The payroll taxes screen at Accounting > Compliance > Payroll Taxes calculates PAYE, UIF and SDL for your employees and produces the figures for an EMP201 return. It has five tabs: Payroll, PAYE, UIF, SDL and Returns.
Employee Data
The calculations run off employee records holding name, department, basic salary, allowances, travel allowance, medical aid, pension contribution, the number of medical-scheme members and the employee's South African ID number. There is no screen in the accounting portal for creating employees, so if the payroll list is empty the employee records still have to be loaded for your organisation — raise a support request to have that done.
The ID number is stored encrypted and never reaches your browser. The server reads only the date of birth from it, which decides the age-based rebates. No tax number is kept. If an ID number is missing or is not a valid 13-digit ID number, the screen shows no figures and names the employee to correct.
How Each Amount Is Worked Out
- Gross pay = basic salary + allowances + travel allowance.
- Taxable income = gross pay − the pension contribution, capped at 27.5% of gross pay and at the annual retirement cap for the tax year. Medical aid does not reduce taxable income.
- PAYE — taxable income is annualised and the SARS brackets for the selected month's tax year are applied. The primary rebate is subtracted, plus the secondary rebate from the tax year in which the employee turns 65 and the tertiary rebate from the year they turn 75. The annual tax is divided by twelve, and the monthly medical scheme fees tax credit for the covered members is subtracted (for an employee aged 65 or over, the additional medical expenses credit too).
- UIF — 1% of gross pay capped at the monthly ceiling of R17 712, so the maximum employee contribution is R177.12. The employer contributes the same amount again.
- SDL — 1% of gross pay, only when the organisation's expected annual payroll is above R500 000.
- Net pay = gross pay less PAYE, UIF employee, medical aid and pension.
The Tabs
Payroll lists every employee for the selected month with gross pay, PAYE, UIF, deductions and net pay, and totals at the foot. PAYE and UIF break those totals down further, including the UIF ceiling and the per-employee split. SDL shows the levy, and Returns is where the EMP201 lives.
Changing the period at the top recalculates the whole page for that month. Tax tables are held for March 2025 to February 2027; a month outside them shows no figures rather than using the wrong year's table.
Generating an EMP201
Click Generate EMP201 Return to review the PAYE, UIF and SDL summary for the selected month, then Record EMP201 to produce a reference number. A month is recorded once; opening it again shows the same reference. As with VAT, this records the return inside TravelFlow — the submission itself is made on SARS eFiling. The monthly EMP201 is due by the seventh of the following month, or the last business day before it when the seventh falls on a weekend or public holiday.