SARS PAYE Business Requirement Specification – PAYE Employer Reconciliation_V23-0-0

This document specifies the requirements for the generation of an import tax file for the yearly as well as the interim submission. The requirements as defined in this version of the BRS will become effective from 1 March 2024 for Payroll Suppliers until replaced by an updated version. The changes will be implemented on the SARS systems in September 2024

DEFINITION AND ACRONYMS

The following definitions and acronyms have been defined to aid in identifying the meaning of SARS’s terminology.

Alpha
• Alphabet A until Z
• Upper Case and Lower Case
• Dash (-)
• Space ( )
• Apostrophe/single inverted comma (‘)
• Characters such as ê, ë etc.

Alphanumeric
• Alphabet A until Z
• Upper Case and Lower Case Characters
• Dash (-)
• Space ( )
• Apostrophe/single inverted comma (‘)
• Characters such as ê, ë etc.
• Numbers 0 to 9

Asylum Seeker
• An Asylum Seeker is a person who is seeking recognition as a refugee in the Republic and who is in possession of an asylum seeker permit, issued in terms of section 22(1) of the Refugees Act, 1998

Certificate Type
• Type of Certificate for which tax is to be levied. Types of Certificates include:
o IRP5
o IT3(a)
o ITREG (to be used when registering an employee for income tax)
Note: Additional certificate types may be added at a later stage.

Conditional Fields
• Fields that must be completed subject to defined conditions, e.g. mandatory if related fields have been completed

Current Date
• The actual system date as on the day the validation is performed

EMP501
• Employer Reconciliation Declaration Form

EMP601
• Tax Certificate Cancellation Declaration Form

EMP701
• Reconciliation Adjustment Declaration Form
• Use EMP701 with the EMP601 with 8 digit certificate numbers to adjust reconciliation submissions submitted using the pre- modernisation process for 1999 – 2008 transaction years.
• The EMP701 is not applicable for transaction years 2009 onwards.

Employee
• Refer to the definitions in the Fourth and Seventh Schedule to the Income Tax Act

Employee’s tax
• An amount of tax that an employer must deduct or withhold from remuneration paid or payable to an employee. Employee Tax is deducted during the tax period. Refer to the definitions in the Fourth Schedule to the Income Tax Act for full detail.

Employer
• Refer to the definitions in the Fourth and Seventh Schedule to the Income Tax Act

ETI
• Employment Tax Incentive

Foreign Bank Account
• Bank Account with a financial institution not recognised by BANKSERV (refer to www.bankservafrica.com)

Free Text: Free text includes the following:
• Alphabet A until Z
• Upper and Lower Case Characters
• Number 0 to 9
• Dash (-)
• Underscore (_) (Introduced in BRS v 24 during February 2025)
• Space ( )
• Back slash()
• Forward slash (/)
• Question Mark (?)
• At sign (@)
• Ampersand (&)
• Dollar sign ($)
• Exclamation Mark (!)
• Hash (#)
• Plus (+)
• Equals (=)
• Semi colon (;)
• Colon (:)
• Apostrophe/single inverted comma (‘)
• Left and Right Brackets (( ))
• Full Stop (.)
• Characters such as ê, ë etc.
• All special characters are allowed, however for XML development purposes the following standard must be adhered to: ISO-8859-1 encoding or informally referred to as Latin-1. The definition of this standard can be found on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO/IEC_8859-1

ID Number
• 13 digit identity number issued in accordance with the Identification Act (no. 72 of 1986)

IRP5/IT3(a)
• Employee Income Tax Certificate

IT
• Income Tax

Mandatory Fields
• Fields that must be completed as a rule, permitting no option and therefore not to be disregarded

May
• When used within the context of a validation rule, statements in this document containing “may” are used to denote an optional requirement

Must
• When used within the context of a validation rule, statements in this document containing “must” are used to denote a mandatory requirement that must be verified

Numeric
• Numbers from 0 to 9

Optional Fields
• Fields that can be completed based on applicability and availability. These fields are not mandatory

PAYE
• Pay-As-You-Earn

Reconciliation Declaration
• The Reconciliation Declaration is the EMP501 document on which an Employer’s PAYE, SDL and UIF liabilities are declared with associated payments, certificate values and the resulting net effect of setting off payments against liabilities

Reconciliation Submission Process
• This is the process through which an Employer submits all required PAYE, SDL and UIF documentation to SARS for processing i.e. IRP5/IT3(a),EMP501,EMP601 and EMP701 if applicable.
• Use EMP701 with the EMP601 with 8 digit certificate numbers to adjust reconciliation submissions submitted using the pre- modernisation process for 1999 – 2008 transaction years.
• The EMP701 is not applicable for transaction years 2009 onwards.

