What’s new?
18 April 2017 – Employer Annual Reconciliation
The Employer Annual Reconciliation starts today on 18 April 2017 and employers have until 31 May 2017 to submit their Annual Reconciliation Declarations (EMP501) for the period 1 March 2016 to 28 February 2017 in respect of the Monthly Employer Declarations (EMP201) submitted, payments made, Employee Income Tax Certificates [IRP5/IT3(a)] and ETI, if applicable.
An updated version of e@syFile™ Employer is available from 10 April 2017, the updated version is version 6.7.4. Remember to back up your current information on your computer prior to installing a new version of e@syFile™ Employer.
You can submit your Employer Reconciliation Declaration (EMP501) and Employees Income Tax Certificates [IRP5/IT3(a)s] online via e@syFile™ Employer, or if you have less than 50 employees, via eFiling.
For more information, you can call the SARS Contact Centre on 0800 00 7277.
In preparation for the 2017/2018 year of assessment, we have released an updated external business requirement specification (BRS): PAYE Employer Reconciliation (August 2017 Release). PAYE Employer Reconciliations cover employees’ tax (PAYE) and unemployment insurance fund (UIF) contributions withheld from employees’ remuneration, UIF contributions and skills development levies (SDL) payable as well as employment tax incentive (ETI) claimed by employers.
We would like to draw your attention to the changes introduced in this BRS to assist you in preparing your systems and processes in time. During the Interim Reconciliation filing period in September/October employers are required to submit accurate reconciliation declarations for the six month period 1 March to 31 August, in respect of the Monthly Employer Declarations (EMP201) submitted, the interim Employee Income Tax Certificates [IRP5/IT3(a)] created, and payments made where applicable.
You can find out more from the “Business Requirements Specification: PAYE Employer Reconciliation.”
Overview of changes:
Additional or amended descriptions of fields for Employment Tax Incentive (ETI)
New or amended descriptions of source codes have been added for ETI:
New source code 7005: ETI qualifying 12 month period indicator
This field indicates the 12 month period for which the employee qualifies for ETI. If the employee qualifies for ETI for the specified month in the first 12 month qualifying period, the value under this code must be “1”. If the employee qualifies for ETI for a month in the second 12 month qualifying period, the value must be “2”. If the employee does not qualify for ETI for a month, the value must be “0”.
Code 7005 is only applicable from the 2018 year of assessment. If the certificate type is ITREG, this field must not be completed.
Amended description for source code 7007: ETI Hours. This field now represents the actual number of hours the employee was employed and paid remuneration in the specified Month (code 7006). A maximum of 160 hours may be reported if the qualifying employee was employed and paid remuneration for 160 or more hours.
Amended description for source code 7003: Minimum Wage. This field indicates the minimum wage as specified by a wage regulating measure.
It does not necessarily require the monthly minimum wage to be specified anymore – the hourly, weekly or monthly minimum wage may be specified provided that the Wage Paid (new code 7008) is also specified using the same rate (hourly, weekly or monthly). Please note that if there is no agreed wage regulating measure, this field must be zero (0.00).
New source code 7008: Wage paid. This indicates the actual paid for the specified Month (code 7006). The rand value including cents must be specified, even if it amounts to zero.
Please note that the same rate at which the wage is paid (hourly, weekly or monthly) that is used for code 7003 must be used for code 7008. The value of this code must be completed if code 3026 is populated with a “Y”.
The value may be zero (0.00). Code 7005 is only applicable from the 2018 year of assessment. If the certificate type is ITREG, this field must not be completed.
Additional source code descriptions and validation rules. A number of source code descriptions and validation rules have been added as highlighted below.
Source code 3026: ETI Indicator .If the employee qualifies for ETI in terms of the ETI Act for one or more months in the reconciliation period, this flag must be set to Yes (“Y”) or No (“N”) if any of the validation rules is failed.
Source code 3190: Employment date
Indicating the initial date the employee was employed by the employer or, if earlier, the date employed by an associated employer as defined by the ETI Act, is mandatory. It must be in the format CCYYMMDD. The date cannot be later than “Date Employed From” (code 3170).
Source code 3288: Postal address structure indicator. This field indicates the format of the Employee Postal Address and is mandatory.
Source codes 3620 (3670) and 3621: Non-Executive Directors Fees (RSA residents) and Non-Executive Directors Remuneration (non-RSA residents)
These fields were added i.r.o. Directors Fees paid/payable to RSA resident Non-executive Directors [3620(3670)] and Directors Remuneration received paid/payable to non-resident Non-executive Directors (3621). These fields are only applicable from the 2018 year of assessment.
Source codes 3719/3769, 3720/3770, 3721/3771: Income received. These fields were added i.r.o. dividends not exempt and included in “remuneration”. These codes are applicable from the 2018 year of assessment.
Source code 3719 (3769): Dividends not exempt i.t.o. par (dd) of the proviso to s10 (1) (k) (i)
Source code 3720 (3770): Dividends not exempt i.t.o. par (ii) of the proviso to s10(1)(k)(i) dividends.
Source code 3721 (3771): Dividends not exempt i.t.o. par (jj) of the proviso to s10(1)(k)(i) dividends.
Source code 3923: Transfer of Unclaimed Benefits. This field was added i.r.o. Unclaimed Benefits not yet claimed and transferred to an Unclaimed Preservation Fund and is only applicable from the 2018 year of assessment.
New validation rules for contribution codes 4472, 4473 and 4475: Employer’s pension, provident and retirement annuity fund contributions paid for the benefit of employees
These validation rules have been added to ensuring that employer paid –
- i) Pension fund contributions, 4472, is linked to the related 3816 benefit code and 4001 employee deduction code,
- ii) Provident fund contributions, 4473, is linked to the related 3825 benefit code and 4003 employee deduction code, and
iii) Retirement annuity fund contributions, 4475, is linked to the related 3828 benefit code and 4006 employee deduction code.
Amendment to the description of information code 4582: “Remuneration” portion of 3701, 3802, 3816 and 3702. The foreign codes applicable to the relevant allowance and benefit codes have been deleted. New information code 4583: “Remuneration” portion of 3751, 3852, 3866 and 3752. This field was added and represents the “remuneration” portion of the relevant foreign allowance and benefit codes and is valid from the 2017 year of assessment.
Source: http://www.sars.gov.za/ClientSegments/Businesses/My-Bus-and-Tax/Pages/default.aspx