SimplePay Blog

November 25, 2020November 25, 2020

Password Protected Payslips Are Here!

Gone are the days of employees only being able to receive printed versions of their payslips. Accessing payslips is easier than ever before with our mobile app and self-service portal, and companies have the option of attaching payslips to the emails that are sent to employees when payslips are released to self-service.

We’ve recently seen an increase in requests for password protecting the payslips that are sent via email. Although an employee’s email inbox should be protected with a secure password, we understand that problems can arise where an incorrect email address is entered for an employee, or if an employee leaves their email inbox open and unattended. We took your concerns to heart and are delighted to announce that this feature is now available.

To enable passwords for payslips:

Go to Employees > Self-Service > Settings > General
Ensure that the checkbox for Attach payslips to emails on Self-Service release is selected
Select the Enable password protection for attached payslips (using employee identity numbers or birthdates checkbox
Click Save

All payslips sent via email will now be password protected. The password used will be the employee’s identity (ID) number, or where no ID number is available, their date of birth.

Please note that the password is based on the information available at the time of the email being sent. Therefore, changes to an employee’s ID number or date of birth will only impact payslips sent via email after the change and not historic ones.

We hope that this new feature gives you peace of mind over the security of payslip information.

To learn more about emailing payslips to employees, head to our help page here.

Not a SimplePay client? Surprised to hear that payslips can be accessed via a self-service portal and a mobile app? Sign up for our free 30-day trial here and see just how simple payroll can be!

Team SimplePay

November 24, 2020November 24, 2020

TERS Application Period for September / October Open

We are happy to start the blog today with news that applications for TERS benefits for the period of 16 September to 15 October are now open. We mentioned this previously in our blog post on the President’s national address, but we can now provide you with more details.

The application period opened yesterday, 23 November and runs until 31 December 2020. The eligibility criteria remain the same as for the 16 August to 15 September period, with more information available on this here. As always, you need to make the claim via the TERS portal and upload the relevant documents along with your application.

First Time Applicants

It is still possible for you to apply for TERS for the first time, but it should be noted that you will only be able to apply for the 16 September to 15 October period. If you wish to claim, you’ll need to activate your profile online as soon as possible on the TERS portal, following the instructions to sign the Memorandum of Association and Letter of Undertaking.

If you experience any difficulty you can call the UIF on 0800 030 007. They will provide you with a reference number, which can be used as evidence of your efforts to comply if your submission is late.

Bank Verification

Our last blog post on TERS covered in detail many of the problems that have arisen through the bank verification steps. If you are continuing to experience any issues with bank verification, that post may provide a useful port of call.

As the bank verification process is fully automated, the details you provide have to exactly match those that the bank has. If in any doubt, please contact your bank to make sure that the details you input are correct.

Digital UI-19

The UIF has stated that It is ceasing to process manual UI-19 submissions. In its place, the UIF has introduced an online equivalent called Digital UI19. The aim of this is to streamline their operations and reduce the amount of manual inputting on their side.

SimplePay users, no need to be alarmed! With the exception of foreign employees, who have to be submitted separately for TERS, if you are a part of SimplePay we enable you to generate and send your UIF submissions from the SimplePay site. Easy, we know. This in turn means you don’t have to manually input data and can avoid the dreaded typo!

Because of this, you can read the following explanation on Digital UI19 safe in the knowledge that you don’t have to get to grips with new software.

So… Digital UI19, what is it?

Digital UI19 provides a way for employers to fill in an online spreadsheet with the relevant information, download it and then send it to the UIF, where it will be automatically processed. To us this sounds like a lot of extra typing. You could nonetheless do this and brush up on your touch typing (yawn)…

… or you could start / continue using SimplePay, make payroll a breeze and treat yourself with all that time you’ve saved!

We hope that this information has proved useful to you. If you have any questions on how the information above relates to SimplePay, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]

Equally, if you are not yet a client of SimplePay but would like to be, why not check out our website? Or, better yet, try out our service for free with our 30-day trial, get acquainted with our user-friendly service by reading our getting started page, or take our free online course.

Keep well and stay safe.

Team SimplePay

November 12, 2020

State of the Nation Address: 11 November 2020

On Wednesday evening (11 November 2020), our President once again took to the stage to address the nation on how the country is faring against the global pandemic. Whilst the coronavirus remains a real and present threat, the overall tone of the speech was to get the economy back up to running at full capacity. Therefore, if you have concerns about how a potential second lockdown will affect your business, this hopefully provides some reassurance.

In addition to addressing how the Government intends to proceed, there were some more specific and relevant points to pick out of the speech. Here are some of the points that we thought were worth blogging about.

TERS

We can’t remember the last working days that TERS hasn’t come up in some capacity, but the President announced that the final period that TERS will run is for 15 September to 15 October 2020.

For all the frustration that this scheme has caused you (and us!) it has been a vital lifeline to many over the past eight (8) months. We hope that this news of its conclusion has come to you at a point where your business has sufficiently recovered.