Refugee
• A Refugee is any person who has been granted asylum in terms of the Refugees Act, 1998 and who is in possession of an identity document issued in terms of section 30 of the Act

SARS
• South African Revenue Service

SDL
• Skills Development Levy as referred to in Section 3 of the Skills Development Levies Act (no 9 of 1999)

SEZ
• Special Economic Zones that are approved by the Minister of Finance for the purpose of section 6(a)(ii) of the Employment Tax Incentive Act, 2013 (Act No. 26 of 2013), which allows eligible Employers to claim ETI for all qualifying Employees, regardless of age

SIC7
• Standard Industrial Classification (SIC Coder v7, as defined on the Statistic SA Website: www.statssa.gov.za)

SITE
• Standard Income Tax on Employees
• SITE is the portion of employees’ tax that is applicable only on the annualised net remuneration up to sixty thousand Rand.
• Not applicable from 2014 year of assessment Transaction

Year
• The tax year during which the employer deducted and paid employees’ tax in respect of remuneration paid or payable to an employee. This could include employees’ tax on remuneration which accrued during a previous tax year.
• The Transaction year may only be a year after the ‘Year of Assessment’ in the case of ‘Variable Remuneration’ as defined in section 7B and other exceptional circumstances.

UIF Contribution
• Unemployment Insurance Fund contribution determined in terms of Section 6 of the Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act (no. 4 of 2002)

Year of Assessment
• The tax year in which the remuneration paid or payable to an employee accrued.

SARS PAYE BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION VERSION 24.0.0

Background:

The SARS PAYE Business Requirements Specification (BRS) is a collaboration between the Payroll Authors Group of South Africa (the PAGSA) and SARS (the owner of the document), to specify the requirements for the creation of tax certificates (IRP5’s and IT3a’s) by payroll suppliers and employers.

The PAYE BRS specifies the details of all employer and employee data fields as well as the validation rules for every data field, in order to align the tax certificate data that is created by payroll systems with the tax certificate data expected by the SARS tax certificate systems (e@syFile, eFiling and the SARS online system used in the SARS branch offices).

SARS BRS Version Principle:

SARS normally issue a major release of the PAYE BRS at the start of each new tax year, indicated by an increase to the first two digits of the 6-digit BRS version number.

If necessary, minor releases are issued during the tax year to introduce new tax certificate codes, or to change the specification of the employer and employee data fields, or the validation rules for the data fields, to bring them up to date with any legal or administrative requirements that change during the tax year.

SARS PAYE BRS VERSION 24.0.0:

Version 24.0.0 of the SARS PAYE BRS was issued on 18 March 2025 and specifies the requirements for the creation of tax certificate files for the interim (mid-year) submission, as well as for the annual (tax year-end) submission for the 2025/2026 year of assessment.

Unless replaced by an updated version (e.g. the recent issue of PAYE BRS version 24.0.2 discussed below), the requirements specified in BRS version 24.0.0 are operational from 1 March 2025 until 28 February 2026 for payroll suppliers and will be implemented in the SARS tax certificate systems for the September 2025 Interim submissions.

The following changes to tax certificate data fields and validation rules have been implemented in Version 24.0.0:

New Source Codes:
Code 3623/3673 – ‘Antedated salary/pension’ extending over previous years of assessment (PAYE)
• Instead of code 3907/3957, code 3623/3673 must now be used to report:
o employees’ tax (taxable) accrued in previous year/s due to a settlement agreement or arbitration award or court-order that relates to previous years
o awards granted via settlements out of court and Labour Court disputes.
• The employer must apply for a tax directive to determine the amount of employees’ tax to be deducted
• If codes 3623/3673 are completed, then the Directive number is mandatory and MUST NOT be zeros.
Note:
The effective year of assessment for changing from code 3907 to code 3623 for antedated salaries and pensions has been updated from 2026 (in BRS version 24.0.0) to 2025 (in BRS version 24.0.2).

