Every year, if you’re employed, your employer gives you an IRP5 (or an IT3(a) for certain income). It looks like a dense wall of codes, but it’s really just a summary of three things: what you earned, what was deducted, and what your employer paid SARS on your behalf. SARS already has the same information — your employer files it independently — so your IRP5 is the document that either matches SARS’s records (and your return files smoothly) or clashes with them (and your return gets stuck).
What an IRP5 actually is
An IRP5 is an employee tax certificate, not a bill or a refund. It reports employment income and employees’ tax for an assessment period. Use the certificate’s own description and applicable-year SARS code guide rather than guessing a code’s meaning.
Three facts that matter most:
- It’s per employer. Two jobs in one tax year = two IRP5s. You enter both on your return.
- It’s per tax year. The SA tax year runs 1 March to 28 February, so a certificate issued in 2026 usually covers the 2026 tax year (1 March 2025 – 28 February 2026).
- SARS already has it. When you eFile, the numbers should pre-populate. Your job is to check they’re right, not to calculate them from scratch.
The three sections of the IRP5
The form is organised as source codes. You don’t need to memorise all of them, but a handful explain 95% of the confusion.
Income — source codes 3601 to 3699
The biggest one is 3601 — Income. This is your gross salary or wages for the year: the amount before PAYE, UIF, pension or medical aid deductions.
Common income codes include 3605 (annual payments) and 3612 (commission). 3701 is a travel allowance, while 3702/3703 identify reimbursive travel categories. These are not generic subsistence codes. Check SARS’s source-code lookup for the certificate year and any codes not discussed here.
Deductions and exemptions — 4000s
- 4001 — pension fund contributions (deductible within limits).
- 4005 — medical aid contributions.
- 4474 — employer medical scheme contributions; this is not the medical tax credit.
- 4116 — medical scheme fees tax credit applied in the PAYE calculation.
These don’t all reduce tax the same way. A pension contribution is a deduction from income; a medical aid contribution partly converts into a tax credit, which is subtracted from tax owed, not from income. See our guide to medical aid tax credits for the difference.
Tax withheld — source codes 4100s
4102 is the headline: total PAYE withheld. This is what your employer already paid SARS on your behalf. When you file, this is credited against your final tax bill — if your employer withheld more than you owe, you get a refund.
4141 is UIF contributions. Remember: UIF is not a tax and is never refunded. It sits on the IRP5 for completeness but doesn’t reduce your tax.
The fields people get wrong
The “period of employment” and the tax year
The certificate states the tax year it covers, often printed as “2026” for the 2025/26 year. A payslip from January 2026 belongs to the 2025/26 year, not calendar year 2026. Match your documents to that assessment period before filing.
Your tax number and ID
Incorrect identity details can cause matching or processing problems. Ask payroll to correct its submission and reissue the certificate; do not invent a replacement number to make the return go through.
Deductions that don’t match
If your payslips show R24,000 of pension contributions but the IRP5 shows R20,000, don’t ignore it. The IRP5 is what SARS uses, so a mismatch means either payroll made an error or you’re misreading your payslip. Get payroll to reconcile it.
How to check your IRP5 in under five minutes
- Confirm your identity details — name, ID, tax number.
- Check income (3601) against your last payslip’s year-to-date gross, or 12 × your monthly gross if your salary was constant.
- Check PAYE (4102) against the sum of the period’s payslips or a reliable year-to-date total. Multiplying one month by 12 can be wrong after bonuses, salary changes or partial-year employment.
- Check deductions — pension (4001) and medical aid (4005) against your payslips.
- Check the tax year is the one you think you’re filing for.
Matching records reduce avoidable problems, but do not guarantee acceptance or a refund. If anything differs, ask payroll to reconcile it and keep the explanation and corrected certificate. SARS may request supporting evidence.
What to do if your IRP5 is wrong
- Wrong name/ID/tax number — payroll must correct and resubmit.
- Wrong amounts — ask payroll for a corrected certificate. SARS matches what they filed, so a corrected IRP5 usually requires the employer to resubmit to SARS too.
- Missing IRP5 — if your employer has closed or won’t issue one, you can still file using your payslips, but SARS may ask for proof. Keep payslips for at least five years.
Where to verify
- SARS — IRP5/IT3(a) certificates — the official explanation of source codes.
- Your payslips — the monthly record that should reconcile with the certificate.
- eFiling — where your certificate should pre-populate.
For the wider picture, read what is PAYE? and how PAYE works, or check the PAYE calculator to see whether your withholding looks right.