South Africa

On 1 March 2026, South Africa's Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases (COID) earnings threshold will increase, affecting how employers calculate assessment contributions. If you manage payroll in South Africa, here's what you...

How changes to the Code of Good Practice on Dismissal modernise labour management. People are at the centre of every business. They bring perspective, ideas, skills, and experience that help companies excel and succeed. However, it doesn’t...

South Africa’s Draft Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill, published following the 2026 Budget Speech, proposes amendments to certain Income Tax Act exemptions and retirement fund tax deduction limits, effective 1...

The Minister of Finance delivered the National Budget on 25 February 2026, announcing amendments under the Income Tax Act that affect payroll for the 2026/2027 tax year. The changes cover personal income tax brackets and rebates, medical...

SARS released version 24.0.0 of the PAYE Business Requirements Specification on 26 March 2025, with effect from 1 March 2025 for payroll suppliers and September 2025 for SARS systems. The BRS sets the rules for generating tax certificates...

National Treasury announced changes to the South African Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) effective 1 April 2025. The headline change: the maximum qualifying monthly remuneration rose from R6,500 to R7,500, broadening the pool of employees...

The Minister of Employment and Labour has published a Government Notice increasing the OID earnings threshold for the 2025/2026 assessment year. Here is the new figure and what it affects. The new threshold. The OID earnings threshold...

South African payroll teams have had a busy year. The 2025/2026 tax year brought a new SARS PAYE BRS, an ETI uplift, a higher OID earnings threshold, BCEA changes, and stricter rules on employee tax reference numbers from February 2026...

The official rate of interest, used to calculate the taxable fringe benefit on low-interest or interest-free debt owed by an employee to their employer, changed following the Reserve Bank’s repo rate decision. Here is what applies. The...

The Occupational Injury and Disease (OID) earnings threshold in South Africa is the cap on the per-employee earnings used to calculate an employer's COIDA assessment. The Minister of Employment and Labour updates this figure annually as...

The annual EMP501 reconciliation is the most significant statutory submission in the South African payroll calendar. It reconciles every monthly EMP201 declaration submitted across the tax year against the year-to-date IRP5 totals for...

In the 2023 Budget Speech, the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, outlined the government’s fiscal priorities and the tax measures affecting payroll for the 2023/2024 tax year. Below is a summary of the changes that applied. The key...

Running payroll in South Africa means handling three statutory withholdings, two annual submissions, and a calendar of legislative changes that updates after every February budget speech. The framework is well-defined — but the details...

Tax paperwork is a heavy responsibility for companies of every size, and meeting SARS deadlines is one of the most important parts of it. Every six months, South African employers submit their interim reconciliation, covering IRP5 or...

The Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) is one of the most underused tools in South African payroll. Implemented on 1 January 2014, it was designed to encourage employers to hire young job seekers, a group hit hardest by structural...

South African tax year-end falls on the last day of February. The weeks before are when good payroll teams pull ahead and avoidable mistakes get baked in. This checklist covers what to verify, what to reconcile, and the deadlines that...