This retrospective change could unfortunately make life difficult for payroll suppliers and for employers who have not been given enough notice in advance to make the changes to their payroll systems.

The implications are explained in more detail in a section headed “Effective Year of Assessment Change for Codes 3623 and 3907” at the end of this newsflash.

Note further:
The following three codes (4042, 4588, and 4589) have been added to the PAYE BRS from 1 March 2025 in terms of the amended section 11(nA), section 11(nB), and the new Fourth Schedule paragraph 2(4)(g).

The application of these new refund deduction requirements is not an easy matter and will be discussed in detail in a PAGSA Newsflash that will be issued as soon as we receive final clarity from SARS on some issues.

For the purposes of this Newsflash, the three new codes are simply listed below as issued without explanations.

Code 4042 –Deduction amount in terms of section 11(nA) and Fourth Schedule 2(4)(g):
Reported under code 4042 are amounts deducted from PAYE in the current year of assessment in terms of section 11(nA) and Fourth Schedule paragraph 2(4)(g) in respect of remuneration amounts paid to an employee in the current or a previous year of assessment that were refunded by the employee to the employer in the current year of assessment, i.e. recoupment of overpaid remuneration / clawback of commission received by the employee for his or her own benefit, excluding administration errors.
Note:
• The underlined wording in the above description of code 4042 is incorrect and has been corrected in BRS version 24.0.2. (“Amounts deducted for the purposes of calculating PAYE”)
• The original remuneration amount paid to the employee by the employer in either the current or an earlier tax year, for the benefit of the employee, which has accrued, must be declared under the relevant income code.
• Code 4042 can only be used for s11(nA) deduction and will be used in the ETV calc
• Code 4042 is only valid from the 2026 year of assessment
• If code 4042 is greater than zero, then code 4588 MUST be completed.

Code 4588 – The total amount repaid by the employee in the tax year for a s11(nA) recoupment:
Note:
• This amount will be used by SARS in the ITR12 assessment process
• The inclusion of this code on the IRP5/IT3(a) certificate replaces the ‘Repayment confirmation letter’ that the employer issued to the employee in the past.
• Code 4588 is only valid from the 2026 year of assessment
• If code 4042 is greater than zero, then code 4588 MUST be completed

Code 4589 – The total amount repaid by the employee in the tax year for a s11(nB) recoupment i.e. a restraint of trade:
Note:
• This amount will be used by SARS in the ITR12 assessment process
• Code 4589 is only valid from the 2026 year of assessment

Amended Source Codes:
Code 3020 –Nature of Person:
The scope of Code 3020 = ’N’ has been extended to provide for an individual in receipt of a savings withdrawal benefit, as follows:
• ‘N’ = Retirement Fund Lump Sum Recipient or Pensioner or Savings Withdrawal Benefit Recipient.

Code 3907/3957 – Other Lump Sums [PAYE]:
• Code 3907 was used to report ‘Antedated salary/pension’ amounts for years of assessment up to 2026.
• From the 2026 year of assessment, these amounts must be reflected under source code 3623/3673.
Note that the year of assessment in which the change from code 3907 to code 3263 becomes effective is now 2025 (and not 2026). This is explained in the section at the end of this Newsflash headed “Effective Year of Assessment for Codes 3623 and 3907”.

Amended Source Code Validations:
Code 3230 –Directive Number:
The Directive number is mandatory and MUST NOT be zero if code 3623/3673 is reported on a tax certificate.
Code 3232 -Directive Income Source code:
The list of valid source codes that require a directive has been extended to include code 3623/3673.

SARS PAYE BRS VERSION 24.0.2:
SARS issued PAYE BRS version 24.0.2 in July 2025 to implement the retrospective change to the effective year of assessment for code 3623/3673.

A detailed description, and the rationale behind this change, follows in the section that follows:
EFFECTIVE YEAR OF ASSESSMENT FOR CODES 3623 AND 3907:
Due to a late decision by the policy makers, the year of assessment that the change from applying code 3907/57 to that of applying code 3623/3673 for ‘antedated salaries/pensions’ is effective from, has been changed retrospectively from 2026 (in BRS version 24.0.0) to 2025 (in BRS version 24.0.2).