The UIF has not communicated anything further on the opening date for applications or whether there are any changes to the requirements, but we shall do our best to inform you as and when we know.

State of National Disaster

To be able to react to hotspots of the coronavirus, the state of national disaster has been extended once again until 15 December 2020.

As stated in our previous blog post, there is a possibility for TERS to run as long as South Africa remains under a state of national disaster, but the President’s speech suggests that instead the relevant Minister will announce the conclusion of TERS to be 15 October 2020.

COVID-19 Social Grant

The Government’s social relief of distress grant helps individuals who are unemployed and do not receive any other type of income or grant, such as TERS or UIF benefits. This was due to conclude in October, but has now been extended until January 2021. More information on the grant can be found here.

Respect for Those Lost to Coronavirus

As a gesture of respect and solidarity to the individuals, families and friends who have lost someone to coronavirus, the Cabinet has suggested that the nation embark on 5 days of mourning for the victims of COVID-19. Between 25 and 29 November, you are encouraged to wear a black armband or similar token to signify respect for those who have departed.

We hope that this information has been useful to you. If you have any questions on how the information above relates to SimplePay, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

Keep well and stay safe.

Team SimplePay

November 10, 2020November 24, 2020

COVID-19 TERS Update

Hello and welcome to another TERS update blog 🙂 The UIF released another TERS update on 6 November, which addressed some of the outstanding issues still being experienced by TERS applicants. You can read our summary of their previous update letter from 19 October in this blog post.

Please note that if you aren’t currently experiencing issues with TERS, you don’t need to change anything on your current TERS profile or applications. However, we still encourage you to read this post in case it covers actions you need to take in the future.

Bank Verification Issues

If your TERS profile is showing that your bank verification has been unsuccessful, the UIF has released advice for certain situations.

If your company bank account was:

Opened in the name of an individual – rather than using the “Trade Name” bank verification, you should use the individual’s RSA ID number to verify the account.
Opened by a partnership / dual account holders – Use the “Trade Name” verification and insert the exact name of the bank account profile.

N.B. The above advice should be read alongside that provided in our previous blog post, linked here for ease of reference.

You should only make changes to your verification details if your bank account verification status registers as failed. Trade Name verification can take a number of days to be verified by your bank, so if you made the change recently, this might still be being processed.

Refunds

If you have refunded a sum to the UIF for any TERS overpayments and want a receipt for this refund, you can get this by completing the following steps:

Log in to the TERS portal.
On the red banner, click “Employer Details”, then Refunds to UIF.
Enter your UIF reference number and Click Proceed.
A table will appear with the refunds you’ve made, their amounts and the date of each refund.

Letter of Authority

If you have assigned the TERS application process to a member of staff or outsourced it, the individual needs a letter of authority in order to act on behalf of your company. Having logged on to the TERS portal, there will be a box titled “Applicant Information”. If under “Applicant Type” you select ORGANISATION STAFF or EMPLOYER REPRESENTATIVE, it is necessary to upload a letter of Authority.

The letter of authority needs to be on your company letterhead and must provide the details of your employee or employer representative. It must also state that they have had consent from the company to act for the full or the full relevant period – please confirm the dates with the UIF if you’re unsure.

UI-19s For Undeclared Employees

SimplePay cuts through admin by generating the necessary employee UI-19 forms for TERS and UIF claims for you (see our help site).

If for any reason some of your employees have not been declared to the UIF, they can’t receive TERS benefits. From 11 November 2020, you will be able to declare these employees to the UIF by downloading and completing a Microsoft Excel template from the TERS portal.

The Excel containing the information of any undeclared employees should then be sent to [email protected].

Switching from TERS to UIF Benefits

If your employees are no longer able to receive TERS benefits, you may wish to switch them onto claiming UIF benefits. If you do this, you must ensure that the date of termination on their UI 19 does not overlap with the last period that they had the TERS benefit claimed.

For example, if the last period for which your employees were eligible for TERS was the June period (1 to 30 June 2020), the termination date on your UI 19 needs to be 1 July 2020. If instead you selected 30 June 2020, The UIF’s system would flag this, as on 30 June your employee would receive both UIF and TERS benefits. If you submit a UI 19 form with overlapping dates there are safeguards in place to stop dual payment, but doing this will likely delay your employees’ applications.

We hope that this information has proved useful to you. If you have any questions on how the information above relates to SimplePay, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

Keep well and stay safe.

Team SimplePay

November 4, 2020

ETI Refresher and Employer Reconciliation Recap

The calendar’s page has been turned over to November, which means that for the vast majority of you, the interim filing season is done and dusted! Our blog post today contains a refresher on ETI balances and the effect of tax periods on them, in addition to a polite reminder for any clients still to complete their filing.

Carrying Forward Unutilised ETI

You may remember that as part of the Government’s response to COVID-19, ETI was adapted to increase both the number of eligible employees and the amount claimable per employee. Due to the scheme’s increased uptake, we thought it would be helpful to give you a brief refresher of some important points.

