The following content was published in Newsflash 2022/48 – COID Notice – Deregistration by Inactive Employers

CF NOTICE: DEREGISTRATION BY INACTIVE EMPLOYERS

Background

Legal entities with employees as defined by the Compensation for Occupational Diseases and Injuries Act (COIDA) are required to register as employers with the Compensation Fund.

Note that this requirement excludes domestic employers until the COIDA Amendment Bill is promulgated and made effective.

One registered with the Fund, all employers must every year submit the Return of Earnings (ROE) form (usually by the extended due date of 31 May) that declares the total earnings of all employees for the past year of assessment (March to February), as well as the estimated total earnings for the year of assessment that lies ahead.

If the employer ceases to operate a business or no longer has any employees, the entity must deregister as an employer with the Compensation Fund as soon as possible.

Compensation Fund Deregistration Notice

The full notice (including the deregistration form) can be found in Government Gazette No. 46269.

For your convenience, the main points of the notice are included at the end of this Newsflash.

It is important to note if the entity fails to notify the Compensation Fund that it is no longer active as an employer, the Fund will assume that the employer is still operating and will expect ROE’s.

This will result in an estimated Notice of Assessment that will include penalties and interest and that is legally binding for payment by the employer.

Deregistration Administration

It has come to my attention that deregistration is not an online process and must be done manually.

Unfortunately there are complaints that the manual process is cumbersome, and possibly flawed in that some deregistration applications seem to ‘disappear’.

The PAGSA has requested the Fund to convert the current process to an online application as soon as possible.