This retrospective change could unfortunately make life difficult for payroll suppliers and for employers during the changeover period.
Aspects of the administration in payrolls to accommodate the change to the effective year of assessment follow:
1. SARS have clarified that the backdating of the source code on the IRP5 will only be implemented in September 2025 in the SARS systems. Thismeans that if employers submitted antedated salary payments under code 3907 in the 2025/02 reconciliations, they don’t need to resubmit them.
2. Code 3623 requires a directive from SARS, and the application of the change to the year of assessment will be specified on the directive itself. In other words, the code on the directive that is issued for an antedated salary/pension will determine which source code must be used on the IRP5 certificate, regardless of the year of assessment that the employer is submitting.
3. Directives that were issued before April 2025 will reflect source code 3907, and directives issued from April 2025, will reflect source code 3623.

I trust that this clarifies the requirements and will be of assistance to you.

SARS NOTICE: EXTENSION FOR JUNE 2025 EMP201 RETURNS

SARS has issued a notice with regards to an extension on the due date for the June 2025 EMP201 returns.

This extension was provided due to the eFiling issues experienced as a result of high trafficking.

The EMP201 monthly return should be filed before or on 14 July 2025.

Below is the SARS Notice in this regard:

Media release: Extension of due date of filing of EMP201 and payment
8 July 2025 – The South African Revenue Service (SARS) yesterday experienced higher than expected volumes which caused our systems to respond longer than expected. We recognise that some employers experienced delays in submitting their monthly EMP201’s and as a result we will consider not imposing penalties and interest in relation to employers who would otherwise have been compliant.

This process of payment is governed by paragraphs 2(1) and 14(2) of the Fourth Schedule to the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962, which provides for the payment of Pay-As-You-Earn, (PAYE) Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and Skills Development Levy (SDL) and the submission of the EMP201 form within a period of 7 days after the end of the month during which the amounts that were withheld from remuneration paid to employees.

In terms of section 3 of the Income Tax Act, the Commissioner for SARS has the discretionary power to extend the respective due dates. In the exercise of that discretionary authority, SARS Commissioner has extended the due date for filing and payment to Monday, 14 July 2025.

Taxpayers are encouraged to submit their EMP201 returns before 14 July to avoid late penalties.

For information, please contact [email protected].

SARS NOTICE: EFILING ENTITY MERGE

SARS has issued a notice with regards to an automatic process to combined multiple entity registration into unified profiles. This merge will align all tax and custom products under a single legal entity registration.

The process of this automatic merge is described in the SARS notice below:

Dear Trader

NOTICE: MANDATORY ENTITY REGISTRATION MERGE (UPDATE)

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has implemented an automatic process to combine multiple entity registrations into unified profiles. This mandatory auto-merge aligns all tax and customs products—including Income Tax, VAT, PAYE, APT, MPRR, and Excise—under a single legal entity registration, eliminating the need for manual merging by taxpayers.

The auto-merge process was undertaken as follows:

1. Merge Implementation
– SARS will identify duplicate entity registrations (individuals, companies, or trusts).
– The proposed merge will be communicated to the business as well as the registered representative via eFiling or where no eFiling profile exists via email.

2. Objection Period (Now Closed)
– Taxpayers were given five working days from the date of notification to submit an objection if they disputed the proposed merge.
– The objection period has now passed, and unresolved merges will proceed automatically.

3. Post-Merge Confirmation
– Where no valid objection was received, the merge has been completed.
– A confirmation letter detailing the combined entity profile will be issued (where applicable).

Important Information
– “Entity” Definition: a legally distinct taxpayer (individual, company, or trust).
– Registration Impact:
– Multiple existing registrations (e.g., separate VAT or Customs licenses) will be combined under one entity.
– Representative Designation: the most recently appointed registered representative will become the primary contact.

Purpose & Benefits
– Reduces administrative complexity.
– Minimises compliance risks.
– Ensures data accuracy across SARS systems.

Support Resources:
– SARS Contact Centre: 0800 00 7277
– SARS Online Query System (SOQS): https://tools.sars.gov.za/soqs
– Your nearest SARS branch (Please make an online booking on the SARS website before visiting the branch).

