EMP501 Reconciliation Submission issue
SARS has confirmed that they experience a system issue with regards to the pre-population of the EMP201 declared liabilities on the EMP501 return. As this is an urgent issued to be fixed, SARS has confirmed that this issued will be fixed before Monday next week. Details of the issue
When trying to submit the completed EMP501 to SARS and error (ERROR 0001) is experience indicating that that no EMP201 returns were submitted for the reconciliation period. A letter is also issued by SARS which reads as follow:
This error is experienced although the monthly EMP201 returns have been submitted to SARS. However, the system does not pre-populate the EMP201 figures to the EMP501 return which results in this error. If you are experience this error and have submitted your monthly EMP201 returns, please refrain from submitting until next week when SARS has fixed this error. 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: Employer Filing Season opens 19 September 2022
SARS has issued the following notice relating to the employer filing season in respect of the interim period ending August 2022. Please note that the filling season opens on 19 September 2022 and closes on 31 October 2022. Late submissions will result in an administrative penalty equal to 1% of the Year’s PAYE liability which will increase by 1% for each month outstanding up to a maximum of 10% of the year’s PAYE liability. The SARS notice can be found below. Regards,
Rhona van Taak
Admin manager: Payroll Authors Group of South Africa
All information provided by the PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER

SARS Notice: e@syFile Employer version 7.2.9
On 3 October 2022, e@syFile was updated to version 7.2.9 to incorporate the following changes:
Adjustment to the Full Resubmission Request process where previously it was interrupted and user could not proceed
New EMP501 Form to allow capturing in the field for reason for Over/Understatement of Declaration
Adjustment to manual capture validation to align with import and pre-submission validation
Adjustment to correct the Message Type displayed for ETV Letters in the Notification Centre (PAYE_VAL_FAIL_LETTER
Regards,
Rob Cooper
Chairman Payroll Authors Group of South Africa
All information provided by the PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER.

SARS Notice: Trade Testing of the Tax Directive Enhancements
SARS are in the process of enhancing their tax directive systems and are asking for employers and tax practitioners to help to with the testing of the changes. The new processes should not impact on payroll systems, but payroll suppliers in their capacity as employers are welcome to join the testing. As you can see from the notice below, the roll-out date of the enhancements is scheduled for April 2023 which will mean that the testing window will probably be in February and March 2023. SARS NOTICE
Dear Stakeholder
TAX DIRECTIVES: TRADE TESTING DATES AND SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION
SARS will introduce enhancements to the Tax Directives process as indicated in the IBIR-006 Tax Directives Interface Specification Version 6.501. The trade testing dates are still to be confirmed and the implementation of the software is planned for implementation in April 2023. You will receive communication with regards to the exact dates for trade testing and the implementation date closer to the time. The Tax Directives Interface Specification is available on the SARS website www.sars.gov.za and you are encouraged to review it prior to testing. Please follow these steps to submit test files:
Step 1: Before testing can commence, you will need to email 10 taxpayer reference numbers to [email protected] to ensure the numbers are active. In the email subject line, use “Tax reference numbers for Trade Testing”. A maximum of 10 taxpayer reference numbers will be allowed. Step 2: You will be notified via the same email address to confirm when testing may commence. For trade testing queries please email [email protected]
Sincerely,
ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE COMMISSIONER FOR THE SOUTH AFRICAN REVENUE SERVICE
December 2022
Regards,
Rob Cooper
Chairman Payroll Authors Group of South Africa
All information provided by the PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER.

e@syFile Release version 7.2.7
SARS has released an updated version of the e@syFile software on Friday 9 June 2022. The reason for the update is that an encryption certificate will expire in next week. This certificate is required to be renewed annually to allow for updated encryption. The release notes have been placed on the SARS Website during the course of Saturday. Regards,
Rhona van Taak
Admin Manager Payroll Authors Group of South Africa
All information provided by the PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER

Implementation of Tax Directive Enhancements
On the 22st of April 2022, the South African Revenue Services (SARS) implemented the legislative changes in respect of Tax Directives. A summary of these changes pertain to Fund Administrators, Insurers, Tax Practitioners, Advisors and taxpayers. For more information please visit the SARS website www.sars.gov.za
Regards,
Rhona van Taak
Admin Manager 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.

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. Regards,
Rob Cooper
Chairman Payroll Authors Group of South Africa
All information provided by the PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER. THE NOTICE ISSUED BY THE COMPENSATION COMMISSIONER UNDER COMPENSATION FOR OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES AND DISEASES ACT, 1993
In terms of Section 6A (b) of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, 1993 (Act 130 of 1993 as amended by Act 61 of 1997), I, Vuyo Mafata, in my capacity as the Compensation Commissioner, and acting in terms of Section 4 (1) (l), wish to publish and communicate the following:
a) The CF-1C Application for Employer Deregistration Form;
b) To request Employers to notify the Compensation Fund (CF) where they have ceased to operate a business or no longer have employees to be covered by the CF;
c) The fully completed CF-1C Forms must be forwarded to [email protected] (please contact the CF Call Centre at 0800 321 322/0860 105 350 for further clarity);
d) Should the Employer fail to notify the CF on the status of their business, the CF will assume that an employer is still operating and estimate assessments for all outstanding ROEs. Any Notice of Assessments issued with such estimates will be legally binding by the Employer for payment;
e) Failure to make a payment will result in interest and penalties charged on overdue amounts. [The full notice that includes the CF-1C form can be found in Government Gazette No. 46269]

e@syFile BETA Testing (2nd phase)
The first BETA version for testing of the e@syFile software (BETA version) application before its release to the general market in September 2022, was released by SARS last week. A new version of the BETA software was released on Friday. Please download the new version for testing purposes. 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
Username & Password: The login credentials are the same as that used for the previous BETA version. Duruing the testing, members have identified the following issues:
ISSUE 1: A duplication of certain information was found on the printed version of the tax certificate. SARS Response: There is currently only one format for the certificate being generated that conforms to all submission channels (eFiling/E@syfile/Manual). This will be changed in the future to cater for each channel separately but due to time constraints will remain as is for this Filing Season. ISSUE 2: The income tax reference number of the employee has always been mandatory, but employers were always able to submit without the income tax reference numbers (with a warnings). The field has now changed to be ‘conditional’ and mandatory in specific scenarios, whereas previous years it was just mandatory. The conditional scenarios provides errors if the certificate is an IT3(a). SARS Response: A new BETA build will be released asap to address this issue. Communication will be issued. ISSUE 3: An error occurs in e@syFile if the employee has 4 directive numbers. If the employee has 3 or less directive numbers, or 5 directive numbers then there are no errors. This is only experience in cases where there is 4 directive numbers. SARS Response: SARS will investigate and advise soon. Testing should be concluded on 15 September 2022 after which the testing window will close. Error reporting: Please continue to email the errors to [email protected] as instructed in newsflash 35 of 2022. Regards,
Rhona van Taak
Admin manager: Payroll Authors Group of South Africa
All information provided by the PAGSA is subject to our DISCLAIMER