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New Employer? Your First 30 Days, Step by Step
⚡ Quick answer A new employer’s first 30 days have a fixed order: register with SARS for PAYE within 21 days of becoming an employer, register for UIF on both the SARS and Labour sides, register with the Compensation Fund within 7 days, sign the contract before day one, and run the first payroll with the EMP201 by the 7th of the following month. Becoming a new employer triggers a set of statutory clocks that do not wait for you to find your feet. Some run for 21 days, one for only 7 — and they start the moment your first employee does. The good news: thirty days is enough…
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National Minimum Wage 2026: What Changes on 1 March
⚡ Quick answer The national minimum wage increased to R30.23 per hour from 1 March 2026 — roughly R5,895 per month for a 45-hour week. It covers nearly every worker, including domestic and farm workers. Update payslips, wage schedules and UIF/COIDA declarations from the first March shift. Every 1 March, the wage floor moves — and from 1 March 2026 the national minimum wage stands at R30.23 per ordinary hour. For employers the change is never just an hourly figure: it flows into payslips, contracts, UIF declarations, COIDA earnings estimates, and the affordability maths for every junior role. Here is what the new rate means in rands, who it reaches,…
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Employer Deadlines: October to December 2026
⚡ Quick answer Q4’s employer deadlines: 1 October closes manual EE reporting, 31 October closes the EMP501 interim season, the monthly EMP201 runs through, and December demands an early payroll plus public-holiday pay planning. The quarter ends with the 7 January EMP201 already looming. The last quarter compresses the year’s hardest scheduling into twelve weeks. The employer deadlines from October to December combine a genuine filing deadline (31 October), the trickiest payroll month of the year, and a January obligation that must be prepared before everyone goes on leave. Employers who plan Q4 in October enjoy December; the rest spend it on hold with SARS. Here is the quarter. Employer…
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Employer Deadlines: July to September 2026
⚡ Quick answer Q3’s employer deadlines: EMP201 by the 7th each month, second provisional tax for February year-ends at the end of August, the EMP501 interim season opening in September, and 1 September as the anchor date of the EE plan cycle. Women’s Day falls on a Sunday this year — Monday 10 August is the holiday. Q3 looks quiet on paper, and that is precisely its danger: the employer deadlines from July to September are fewer but structural — provisional tax, the opening of the EMP501 interim season, and the September anchor of the EE plan cycle. Employers who use these months well arrive at the October–January deadline storm…
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Employer Deadlines: April to June 2026
⚡ Quick answer Q2’s employer deadlines centre on two filings: the EMP501 annual reconciliation (opens April, closes 31 May) and the COIDA Return of Earnings (1 April to 31 May). The monthly EMP201 by the 7th continues throughout, and April’s holiday cluster needs payroll timing planned in advance. If one quarter separates organised employers from penalised ones, it is Q2. The employer deadlines between April and June include the two biggest filings of the payroll year — the EMP501 annual reconciliation and the COIDA Return of Earnings — and both close on the same day, 31 May. Add the monthly cycle and April’s holiday cluster, and this is the quarter…
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Employer Deadlines: January to March 2026
⚡ Quick answer The first quarter’s employer deadlines: EMP201 and UIF declarations by the 7th every month, EE online reporting closes 15 January, provisional tax ends February, the 2025/26 tax year closes 28 February, and the new national minimum wage starts 1 March. Miss none of them — each carries its own penalty. Q1 is the quiet quarter that punishes complacency. The employer deadlines between January and March include the only two dates most small employers have never heard of — the 15 January EE window and the 1 March wage change — alongside the monthly rhythm that never stops. Here is the quarter, month by month, with what each…
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The B-BBEE Affidavit: How Small Businesses Get a Free Level 1, 2 or 4
⚡ Quick answer A B-BBEE affidavit is a sworn statement that gives qualifying small businesses an automatic B-BBEE level without paying for verification. White-owned EMEs under R10 million turnover get Level 4; 51%+ black-owned get Level 2; 100% black-owned get Level 1. It is free, renewable annually, and accepted for most tenders. Somewhere along the line, ‘B-BBEE certificate’ became a thing small businesses believed they had to buy. For most, that is simply wrong. If your annual turnover is R10 million or less, the B-BBEE affidavit route gives you a recognised level — Level 4 at minimum, Level 1 or 2 with black ownership — for the cost of a…
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EE Reporting Deadline: Why 15 January Matters More Than You Think
⚡ Quick answer EE reporting happens once a year for designated employers: manual submissions close on 1 October, and online submissions through the Department’s portal close on 15 January. The EEA2 reports your workforce profile; the EEA4 reports pay differentials. Late or missing reports block compliance certificates and attract fines. Every January, designated employers queue for the same deadline: EE reporting season closes on the 15th for online submissions. It is one of those compliance dates that small and mid-sized employers discover late — usually when a tender asks for a compliance certificate that cannot be issued because a report was missed. Here is exactly who must report, what the…
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The 7-Day Incident Reporting Rule Most Employers Learn Too Late
⚡ Quick answer Section 24 of the OHS Act requires employers to report serious workplace incidents to the Department of Employment & Labour within 7 days: deaths, unconsciousness, lost limbs, injuries likely to be fatal or permanently disabling, and incapacity of 14 days or more. The scene of a fatal or serious incident must be preserved until the inspector allows it to be disturbed. This OHS report is separate from the COIDA injury claim — both are due, on parallel 7-day clocks, to different offices. There is a legal clock that starts the moment something goes seriously wrong at work — and most employers have never heard of it until…
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The COIDA 7-Day Rule: The Shortest Deadline in Employer Law
⚡ Quick answer The COIDA registration deadline is 7 days from your first employee’s start date — the shortest registration deadline in South African employer law. Section 80 of COIDA requires every employer, including households, to register with the Compensation Fund within that window. In practice: start the registration when the offer is accepted, not after the start date. Late registration is fixable (back-assessments plus penalties), but an injury in the gap is the scenario to avoid — the Fund can recover the entire claim cost from an unregistered employer. Every employer registration has a deadline, but only one is measured in single digits: the COIDA registration deadline of 7…
