SARS Request for Information – API Technology for Tax Certificate Submissions
Refer to PAGSA NF 2023-17 ‘Monthly Tax Certificates – Heads-up’ for background to the SARS intention to modernise the technical capability of their systems. As far as payrolls and employers are concerned, this will result in the requirement to submit monthly tax certificates to SARS as opposed to the current bi-annual submission requirement. On 22 May 2023 SARS issued a RFI (Request for Information) asking for feedback from PAGSA payroll supplier members on their ability and their appetite to introduce API (Application Program Interface) technology into their payroll systems as an alternative method of submitting tax certificates to SARS in the future. The introduction to the SARS RFI reads as follows:
SARS requested a response from the PAGSA by 5 June 2023. Unfortunately the questions in the RFI were focused on both payroll suppliers and on your clients (employers). Within the time frame, it was impossible for payroll members to request information from their clients that would no doubt require technical explanation, to analise the response and send the consolidated feedback to the PAGSA for on-sending to SARS. A further complication was that the numbers of your clients was requested, which is confidential information. After some discussions between the PAGSA and SARS, it was agreed to reduce the scope of the survey to include only the PAGSA payroll supplier members, and to limit the questions to the following:
1.As a payroll supplier member, if an API channel was made available, would your company make the necessary changes to your payroll system(s) to allow your clients to make use of the new submission channel option? Please answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ and add a short comment if you want to. 2.If your payroll system(s) made the API submission channel available in the future, estimate as best possible the percentage of your client base that you anticipate would make use of the new submission channel. Can I ask that on behalf of your company, you URGENTLY submit your response to the above two questions by email directly to [email protected] for Rhona’s attention by no later than close of business Wednesday 7 June 2023. Regards,
Rob Cooper
Chairman Payroll Authors Group of South Africa
All information provided by the PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER.
e@syFile BETA Testing (1st phase)
SARS has issued a notice with regards to the testing of the updated e@syFile software (BETA version) application before its release to the general market in September 2022. All online functionality has been disabled in order to prevent inadvertent submission of test data into SARS production environment, therefore, certain menu options have been disabled and the test application will default to offline mode as a fail-safe. Testing should commence tomorrow 16 August 2022 and be concluded on 15 September 2022 after which the testing window will close. The link: The BETA test version was released and the build can be downloaded from the following link:
https://secure.offline.sarsefiling.co.za/PAGDownloadSite/BetaHome.xhtml
Please note that this link is confidential and only available to PAGSA full members for testing purposes. In order to protect its confidential status, SARS request that you do not share this link. The BRS: The PAYE BRS for the Employer Interim Reconciliation submission period 202108 is available on the SARS website: PAYE BRS V21.1
Username & Password: The username and password will be sent to you when an SMS with your company name is received on (072) 680 8337. Error reporting: Email the following details of the error to [email protected]
1.Make your description of the problem as short as possible, but good enough for SARS to understand the problem. 2.Add screen prints where necessary of the error to the email. 3.Add the CSV file where the error relates to the information supplied in a CSV file. Regards,
Rhona van Taak
Admin manager: Payroll Authors Group of South Africa
All information provided by the PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER
SARS Tax Directive issued date error
SARS has confirmed that the Employment Tax Validation (ETV) report with the error relating to the issue date of the directive, should be ignored, in cases where the employer has completed the correct directive issued date in the specified fields. The directive issue date should be the date SARS has issued the directive and NOT the accrual of application date. Confirmation by SARS follows below:
From: Karin Smit
Sent: Friday, 27 May 2022 15:32
Subject: Employer Filing Season 2022 – Warning Message
Dear Stakeholders
It has been brought to my attention that in the submission of the EMP501’s in instances where a directive was issued on eFiling and the directive is validated there are examples where, even though the date on IRP5 is the same as the date of the letter of directive, an error message is given which states “Employment Taxes failed validation file: Invalid directive date issued”
SARS advises that this error can be ignored. It should be noted that this impacts a very limited number of submissions. With warm regards
Karin Smit
Stakeholder Relations – Private Sector
Regards,
Rhona van Taak
Admin Manager Payroll Authors Group of South Africa
All information provided by the PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER
Vision 2024 PAYE: Monthly Tax Certificate Submissions
Background
SARS Initial Briefing