Issued by
Registration, Licensing, and Accreditation
South African Revenue Service

SARS NOTICE: INCOME TAX FILING SEASON CHANGES

SARS has issued a notice with regards to changes in respect of the Income Tax filing season.

Important points for employers and payrolls to notice are:
• Filing season dates
• Section 11(nA) and 11(nB) refund deductions
• Section 12H Learnership Agreement end date extended
• Backdated (antedated) salaries
• Enhancement of Banking details

Below is the SARS notice that was published:

Dear Valued Stakeholder

PERSONAL INCOME TAX — 2025 TAX SEASON UPDATES

SARS is realising its vision to become a smart, modern organisation with unquestionable integrity, trusted and admired by all. It is working hard to make it easy for taxpayers to comply with their legal obligations.

The 2025 Filing Season for individuals will open on 7 July 2025 and covers these major dates:
-Auto Assessment notices: 7 July 2025 to 20 July 2025
-Individual taxpayers: 21 July 2025 to 20 October 2025
-Provisional taxpayers: 21 July 2025 to 19 January 2026
-Trusts can start filing on 19 September 2025 and must file on or before 19 January 2026.

Below are updates for the upcoming Personal Income Tax Season:

Certain Provisional Taxpayers Can Participate in Auto Assessment
For the 2025 Tax Season, SARS will identify eligible provisional taxpayers and invite them to express their interest to receive an Auto Assessment. Eligible and interested provisional taxpayers will be included in the Auto Assessment population.

Section 6quat
With effect from 1 March 2025, section 6quat of the Income Tax Act (ITA) has been amended for taxpayers to fully use foreign tax credits for the taxes paid on capital gains in the foreign jurisdiction to the same extent in relation to the taxes paid in South Africa on the same gains.

From the 2025 tax year, SARS will maintain any unused foreign tax credits to be carried forward automatically in the subsequent years of assessment, up to six years.

Section 11(nA) and 11(nB)
With effect from 1 March 2025, employers must report sections 11(nA) and 11(nB) of the ITA details on the IRP5/IT3(a) certificate. These changes will affect the ITR12 tax return so that:
-Section 11(nA) source code 4042 will be reflected on the IRP5/IT3(a) tax certificate, and
-A new source code 4058 relating to section 11(nB) will be reflected in the “Other Deduction” field.

Definition of “Provisional Taxpayer” in Paragraph 1 of the Fourth Schedule
With effect from 1 March 2025, a labour broker who received an approved certificate of exemption will be included in the definition of provisional taxpayer. These labour brokers must comply with provisional taxpayer requirements, such as submitting IRP6 tax returns.

Section 12H Learnership Agreement
The section 12H (of the ITA) Learnership Agreement termination date has been extended from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2027.

Allowable Interest Expenses on Foreign Interest in Terms of Practice Note 31
The “Allowable interest expenses incurred in the production of interest received” line item has been introduced within the “Foreign Interest” container of the ITR tax return to align with Practice Note 31.

Backdated (Antedated) Salaries and Pensions
New source codes 3623 and 3673 have been introduced to the ITR12 tax return for backdated (antedated) salaries and pensions.

Section 10(1)(i) Interest Exemption
For section 10(1)(i) of the ITA exemption to be applied correctly, the executor will be able to declare the “Interest Earned Date From” and “Interest Earned Date To” within the investment-income container on the deceased estate tax return where such date exceeds the year of assessment during which the taxpayer became deceased.

Exempt Local and Foreign Dividends
Two new source codes have been introduced for:
-Local dividends (source code 4306), and
-Foreign dividends (source code 4307)
within the non-taxable container on the ITR12 tax return.

Section 9H Change of Residence
From the 2025 tax year, RSA tax-resident and non-resident taxpayers will be presented with a specific ITR12 and IRP6 tax-return type based on taxpayer registration status available with SARS:

ITR12
-RSA tax resident will be presented with the resident wizard questionnaire.
-Non-resident will be presented with the non-resident wizard questionnaire.
-Taxpayers who ceased RSA tax residency during the year of assessment will be presented with the resident and non-resident questionnaire.

