Useful interest rates

Prescribed interest rate payable to SARS
Interest charged on late payment or underpayment of provisional tax and late payment of assessed tax or STC. Interest will be charged from a specific date and no longer on the assessment date.

Effective date		Rate
1984	1 September	15%
1989	1 June	18%
1994	1 April	15%
1998	1 December	19%
1999	1 May	16%
	1 September	14.5%
2000	1 March	13%
2002	1 October	15.5%
2003	1 April	16.5%
	1 July	15%
	1 September	14%
	1 October	13%
	1 December	11.5%
2004	1 November	10.5%
2006	1 November	11%
2007	1 March	12%
	1 November	13%
2008	1 March	14%
	1 September	15%
2009	1 May	13.5%

Prescribed interest rate payable by SARS
Interest is payable to taxpayers who have overpaid provisional tax by at least R10 000. Interest is also paid if taxable income exceeds R50 000 (individuals and trusts) and R20 000 (companies and close corporations) and if an appeal is won or conceded. Interest will be paid from a specific date and no longer on the assessment date

Effective date		Rate
1998	1 December	14%
1999	1 May	12%
	1 September	10.5%
2000	1 March	9%
2002	1 October	11.5%
2003	1 April	12.5%
	1 July	11%
	1 September	10%
	1 October	9%
	1 December	7.5%
2004	1 November	6.5%
2006	1 November	7%
2007	1 March	8%
	1 November	9%
2008	1 March	10%
	1 September	11%
2009	1 May	9.5%

Fringe benefits (official rate)

Effective date		Rate
1998	1 December	19%
1999	1 May	16%
	1 September	14.5%
2000	1 March	13%
2001	1 October	10.5%
2002	1 March	11.5%
	1 September	13.5%
2003	1 March	14.5%
	1 July	13%
	1 September	12%
	1 December	9.5%
2004	1 March	9%
	1 September	8.5%
2005	1 September	8%
2006	1 September	9%
2007	1 March	10%
	1 September	11%
2008	1 March	12%
	1 September	13%
2009	1 March	11.5%
	1 June	9.5%
	1 July	8.5%
	1 September	8%

Usury Act interest rates

Effective date		Rate	Rate	Rate
Capital		To R6 000	R6 001 – R500 000	More than R500 000
1993	22 January	29%	26%	No max.
	12 March	28%	25%	No max.
	24 December	26%	23%	No max.
1994	11 November	28%	25%	No max.
1995	7 April	29%	26%	No max.
	22 September	31%	28%	No max.
1997	14 March	32%	29%	No max.
1998	21 August	36%	33%	No max.
1999	16 July	31%	28%	No max.
	22 October	27%	24%	No max.
2000	24 March	25%	22%	No max.
		To R10 000	More than R10 000
2001	16 February	25%	22%	No max.
	7 September	24%	21%	No max.
	9 November	23%	20%	No max.
2002	12 June	26%	23%	No max.
2003	1 October	24%	21%	No max.
	21 November	22%	19%	No max.
2004	6 February	21%	18%	No max.
	17 September	20%	17%	No max.
2007	7 March	23%	20%	No max.

Since 2004, these Usury Act interest rates have been linked to the Repurchase Rate (‘the Repo Rate’) as determined by the Monetary Policy Committee of the South African Reserve Bank. For transactions not exceeding R10 000 the limit, since 26 February 2007 is the Repo Rate plus a third of the rate plus 11%; for transactions exceeding R10 000 it is the Repo Rate plus one third of the rate plus 8%. If this is not a whole number it gets rounded down to the nearest whole number.

Prime bank overdraft rates

Effective date		Rate
1988	25 January	13%
	10 March	14%
	7 May	15%
	30 July	16%
	3 November	18%
1989	1 March	19%
	8 May	20%
	11 October	21%
1991	2 April	20%
	1 October	20.25%
1992	28 March	19.25%
	6 July	18.25%
	23 November	17.25%
1993	25 February	16.25%
	1 November	15.25%
1994	26 September	16.25%
1995	22 February	17.5%
	3 July	18.5%
1996	29 April	19.5%
	20 May	20.5%
	1 July	19.5%
	1 October	19.25%
	21 November	20.25%
1997	24 October	19.25%
1998	9 March	18.25%
	15 June	20.25%
	30 June	22.25%
	3 July	24%
	29 August	25.5%
	19 October	24.5%
	9 November	23.5%
	7 December	23%
1999	11 January	22%
	9 February	21%
	8 March	20%
	19 April	19%
	21 June	18%
	16 July	17.5%
	2 August	16.5%
	4 October	15.5%
2000	19 January	14.5%
2001	13 June	13.75%
	16 July	13.5%
	25 September	13%
2002	16 January	14%
	18 March	15%
	14 June	16%
	13 September	17%
2003	13 June	15.5%
	18 August	14.5%
	15 September	13.5%
	20 October	12%
	15 December	11.5%
2004	13 August	11%
2005	15 April	10.5%
2006	8 June	11%
	3 August	11.5%
	13 October	12%
	8 December	12.5%
2007	8 June	13%
	17 August	13.5%
	12 October	14%
	7 December	14.5%
2008	11 March	15%
	13 June	15.5%
	11 December	15%
2009	5 February	14%
	25 March	13%
	4 May	12%
	29 May	11%
	14 August	10.5%