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 de-identified tax data available at the NT-SDF includes our core datasets such as the Corporate Income Tax (CIT), Employee Income Payroll certificates (IRP5), Personal Income Tax (PIT), Customs, and Value Added Tax (VAT) datasets. These datasets are linked to specific SARS forms that generate the data. Below is a comprehensive list of the datasets which are available.

  • Common Reporting Standards
  • Corporate Income Tax panel (IT14 and ITR14 forms)
  • Customs (SAD500 and CD1 forms)
  •   Employer Reconciliation Declaration (EMP 501 form)
  •  Employee Income Payroll certificates (IRP5 form)
  • Excise Duties
  •  Individual income tax return (ITR12 form)
  • Labour Brokers (IRP30A form)
  • Monthly Employer Declaration (EMP201 form)
  • SARS Treasury Matched Firm (STMF) Panel (merged CIT, Employee Income Payroll certificates, Customs and VAT)
  • SARS Treasury Matched Individual Panel (merged Employee Income Payroll certificates and Individual income tax return)
  •  Value-Added Tax (VAT201 form)
  • Meta and dummy data for selected datasets are available on this LINK.

Data Security

The data are de-identified by masking identifying information (e.g., tax reference numbers, PAYE reference numbers). This process ensures that no one granted access to the tax data at the NT-SDF can directly or indirectly identify the companies or individuals described in the data. Additionally, the NT-SDF enhances security by requiring users to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and take an Oath of Secrecy before accessing the data. Moreover, the NT-SDF enforces strict rules regarding the export of researcher outputs. This document: Output Rules for Researchers contains details on what outputs are permitted to leave the facility and the procedures for requesting export approval. 

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: ntsdf@treasury.gov.za with additional questions regarding the data.

Working paper
Danie Schutte, Pieter van der Zwan, and Caro Janse van Rensburg
This paper analyses the permanent and temporary differences of South African firms for the period covered in the SARS-NT panel. The analysis provides valuable information about the differences between accounting profits and the taxable income...
September 2021
Public revenue
Working paper
Joshua Budlender and Amina Ebrahim
We present new evidence on the effects of South Africa’s Employment Tax Incentive (ETI), a hiring and employment wage subsidy aimed at reducing youth unemployment. We show that attempts to estimate firm-level treatment effects via...
July 2021
Labour market and inequality
Working paper
Wynnona Steyn, Alexius Sithole, Winile Ngobeni, Eva Muwanga-Zake, Helen Barnes, Michael Noble, David McLennan,Gemma Wright, and Katrin Gasior
In this paper we explore South Africa’s personal income tax system using two microsimulation models. The first, SAMOD, simulates personal income tax and social benefits using a dataset derived from the nationally representative National Income...
July 2021
Public revenue
Working paper
Brandon Joel Tan
There is a large literature on the minimum wage focused on directly exposed firms and geographies. This paper provides new evidence that the minimum wage has significant spillover effects on firms exposed to the minimum...
June 2021
Enterprise development
Working paper
Isaac Marcelin, Daniel Brink, and Wei Sun
We study the role of trade credit in enhancing the resilience of financially constrained firms from 2010 to 2017. Implicit borrowing in trade finance allows financially constrained firms to bridge the financing gap, expand employment...
May 2021
Enterprise development
Working paper
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
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
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
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