IRP6
-RSA tax resident will be presented with the resident return.
-Non-resident will be presented with the non-resident return.
-Taxpayers who ceased RSA tax residency during the year of assessment will be presented with resident and non-resident return.

Trust Income Changes
From the 2025 tax year, SARS will apply a 50% communal estate where income from a trust is declared, and the taxpayer is married in community of property.

Unused Balances such as Section 11F, Section 18A, Section 20
SARS will print the note below on the ITA34, in instances where unused balances are not automatically carried over to the subsequent year of assessment:

SARS did not consider your carryover/brought forward amount(s) as the current return is under the verification review. SARS will initiate the amendment of the return to take the carryover/brought forward amount into account once the verification case is finalised.

Enhancement Of Banking Details
To enhance user experience with the Registration, Amendments, and Verification Form (RAV01) form and the ITR12 tax return, taxpayers will be presented with a list of their verified banking details available to SARS. Taxpayers must select this information when updating their bank-account details rather than manually capturing them.

Reinstatement of RSA Tax Residency
The Registration, Amendments, and Verification Form (RAV01) form will enable a taxpayer who ceased to be an RSA tax resident in the past to indicate the reinstated date on the “Reinstatement Date of RSA Tax Residency” line item.

Sincerely
THE SOUTH AFRICAN REVENUE SERVICE
June 2025

COMPENSATION FUND: EARNINGS THRESHOLD FOR 2025/2026 YEAR OF ASSESSMENT

The Minister of Employment and Labour has confusingly issued several Government Gazettes with the same date of signature by the Minister (31 March 2025) but that that seem to overlap one another.

Government Gazette number 52607 dated 9 May 2025 (Issued in May 2025):
For the first time, this Gazette prescribed a Minimum Earnings Threshold (R88 688) together with the normal Maximum Earnings Threshold (R633 168) for the 2025/2026 year of assessment (that starts from 1 March 2025).

The concept of a Minimum Earnings Threshold is not referred to in the COID Act, nor in any Regulation.

Since then, the PAGSA has queried this new requirement several times with the Compensation Fund, but at the time of issuing this Newsflash, no direct response had been received, even though our queries were taken forward by the Fund to the relevant people at the Department of Employment and Labour.

Government Gazette number 52453 dated 4 April 2025 (Issued in June 2025):
On 5 June 2025, Government Gazette No. 52453 was posted on the Government portal.
It returns to the format that we have become accustomed to over the years.
Of importance is that it does not include a Minimum Earnings Threshold.
This Gazette was issued early in June (no doubt in response to our earlier queries regarding the Minimum Earnings Threshold), but with a Gazette number of 52453 (an earlier number than the 52607 Gazette issued in May 2025) that is the same Gazette number as was issued in April 2025.

This is confusing, to say the least.

The latest Gazette No. 52453 now prescribes the following information:
a) The amount of R633 168 per employee per annum as the maximum amount of earnings on which an assessment of an employer shall be calculated; this amount being effective from 1st March 2025.
b) A Minimum Assessment of R1 621 for employers with effect 1st March 2025.
c) A Minimum Assessment of R560 for household/domestic employers with effect from 1st march 2025.

To repeat, the Minimum Earnings Threshold seems to have disappeared into the mists of time …

For those of you who still struggle to submit the EMP501 Reconciliation returns for the year ending February 2025 and would like to use the previous version of e@syFile as indicated in the SARS notice issued on 29 May 2025, please find the link to the software below.

SARS message: 29 May 2025 – SARS has observed that some employers have not yet completed their PAYE reconciliation using the updated version of e@syFile . SARS has temporarily re-enabled access to the previous version of the system. Employers that need to download the previous version (7.4.5) can use https://downloads.sarsefiling.co.za/easyfile/Setup_EMP_745_WIN.zip. This measure is intended to support employers who have not yet transitioned to the new version, enabling them to meet the submission deadline of 31 May 2025. Employers are encouraged to finalise their submissions as soon as possible to ensure compliance.

