Every South African employer with staff earning above the tax threshold must register for PAYE, UIF, and SDL, and declare and pay all three to SARS every month via a single form, the EMP201, due by the 7th of the following month. Miss it and penalties and interest follow automatically, every month, without exception. Twice a year, a reconciliation called the EMP501 checks what you declared against what you actually paid and against each employee's tax certificate, and errors there ripple straight through to your employees' own tax returns.
EMP201 due by the 7th of every month, covering PAYE, UIF, and SDL together · UIF is 2% total (1% employer, 1% employee), capped at a monthly earnings ceiling · SDL is 1% of gross remuneration for most employers · EMP501 reconciliation submitted twice yearly · Registration required within 21 days of first hiring an employee subject to PAYE.
PAYE, UIF, and SDL are governed by separate laws but reported and paid together through the same monthly form. Understanding each on its own removes most of the confusion:
You must register for employees' tax with SARS within 21 days of starting to employ someone, unless a specific exception applies. Registering for PAYE and SDL automatically triggers your UIF registration through SARS, all handled via a single form, the EMP101e, which covers all three obligations together. You'll also need to separately register your business with the Department of Employment and Labour so employees show up correctly on the UIF system if they ever need to claim, a step many first-time employers miss, leaving staff technically uncovered even though SARS contributions were being paid correctly.
If your only employee earns below the PAYE tax threshold, you can skip PAYE registration, but UIF registration still applies.
Each month, employers calculate and withhold PAYE from employee earnings, then declare and pay the total, PAYE, UIF, SDL, and the Employment Tax Incentive if applicable, to SARS via the EMP201. It's due by the 7th of the following month, or the last business day before the 7th if that date falls on a weekend or public holiday. SARS pre-populates a unique Payment Reference Number for each EMP201, which links your payment to the correct declaration.
| Levy | Rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| PAYE | Progressive, 18%–45% | Based on SARS's annual tax brackets, applied per employee |
| UIF | 2% total (1% + 1%) | Capped at a monthly earnings ceiling, both employer and employee contribute |
| SDL | 1% of gross remuneration | Most employers above the exemption threshold, excludes exempt employees |
Rates and thresholds are confirmed annually in the February Budget Speech and take effect from 1 March. Confirm current figures against the latest SARS tax tables before running payroll, since a stale table applied all year compounds into a real discrepancy by reconciliation time.
The EMP501 is a reconciliation submitted twice a year, an interim and an annual submission, checking what you declared and paid across your monthly EMP201s against what you actually paid and against each employee's IRP5 or IT3(a) certificate. These submissions feed directly into your employees' own annual tax filing, so any inaccuracy here creates a downstream problem for them, and for you if SARS queries the mismatch.
A clean payroll process runs the same cycle every month without drama: calculate gross salary, apply PAYE, UIF, and SDL correctly using current rates, pay net salary to the employee, issue a payslip, and file the EMP201 with payment by the 7th. Twice a year, the EMP501 reconciliation should be a formality, not a scramble, because the monthly numbers were accurate the whole way through.
Don't want to run this yourself every month? Dyantyi Chartered handles PAYE, UIF, SDL, EMP201 and EMP501 submissions, and IRP5s, accurately and on time.
The EMP201 is the monthly declaration and payment employers submit to SARS covering PAYE, UIF, and SDL for the previous month's payroll. It's due by the 7th of each month, or the last business day before the 7th if that date falls on a weekend or public holiday.
PAYE follows a progressive income tax scale from 18% to 45% depending on the employee's earnings, applied using SARS's annual tax tables. UIF is 1% from the employee and 1% from the employer, 2% total, capped at a set monthly earnings ceiling. SDL is 1% of gross remuneration, payable by most employers above the exemption threshold.
If you register for PAYE and/or SDL with SARS, your UIF registration and monthly contribution happens through the same EMP201 system. You separately need to register your business with the Department of Employment and Labour so employees appear correctly on the UIF system if they need to claim.
The EMP501 is a reconciliation submitted twice a year, interim and annual, checking what you declared and paid via your monthly EMP201s against your employees' actual IRP5 and IT3(a) certificates. Errors here affect employees' own tax filing, so accuracy matters.
Late EMP201 payments attract a percentage penalty on the outstanding amount plus interest at the prescribed rate, calculated automatically by SARS. Late or incorrect EMP501 reconciliations can attract a monthly penalty of 1% of the total employees' tax for the period, up to a maximum cap, and can delay employees' IRP5 certificates.