On 12th February 2020 SARS briefed the PAGSA Exco members on the SARS intention to modernise the technical capability of their systems “where increasingly its work will be informed by data-driven insights, self-learning computers, artificial intelligence and interconnectivity of people and devices”. PAGSA Newsflash 2020-05 was issued to members with SARS permission on 24 February 2020 to provide PAGSA members with an early warning of what lay ahead. This newsflash can be referred to for more details of this initial meeting. The ‘Vision 2024 PAYE’ project as it was called was almost immediately hamstrung by the March 2020 Covid-19 lockdowns, the subsequent drafting and issue under extreme pressure of complex tax and ETI relief legislation, followed by the Civil Unrest period in July 2021 and a further round of tax and ETI relief legislation. The years that followed March 2020 were a very difficult and painful period for all parties and individuals in South Africa. Payroll Administration Investigation
On the resumption of the Vision 2024 PAYE project, the PAGSA investigated various areas of payroll administration, complied documents to describe these areas, and engaged with SARS in meetings to assist SARS to understand the practical implications and complications of weekly, fortnightly, and monthly payroll administration. These meetings highlighted the necessity to create a SARS Business Requirements Specification (BRS) that focused on the proposed modernised requirements. Budget 2023 Intention: Third-party data and personal income tax administration reform
The following is quoted verbatim from the February 2023 Budget Review:
The pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) and personal income tax administration reform announced in the 2020 Budget has given pensioners the option to agree to more accurate PAYE withholding rates to take account of multiple sources of income [Rob: this refers to Fourth Schedule paragraph 2(2B)], as well as enabling 2.9 million individual taxpayers to be automatically assessed without the need to file personal income tax returns. The reform will continue over the medium term with a view to reducing the administrative burden for employers, payroll administrators and SARS, as well as individual salaried taxpayers. Work has commenced, in consultation with employers and representative organisations, to provide employer and employee data on a monthly basis in a fully automated fashion. Over time, the need for employer PAYE annual reconciliation is expected to fall away, and the reform will be extended to third-party data providers. [my emphasis added to the above]
The wording highlighted above in the Budget’s statement of intention firstly puts the Vision 2024 PAYE project into the public domain, and secondly in simple terms can be translated as “monthly tax certificate submissions and related matters”. SARS PAYE BRS – Technical Requirements of Monthly Tax Certificate Submissions
During 2022 and 2023 to date, both SARS and the PAGSA Exco and Manco committees (and other third-party bulk suppliers of tax certificates such as BASA (the banking institutions) and ASISA (the retirement funds)), have spent a lot of time on the creation of a Monthly PAYE BRS that will inform both the SARS systems (e@syFile, eFiling, and the online system used in the SARS branches) and the payroll systems of PAGSA members of the technical requirements for monthly tax certificate creation and submissions. The initial impression one might have is that the move from the current bi-annual tax certificate submission process to a monthly tax certificate submission process does not appear to be a difficult one, but I can assure you that this is not an easy matter. Important Aspects of the Monthly PAYE BRS
Besides the details of the employer and employee demographic and financial fields (the majority of which remain the same as in the current bi-annual BRS), additional fields have been added. Also changed is the File Structure and the records that make up the file structure.
2023 Budget Review Date
The Budget Review is normally presented on the last Wednesday of February every year. However, in a year when the Budget Review date is very close to 1st March, there is very little time in which payroll suppliers can implement those requirements of the budget that are legally effective from 1st March. When this situation has arisen in the past, we have requested that an exception be made to present the Budget on the second last Wednesday of February, and our request has been acceded to (no doubt with the support of other parties). The latest PARLIAMENTARY PROGRAMME FRAMEWORK FOR 2023 has been issued and confirms that the 2023 Budget Review will be presented on Wednesday 22 February 2023. Regards,
Rob Cooper
Chairman Payroll Authors Group of South Africa
All information provided by the PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER.
Employer Filing Season: Year ending February 2023
SARS has issued a notice in respect of the 2022 Employer Annual Filing Season. According to this notice, the filing season will commence on 1 April 2023 and ends on 31 May 2023. This includes all your reconciliation related documents (EMP501 and Tax certificates) for the period 1 March 2022 to 28 February 2023. Please ensure that your Annual Reconciliation is submitted on or before 31 May 2023. To access the notice, please click on the link below:
https://www.sars.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/Docs/PAYE/Employer-Annual-Declaration-2023-Stakeholder-Letter-30032023.pdf
Regards,
Rhona van Taak
Admin Manager Payroll Authors Group of South Africa
All information provided by the PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER.
Basic Conditions of Employment Act: Earnings Threshold Increase
The Minister of Employment and Labour issued Government Gazette Number 48092 on 20 February 2023 to increase the BCEA Earnings threshold from R224 080,48 pa to R241 110,59 pa with effect from 1 March 2023. Note that the concept of ‘BCEA earnings’ is unchanged. Its ‘definition’ is included in the notice and is only used for the application of this threshold. In simple terms, ‘BCEA earnings’ for the purpose of this earnings threshold is remuneration as defined by the BCEA, but excluding achievement awards (commission, bonuses, etc.) and overtime. Regards,
Rob Cooper
Chairman Payroll Authors Group of South Africa
All information provided by the PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER.
