PAYE (EMP201 Submission

Service Details

What is payroll?

Payroll calculates, from the employee basic salary, how much to pay the employee and how much needs to be paid to SARS. It also includes several other aspects that result from an employment relationship, such as:

  - overtime or commission amounts

  - leave accruals and days taken (annual, sick and compassionate leave)

  - loans or advance payments

  - retirement annuity or medical aid tax credits and deductions

For employees earning the same amount each month, it can be fairly straightforward but for several employees, with weekly pay, overtime, etc it can become more complicated with several adjustments required to be entered into the payroll software.

What is the SARS EMP201 submission?

Every month employers are required to submit a summary of the tax amounts owed to SARS due to employment contracts and pay this amount over.

There are three main taxes owed, PAYE, UIF and SDL* and there are certain tax incentives, such as the Employment Tax Incentive ( ETI), that reduce the amount owed.

These tax amounts are calculated in the payroll process and then submitted on the EMP201 form. The form must be submitted and the related payment made by the 7th of the month after the payroll period, or the previous business day if that falls on a weekend or public holiday.

*SDL is only required when the expected payroll amounts will exceed R500,000 in the coming 12 months.