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

Measuring wealth inequality in South Africa: An agenda

by Aroop Chatterjee

Understanding wealth inequality has unique significance in South Africa. The co-existence of extreme poverty and extreme wealth is starkly visible. Apartheid-era inequality has persisted despite more than 20 years of democracy. Much of the research...

March, 2019

Labour market and inequality

Working paper

The size distribution of monetary policy effects between South African manufacturing firms: Firm-level evidence from administrative tax data

Keagile Lesame

Monetary policy is believed to have a disproportionate effect on firms depending on their size. Financially constrained firms with limited access to capital markets are expected to be more sensitive to changes in interest rates...

March, 2019

Macro-fiscal analysis

Working paper

Can a wage subsidy system help reduce 50 per cent youth unemployment?

by Amina Ebrahim and Jukka Pirttilä

The paper examines the incidence and employment impacts of the Employment Tax Incentive, a South African wage subsidy system that is targeted at the employers of low-wage youth. The paper uses a triple differences strategy...

March, 2019

Public revenue

Working paper

The creation of an individual-level panel using administrative tax data in South Africa

by Amina Ebrahim and Chris Axelson

The availability of anonymized individual tax return data can contribute to a deeper understanding of the drivers behind the high levels of inequality and unemployment in South Africa. In the recent past, researchers have examined...

March, 2019

Public revenue

Working paper

Combatting debt bias in South African firms

by Seppo Kari, Londiwe Khoza, Nagamso Manjezi, and Kyle McNabb

The problem of debt bias can be tackled through either disincentivizing the use of debt financing or incentivizing the use of equity financing. Considering the South African context—in which many firms are highly leveraged and...

March 2019

Public revenue

Working paper

Tax research in South Africa

by Amina Ebrahim, Rebone Gcabo, Lilian Khumalo, and Jukka Pirttilä

This framing paper has two main purposes. We first provide a brief survey of the economic literature on taxation in South Africa. Second, we attempt to offer some ideas about areas and topics on which...

March, 2019

Public revenue

Working paper

Big and 'unprofitable': how 10% of multinational firms do 98% of profit shifting

Ludvig Wier and Hayley Reynolds

Globally, the largest 0.001 per cent of firms earn roughly one-third of all corporate profits. Nonetheless, there is little understanding of how profit shifting differs across firm size. Using South African corporate tax returns from...

December, 2018

Enterprise development

Working paper

Tax-motivated transfer mispricing in South Africa: Direct evidence using transaction data

by Ludvig Wier

This paper provides the first direct systematic evidence of profit shifting through transfer mispricing in a developing country. Using South African transaction-level customs data, I directly test for transfer price deviations from arm’s-length pricing. I...

November, 2018

Enterprise development

News

Press Release: Finance Minister finds promise in SA-TIED initiative

Today, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni highlighted an initiative that aims to promote inclusive economic growth in the region through evidence-based policy creation. Mboweni’s comments came during his maiden Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement in Parliament. He...

24 October 2018

Working paper

Employer characteristics and youth employment outcomes in the formal sector in South Africa

by Stewart Ngandu and Carolyn Chisadza

This paper uses administrative tax data in South Africa to answer questions about which types of firms employ relatively large numbers of young people. The policy objective of this exercise is to use these insights...

August 2018

Enterprise development

Working paper

On the persistence of growth for South African firms

by Mulalo Mamburu

This paper examines the distribution of firms by size and growth in the South African economy. It explores the relationship between firm size and firm growth over time, with a particular focus on the highest...

July 2018

Enterprise development

Working paper

How large is the wage penalty in the labour broker sector? Evidence for South Africa using administrative data

by Aalia Cassim and Daniela Casale

This paper makes use of the administrative panel data for the years 2011 to 2015 to explore whether there is a wage penalty for employees in the labour broker sector, examining both the base wage...

May 2018

Enterprise development

Working paper

Innovation activity in South Africa: Measuring the returns to R&D

by Andre Steenkamp, Mark Schaffer, Wayde Flowerday, and John Gabriel Goddard

This paper aims to enhance our understanding of the dynamics of innovation practice and technology absorption in South Africa at the firm level by estimating the returns to R&D expenditure in the manufacturing sector. This...

March 2018

Enterprise development

News

New collaborative programme focusing on economic transformation and inequality launched with South African government and other regional organizations

UNU-WIDER launched its newest programme ‘Southern Africa – Towards Inclusive Economic Development (SA-TIED)’ on 30 November 2017 in Pretoria, South Africa. Together with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and a number of South...

11 December 2017

Enterprise development

Public revenue

Labour market and inequality

Macro-fiscal analysis

Climate and energy

Reform implementation

Phase 1 regional growth