data.

Data Security

The data are partially anonymised by masking identifying information (i.e., tax reference number, PAYE reference number, etc.). The aim here is to prevent anyone granted access to the tax data at NT-SDF from directly or indirectly identifying companies or individuals described by the data. The NT-SDF also offers additional security by requiring a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and the Oath of secrecy before accessing the data. Furthermore, NT-SDF ensures that researcher output exported from the data facility does not contain potentially identifying information. Please refer to the “Standard Operating Procedure at the NT-SDF” document under the Data-Resources tab for more information on what information can be exported from the data lab.

Research

If you are planning on responding to an SA-TIED call for research proposals, please check the papers at the bottom of this page for completed, current, and ongoing research to avoid the duplication of existing research. Final papers resulting from the analysis of these data will be made available on our research page alongside all other SA-TIED final papers.

Some independent research studies have also been undertaken by staff at the National Treasury. An overview of this research can be accessed here.

Please feel free to send an email to sa.datateam@wider.unu.edu with additional questions regarding the data.

Working paper
SA-TIED-WP-144.png
Exporters and global value chain participation: Firm-level evidence from South Africa
Caio Torres Mazzi, Gideon Ndubuisi, and Elvis Avenyo
Using the South African Revenue Service and National Treasury firm-level panel data for 2009–17, this paper investigates how global value chain-related trade affects the export performance of manufacturing firms in South Africa. In particular, the...
November 2020
Enterprise development
Working paper
SA-TIED-WP-134.png
Industry classification in the South African tax microdata
Joshua Budlender and Amina Ebrahim
This paper documents the industry classification variables in the anonymized tax microdata available for research at the National Treasury Secure Data Facility in Pretoria. It discusses how the variables in the data are related to...
August 2020
Enterprise development
Working paper
SA-TIED-WP-131.png
Globalization and gender inequality: Evidence from South Africa
Caro Janse Van Rensburg, Carli Bezuidenhout, Marianne Matthee, and Victor Stolzenburg
Inequality has been rising in most countries for several decades, with negative consequences for social cohesion and economic growth. Substantial gender wage gaps contribute significantly to overall wage inequality. We look at an often-overlooked driver...
August 2020
Labour market and inequality
Working paper
SA-TIED-WP-120.png
The Impact of Employment Protection on Temporary Employment Services Sector:
Aalia Cassim
Attempts to regulate the temporary employment sector have had mixed results internationally. In South Africa, temporary employment was regulated in 2015 through amendments to the Labour Relations Act. This paper uses administrative data to examine...
June 2020
Enterprise development
Working paper
SA-TIED-WP-116.png
Earnings in the South African Revenue Service IRP5 data
Andrew Kerr
The IRP5 and IT3(a) tax data from the South African Revenue Service have been made available to researchers through a joint project between the South African Revenue Service, the National Treasury, and UNU-WIDER. In this...
May 2020
Labour market and inequality
Working paper
SA-TIED-WP-113.png
The Relationship Between Transport Accessibility and Employment Duration
Jacomien Van Der Merwe and Stephan Krygsman
The purpose of this research is to investigate whether transport accessibility influences the employment duration of individuals in South Africa. The South African Revenue Service’s IRP5 administration datasets, which indicate employment duration and spatial location...
May 2020
Labour market and inequality
Working paper
SA-TIED-WP-114.png
The Effect of Policy Uncertainty on South Africa, SADC and Beyond
Mustapha Douch
The principal contribution of this paper is to investigate the relationship between policy uncertainty, caused by recent developments in international markets, and firms’ trade margins for the largest economy in Africa: South Africa. In particular...
May 2020
Phase 1 regional growth
Working paper
SA-TIED-WP-108.png
Separating employment effects into job destruction and job creation - Evidence from a large minimum wage increase in the agricultural sector using administrative tax data
Marlies Piek, Dieter von Fintel, and Johann Kirsten
This paper presents new evidence on the employment effects of a large increase in agricultural minimum wages in South Africa using anonymized tax data. We add to the minimum wage literature by differentiating employment effects...
April 2020
Labour market and inequality
Working paper
SA-TIED-WP-107.png
Depreciation allowances in South Africa
Estian Calitz, Eva Muwanga-Zake, Alexius Sithole, and Wynnona Steyn
Nowadays, tax depreciation allowances are used less as instruments of macroeconomic stabilization and more as long-term measures to stimulate investment. This paper tabulates the types of accelerated depreciation allowances in South Africa and calculates the...
April 2020
Public revenue
Working paper
SA-TIED-WP-106.png
Estimating the distribution of household wealth in South Africa
Aroop Chatterjee, Léo Czajka, and Amory Gethin
This paper estimates the distribution of personal wealth in South Africa by combining tax microdata, household surveys, and macroeconomic balance sheet statistics. We systematically compare estimates of the wealth distribution obtained by direct measurement of...
April 2020
Labour market and inequality