Lezé Felton
WHATS New in Paymaster
Please read more on the new features and enhancements to the system for the week of 23 September 2022.
Click on the link for more information regarding:
Example
- Navigation enhancement | Previous and Next Employee buttons
- Reports Parameters | Default payroll reports to specific Payslip Actions
- South Africa Frequency Consolidation of Tax Submission File
- South Africa Equity EEA2 Detail Report Updates
RSA - Bi-Annual Submission 2022-2023
From the Team
September 2022
This year, the Employer Interim Reconciliation Declaration (EMP501) submission period opened on 19 September 2022 and closes on 31 October 2022. Employers are required to reconcile their Monthly Employer Declarations (EMP201) for the first six months of a Reconciliation Year (1 March 2022 to 31 August 2022). These reconciliations are based on the Monthly Employer Declarations (EMP201) submitted, with the tax values of the interim IRP5/IT3(a)s certificates generated, accurate payroll information, employees’ tax (PAYE) payments made, thereafter an Employer’s Reconciliation Declaration (EMP501) is submitted.
e@syFile version 7.2.8 has been released for the Bi-Annual Submission period, but SARS confirmed that they are currently experiencing software issues regarding the EMP201 declared liabilities not pre-populating on the EMP501 return. SARS has communicated this issue as critical and will be releasing a fix by early next week.
The following changes have been made to the tax submission file for the 2022-2023 Bi-Annual Submission period as per the South African Revenue Authority (SARS) Business Requirements Specifications (BRS):
- New source code 3234 for Directive Type Indicator has been introduced to cater for fixed PAYE/Amount Directives in the tax file
- Source code 6020 now includes 4582 to 4587 and 7009 in the tax file
- Source code 6030 now includes 4582 to 4587 in the tax file
- Source code 3220 for an annuitant with multiple income sources (Par 2(2B)) as flagged on the Tax profile screen will be set to “Y -Yes” in the tax file
- The validation rule on the number of directives an employee can have in the tax year has been changed to use tax records and will no longer validate per tax year. If multiple tax records for the same employee are generated in the same tax year, the directives will now be limited to 5 per tax record.
For more information, please refer to release note # 42124.
The below enhancements have also been added to the Tax Certificate Run screen:
- Create final tax certificates for terminated employees (see release note # 45364)
- Resubmission with new tax certificate numbers for all employees in the frequency (see release note # 453641)
Paymaster Impact
- Please note that we have identified an issue where employees who received reimbursed kilometres (3702/3703) prior to the August payroll period, these tax codes are not included in the total SARS source codes 3699 (Gross Remuneration) /3696 (Gross Non-Taxable Income).
- If the reimbursed kilometres were captured correctly on the system, Paymaster will recalculate the SARS source codes 3696 and 3699 before the end of September.
Article
Salary headache for businesses in South Africa
With Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) figures at 6.5% and wage negotiations taking place in many sectors, both employers and trade unions are facing negotiation headaches in the coming months warn labour law experts.
“I believe, that this is a temporary spike in inflation but many of the agreements last between one and three years. It’s going to be difficult to find the correct level of increase in the next couple of months,” said Jonathan Goldberg at Global Business Solutions.
“It is also predicted that this might not be the last of the increases in inflation and it could top out at 7%. This is going to put a lot of pressure on employer and union negotiations as well as members. It will be necessary to be very mature regarding the long-term effects of the agreements reached during this year.”
Companies will likely want to play it safe and hold back on substantial increases and bonuses to keep the balance sheet stable during these uncertain times, said Advaita Naidoo, Africa managing director at recruitment firm Jack Hammer Global.
But that does not mean employees have no negotiating power, and that companies can’t introduce alternative ways of investing in their people to ensure continued attraction and retention of talent, she said.
“There is no doubt that there isn’t much extra cash on the table right now, and that companies will need to consider creative ways in which to reward employees, and adjust their compensation policies to ensure they keep their teams in healthy shape while also keeping the bottom line resilient.”
Strike season
Another expected impact of the upcoming negotiations is labour action – including both protected and unprotected strikes.
Many workers, especially in the public sector, have had to deal with these rising costs with only the smallest of below-inflation increases over the last three years. The wider economic issues facing businesses and the government in South Africa has left very little room for negotiation, which has been the case with mineworkers and mining companies.
Citizens felt the brunt of the built-up tension in recent weeks, after Eskom was forced to introduce stage 6 load shedding due to illegal strikes at several of its power stations at the start of the month.
South Africa’s mining sector faced a multi-month dispute at the start of the year, while the South African Revenue Service was forced to grapple with labour disputes in May and June, which ultimately led to a full-blown strike this week.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has also threatened industrial action as it calls for a wage increase of up to 20% in the multibillion-rand automotive industry.
Meanwhile, the private security industry is now also threatening to strike, leaving private and public infrastructure unguarded if its wage demands are not met.
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