In cases where you cannot submit due to the SOAP error message or pending status, please follow the following steps to enable me to send the submission file to SARS for manual processing.
1. Reconciliation Submission – Accept PAYE Data
2. Complete the EMP501 and select the close and file button – this will update the status to “ready to file”
3. Go to the Utilities menu, Select Disc Submission
4. Under the action button menu select Full Disc Resubmission
5. Depending on the number of certificates, it may take a bit of time, but a file will be created. The disc submission can be emailed to [email protected]

SARS: WHATSAPP BROADCAST CHANNEL

SARS has issued the following notice regarding quick and reliable updates directly on your mobile device.

Stay informed with SARS’s New WhatsApp Broadcast Channel

Dear Colleagues

We are pleased to share an exciting new development in SARS’s digital-communication journey: the launch of the SARS WhatsApp Broadcast Channel.

This new channel is designed to give taxpayers quick, reliable updates directly on their mobile devices, from reminders about filing season and scam alerts, to operational updates and key announcements. It’s a convenient, and private, although one-way, a tool to stay connected to SARS at your fingertips.

WhatsApp has become a go-to space for everyday communication, and this initiative allows us to meet taxpayers where they are, while continuing to share credible, clear, and helpful information. It also complements our social-media presence, giving users the choice of how they’d like to hear from us.

Help us spread the word! Scan the QR code to follow the SARS WhatsApp Broadcast Channel, and feel free to share it with colleagues, taxpayers and traders, and stakeholders. Your support will help more taxpayers benefit from concise,
timely, and trustworthy updates.

COID: ROE FILING SEASON EXTENSION AND MANDATORY DOCUMENTS

The Acting Commissioner of the Compensation Fund has published Gazette no. 52699 dated 19 May 2025 in order to extend the due date for the Employer’s filing season (submission of the Return of Earnings).

According to this notice the filing season has commenced on 1 May 2025 and the closing date is 31 July 2025.

This notice also indicate that the following documents are mandatory to be uploaded when the ROE are submitted:
• Confirmation of Employer Details form (please refer to newsflash 12 of 2025)
• Detailed Payroll Report covering the period 1 March 2024 to 28 February 2025, which must contain (amongst others);
o Employee names
o ID numbers
o Wage/salary types; and
o Total earnings.

Effective 1 August 2025, a 10% penalties of the final assessment amount will incur for late submissions.

The Gazette can be found by accessing the following link:
https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/202505/52699gen3200.pdf

SARS: E@SYFILE UPDATED RELEASE (VERSION 8.0.0_259)

SARS has released an updated version of the e@syFile TC software in order to address certain issues that employers have experienced during the current filing season.

The Following changes were made with this updated version:
• Enhancement made for payroll import files to align with SARS PAYE BRS. Certain certificates (IRP5/IT3(a) are not being successfully imported into the e@syFile TC application, and this has been corrected.
• Enhancement made for manual capture of source code 3926 to align with SARS PAYE BRS.
• Enhancement made to e@syFile Installation Screen Messaging

e@syFile™ Replatform RELEASE NOTES:
e@syFile™ Employer allows employers and/or payroll administrators to:
• Complete, Submit, and Revise your Employer Reconciliation Declaration (EMP501) with ease.
• Offline Functionality when importing tax certificates and capture EMP501 data offline; go online only when ready to submit to SARS.
• Manage Third Party Appointments (AA88s) effectively.
• Register Employees using the Income Tax Registration (ITREG) function to register employees effortlessly.
Top Tip: The Latest Release notes tell you about the changes which have been made in the software.

While functionality has been retained, you have the following to look forward to:
• Improved and up-to-date technology has been used in the development of the application. Taking advantage of new technology and modern hardware, the new e@syFile offers better performance and an improved user experience.
• Easier navigation and data capture experience have been prioritised with a new look-and-feel.
• A full installation with every software update is a thing of the past, the introduction of modular updates reduces download size and update time.
• Quick links to related functionality has been introduced to remove the need to continuously navigate through multiple menu items.
• Enhanced user maintenance functionality to add and remove users and restrict functionality.

Version 1.0.3 of the Thin Client browser is released in update 2.5.9.
This update requires a full uninstall and reinstall from the eFiling website. Enhancement made for payroll import files to align with SARS PAYE BRS.
Certain certificates (IRP5/IT3(a) are not being successfully imported into the e@syFile TC application, and this has been corrected.
Enhancement made for manual capture of source code 3926 to align with SARS PAYE BRS. Enhancement made to e@syFile Installation Screen Messaging