Why do I have to register as an Employer at the SARS office?
Unless you, as a business owner, earn under the tax bracket stipulated, you must pay tax according to SARS. Anyone who earns below this bracket will be deemed tax exempt.
Therefore, in order for SARS to establish the bracket in which your company would fall into, you, as the employer, would need to register for PAYE (Pay As You Earn) and pay these taxes directly to SARS on a monthly basis on behalf of your employees.
SARS will confirm the taxable deduction from your employees’ earnings, which you are then able to subtract from their payments due to SARS. They can claim them back form SARS during the tax season.
The Law requires all South African business owners to register for TAX and PAYE. As long as you keep to date with SARS, your chances of winning a Tender or Contract will greatly increase!
What is SDL and UIF and why do I have to register for it?
You may also be requested to register for UIF (Unemployment Insurance Fund) or even SDL (Skills Development Levy) during your PAYE registration.
Although this is not a requirement for all, the SDL is based on whether your company expect salaries to exceed R500 000 over a 12-month period. The SDL contribution allows your employees to engage on further training. You will, however, have to be registered for UIF prior to obtaining an SDL number.
A UIF contribution would be 1% of the employee’s salary paid to the Unemployment Insurance Fund, and the employer will match that amount by another 1%. This amount is then available should the employee loose their job and allow limited financial assistance whilst the employee finds a new job.
How do I register as an Employer at the SARS office?
You will need to register a profile on the SARS E-filing portal.
The Department of Labour is where you would need to register for UIF after you have registered for PAYE on the SARS Portal.