Introduction to the South African Revenue Service and National Treasury Firm‐Level Panel

Abstract The South African Revenue Service and National Treasury Firm‐Level Panel is an unbalanced panel data set created by merging several sources of administrative tax data received during 2015. The four data sources that constitute the panel are: (i) company income tax from registered firms who submit tax forms; (ii) employee data from employee income tax certificates submitted by employers; (iii) value‐added tax data from registered firms; and (iv) customs records from traders. These data sets constitute a significant and unique source for the study of firm‐level behaviour in post‐apartheid South Africa. We review the key data sources used to construct the panel, highlight some important questions that arise as a result of panel construction, discuss the biases in the resulting data, compare key aggregates in the panel to other data sources, and provide a descriptive overview of the tax records.