SARS Notice: Tax Directive Webinar
SARS are presenting a webinar on the Tax Directive system. The details are in the notice below. Invitation to a webinar on Tax Directives
Dear Taxpayer
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) invites you to a webinar on Tax Directives for taxpayers, tax practitioners and fund administrators. A tax directive is an official instruction from SARS to a taxpayer’s employer or fund manager to deduct tax at a set rate, determined by SARS. This directive ensures that a fair rate of tax is paid on your earnings, especially for larger or irregular payments. An approved tax directive is only valid for the tax year or period that it was applied for. Our strategic objectives include providing taxpayers with clarity and certainty, as well as making it simple for them to meet their tax obligations. The aim of the Tax Directives webinar is to educate the taxpayer on this specific process. As an important stakeholder, we invite you to join the webinar, and to extend the invitation to other interested parties. The following topics will be covered:
•Types of Tax Directives
•Type of Tax Directives by Tax Practitioners on behalf of Individuals and Employers
•Tax Directive application process
•Timelines for the Tax Directives applications
•Tax Directive updates/ changes
•Access to Tax Directives via eFiling
Details of the webinar are as follows:
Theme: Tax Directives Date: Thursday, 16 February 2023 Time: 17:00 – 19:00 Platforms: Zoom and YouTube
Register in advance for this webinar on the following link:
https://sars-gov-za.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pmIvvysnSzuBqvvvyLV9lQ
Meeting ID: 989 3621 1798
Passcode: 334253
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information on how to log on to the webinar. The webinar will be recorded and posted on the SARSTV YouTube channel after the event. YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/CrjDUA3Tzm0?feature=share
If you have questions about Tax Directives, please send an email to [email protected]
Issued by: Taxpayer and Trader Education and Policy and Procedure Enforcement
Regards,
Rob Cooper
Chairman Payroll Authors Group of South Africa
All information provided by the PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER.
SARS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION – API TECHNOLOGY FOR TAX CERTIFICATE SUBMISSIONS
As far as payrolls and employers are concerned, this will result in the requirement to submit monthly tax certificates to SARS as opposed to the current bi-annual submission requirement.
On 22 May 2023 SARS issued a RFI (Request for Information) asking for feedback from PAGSA payroll supplier members on their ability and their appetite to introduce API (Application Program Interface) technology into their payroll systems
as an alternative method of submitting tax certificates to SARS in the future.
SARS requested a response from the PAGSA by 5 June 2023.
Unfortunately the questions in the RFI were focused on both payroll suppliers and on our clients (employers). Within the time frame, it was impossible for payroll members to request information from their clients that would no doubt require technical explanation, to analise the response and send the consolidated feedback to the PAGSA for on-sending to SARS.
A further complication was that the numbers of your clients was requested, which is confidential information.
After some discussions between the PAGSA and SARS, it was agreed to reduce the scope of the survey to include only the PAGSA payroll supplier members, and to limit the questions to the following:
1. As a payroll supplier member, if an API channel was made available, would your company make the necessary changes to your payroll system(s) to allow your clients to make use of the new submission channel option?
Please answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ and add a short comment if you want to.
2. If your payroll system(s) made the API submission channel available in the future, estimate as best possible the percentage of your client base that you anticipate would make use of the new submission channel.
Can I ask that on behalf of your company, you URGENTLY submit your response to the above two questions by email directly to [email protected] for Rhona’s attention by no later than close of business Wednesday 7 June 2023.
COMPENSATION FUND – EXTENSION OF THE DEADLINE DATE FOR ROE SUBMISSIONS
The Compensation Fund notified the PAGSA on the 2nd of June 2023 of the issue of Government Gazette No. 48673 dated 30 May 2023.
There are other details in this Gazette that have been repeated from earlier notices and that have been queried previously by the PAGSA. At the time of writing, we are still waiting for a response from the Fund’s legal advisors.
The following was published in the gazette:
a) A Maximum Earnings on Provisional Assessment is R568 959 for the period 1 March 2023 to 28 February 2024
b) The 2022 ROE Season is extended to 30 June 2023
Points a) and b) in this latest notice are the important ones:
The first point finally clears up the uncertainty regarding the Compensation Fund Earnings Threshold for the 2023 year of assessment (2023/24) and confirms our understanding as published in PAGSA NF 2023-16 COID Earnings Threshold for 2023.
The extension of the ROE Submission deadline date from 31 May to 30 June 2023 in the second point is self-explanatory, and probably results from the recent difficulties with certain aspects of the Fund’s IT systems that seem to have been resolved.
