R500,000 in RSA Retail Savings Bonds
Five-year rate
until 31 August 2026
Interest in a year
before tax
Exemption runs out at
R394,286 from age 65
This amount is
over both ceilings
R500,000 at each term
| Term | Rate | Interest over the term | Taxed at 31% | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 years | 8.00%nominal | R80,000 | −R10,044 | R69,956 |
| 3 years | 8.25%nominal | R123,750 | −R16,229 | R107,522 |
| 5 years | 8.75%nominal | R218,750 | −R30,923 | R187,828 |
Fixed rate bond, interest paid every six months and not reinvested. A 31% marginal rate is an illustration, not an assumption about you — the exemption is counted once per tax year, so a longer term gets more of it. The calculator takes your own bracket, your age and the inflation-linked and top-up bonds too.
Where R500,000 sits against the exemption
At the five-year fixed rate of 8.75%, the annual interest exemption of R23,800 is used up by R272,000 of capital. R500,000 is above that, so R19,950.00 of a year's interest is taxable at your marginal rate. Even the over-65 exemption of R34,500 runs out at R394,286, so this amount is taxable at any age. That does not make the bond worse — it makes the after-tax figure the one that matters, which is why the table above shows both.
For scale on this site: a year's interest of R43,750.00 is about 8.2 months of the PMBEJD household food basket. Nothing on this page is a recommendation about what to do with R500,000.
Read next
savings
All three bonds, with the calculator
Every current rate, the rules, the break-even inflation rate and twenty-two years of history.
Read →R50,000
R50,000 invested
What it earns at each term, and which side of the tax exemption it lands on.
Read →R100,000
R100,000 invested
What it earns at each term, and which side of the tax exemption it lands on.
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