EMP201 deadlines and late-payment penalties
When a South African employer must file the EMP201 and pay PAYE, UIF and SDL each month, and what SARS adds when the payment is late.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Running a business businesses in South Africa
Payday has come and gone, the staff have their money and the month has closed. For a South African employer that is exactly when the second payroll deadline starts running: the PAYE, UIF and Skills Development Levy taken from those salaries belong to SARS, and they must be declared and paid within days.
Miss the date and the bill grows. SARS adds a penalty and interest, and a late payment does not even go to the tax first. This article sets out the monthly timetable, the order in which the steps must happen, the channels SARS will and will not accept, and what Achekam prepares for you along the way.
The seventh of the month, and the weekend rule
SARS says employers must submit the EMP201 and pay PAYE, SDL and UIF within 7 days after the end of each month. If the 7th falls on a weekend or a public holiday, the deadline does not slide forward to the next working day. It moves back, to the last business day before the 7th.
SARS's page on the Unemployment Insurance Fund states the same rule for UIF contributions on their own: they are paid within seven days after the month in which they were deducted, using the EMP201, and on the last business day before that date when it lands on a weekend or public holiday. The employer guide describes the obligation for all three amounts in the same terms, counting from the end of the month in which the tax was deducted or the levy became due.
So the date to diarise is not "the 7th". It is "the 7th, or the business day before it when the 7th is not a business day". In a month where the 7th is a Sunday, your real deadline is the Friday.
Declare first, then pay with that declaration's PRN
The order of the two steps is fixed. SARS says a payment cannot be made without first submitting the EMP201, and the 19-digit payment reference number (PRN) generated with that EMP201 must be used for the payment. The PRN is what tells SARS which employer account and which month the money belongs to. A payment with last month's PRN, or none at all, is a payment SARS may not be able to match to this month's declaration.
A monthly routine that respects that order:
- Approve every pay run for the month.
- Prepare the EMP201 from those approved runs and compare its totals with the payroll.
- Submit the declaration and write down the PRN it produces.
- Pay using that PRN, early enough for the money to reach SARS before the deadline.
- Record the submission reference and the payment in your books.
The mechanics of step four, including the beneficiary to choose at your bank, are covered in paying SARS by EFT with the right reference.
Fax, e-mail and paper are not filing
SARS says faxed, emailed or printed EMP201 declarations are not accepted. An employer must submit through e@syFile Employer, through eFiling, or at a SARS branch with the help of an agent. SARS's page on completing the monthly employer declaration (EMP201) sets out the due date, the PRN rule and the channels it accepts, and it is worth reading once with whoever does your payroll.
If anyone in the business has been e-mailing a scanned declaration to a SARS address, or handing in a printout, treat those months as not filed and speak to your accountant about putting them right.
The 10% penalty, interest, and the order SARS applies your money
SARS's employer guide says a penalty of 10%, in addition to interest at the prescribed rate, is imposed on late or outstanding payments of employees' tax, SDL or UIF contributions. That is the position at the time of writing; the guide is updated each tax year, so check the current edition.
The same source records that payments are allocated first to the penalty, then to the interest, and only then to the tax. That is what catches employers out. Once a penalty and interest have been raised, a payment equal to the tax you declared will not clear the account: part of it goes to the penalty and interest first, and some of the tax stays unpaid. If a month has slipped, find out from eFiling exactly what SARS has raised and pay that amount in full rather than just the declared tax.
There is a second exposure that has nothing to do with dates. The employer guide says an employer who fails to deduct the full amount of employees' tax or UIF is personally liable for the shortfall. Paying on time does not help if the deduction itself was too small, which is why the tax table behind the payroll matters as much as the calendar.
Preparing the EMP201 in Achekam
Achekam prepares the monthly EMP201, including the Employment Tax Incentive, from approved pay runs, and you download it as a PDF. Runs that are still waiting for approval do not feed it, so an EMP201 that looks light usually means a run is still sitting with its approver.
Achekam submits nothing to SARS. A person files the declaration through one of the accepted channels, makes the payment with the PRN, and records in Achekam the reference SARS gave. The same split applies at year end: Achekam prepares the IRP5 and IT3(a) certificates and produces the e@syFile import file for the EMP501, and a person does the filing.
On the accounting side, an approved pay run is posted to the business's own ledger as a wages journal, with what is owed to SARS and to any funds recorded as liabilities. That gives you a simple monthly test. When the payment to SARS has been recorded against those liability accounts, the balance for the month should be gone. A balance that is still there after the deadline is either an unrecorded payment or a missed one, and either deserves a phone call the same day.
For how the incentive line on the declaration is worked out, read the monthly EMP201 and the Employment Tax Incentive. Bureaus running payroll for several clients will find the whole month laid out in the bureau's monthly payroll cycle.
A calendar that works backwards
Start from the real deadline, the 7th or the business day before it, and count back: payment sent with time to arrive, declaration submitted and PRN noted, runs approved and checked. Put each step against a named person. If a month has already been paid late, settle the penalty and interest SARS has raised as their own amount, so that the account is square before the next declaration goes in.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