Under the rules that govern ETI, if your total ETI for a certain month is greater than your overall PAYE liability, you can have the balance rolled over to the following month(s). This roll-over is only allowed within any one six (6) month tax period – March to August and September to February, after which any unutilised ETI which you haven’t claimed as a payout from SARS is forfeited. As the extended COVID-19 ETI ran for the months of April to July 2020, these all fell within the last bi-annual filing period of March to August. Therefore, from August the usual roll over rules applied, meaning that any unutilised ETI is not rolled over, but should rather be claimed as a refund from SARS.

SARS has stated that despite the challenging circumstances brought about by the pandemic, these rules stand and that any ETI balance that you may have held will not be extended beyond the 31 August cut-off point. Despite this support measure no longer being available, we hope that the lesser restrictions means your business continues to regain a sure footing.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to remind you of the importance of correct and timely ETI submissions and claims, as the penalties for non-compliance can be severe. For more details, check out our ETI help pages.

Filing Reminder

Having gotten through another interim filing period, we hope that our continued endeavours to make payroll a breeze has made this filing season the smoothest yet for you! If you have not yet filed your EMP501 and IRP5 / IT3(a)s, the deadline was the end of October. We urge you to complete your filing as soon as possible, as the sooner you do this, the lesser the prospective penalty for late submission. If your EMP501 remains outstanding for several months, you could face a maximum penalty of 10% of the total amount of your employee’s tax deducted for the 2021 tax year.

If we can assist at all, please reach out to our support team who will assist you as best they can in resolving any issues you are facing with submission.

We hope that this information has proved useful to you. If you have any questions on how the information above relates to SimplePay, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

Keep well and stay safe.

Team SimplePay

October 19, 2020October 20, 2020

TERS: Updates and Clarifications

The blog post today is aimed at trying to provide some much needed clarity on the TERS process. These changes, as outlined in a recent UIF update letter, were first introduced in our blog post from 5 October. The content of this blog post is taken from and summarises the UIF’s official update letter dated 14 October, sent to all employers.

Our post today covers:

how to determine salary and remuneration paid on applications;
the finer details of the bank verification step;
an update on foreign national applications; and
a reminder of how to end service on SimplePay.

1.a – How to Determine the Correct Monthly Salary to Declare

The monthly salary column of your TERS CSV, should reflect the aggregate of the wage and fringe benefits you pay to each of your employees. As SimplePay pre-populates this column, provided your employee’s salary information is correct, there’s nothing further to worry about. It is worth noting that if this value is not accurate, the UIF has introduced a new verification step.

The UIF is cross referencing the “taxable earnings” value for your employees’ March 2020 uFiling submission, in order to ensure that salaries are not inflated. If the values differ, the lower value will be used for the calculation of TERS benefits.

This is not a retrospective change, meaning it will only be applied to applications that have been processed from 3 September onwards. The change will though apply to all applications past this date, regardless of the lockdown period to which they relate. Unfortunately, even if you had legitimate reasons for increasing an employee’s salary, there is no way to apply to receive the higher sum that this would yield.

1.b – What is the Correct Value for Remuneration?

To answer this question, it helps to take one step back. An employee is entitled to TERS benefits where he or she earns a reduced salary due to:

business closure;
comorbidities (an illness which puts the employee at an increased risk);
reduced working hours; or
having to take a temporary reduction of salary due to operational requirements.

Any of your employees satisfying the above can receive TERS benefits. Importantly though, where your employees receive remuneration in addition to TERS benefits for any given period, this needs to be recorded. This is because the aggregate of the TERS payment, plus the reduced remuneration paid by you cannot be greater than the amount the employee would ordinarily earn. Because of this, it’s important you know what falls under remuneration.

The UIF has clarified that all amounts / payslip components that would normally count as remuneration are included, except for loans, advances and payments related to leave taken.

2. Bank Verification

As part of the improvements to the TERS process, bank verification steps have been introduced. To help avoid delays it is important that you provide correct banking information.

Some of the most common reasons for the failure of bank verification include:

The incorrect Personal ID number is used. This should be that of the bank account holder. If it is a joint account, you should ensure that it is the primary holder’s ID used.
If the bank account is held in a trade name, it is important that it matches the bank account’s name.
- If the bank account includes special characters, these should be used
- Do not include any “t/a” sections of the bank account information
- If the account’s name is in Afrikaans, this is how it should appear

Single Bank Account for Several UIF Entities

If you have several companies that pay into one bank account and you wish to claim TERS benefits to all the employees of the different companies, you will need to use the “Trade Name Verification” option to verify these UIF entities.

On the TERS portal, you will need to change all of your companies’ names to match the company name stated on the bank account. This will mean that you will have more than one UIF entity with the same name on the TERS portal, but also allows you to apply for benefits for all employees.

If you are at all unsure about this we would encourage you to get in touch with the UIF on 0800 030 007.

3. Foreign Nationals Update

The UIF has said that it’s currently working with the Department of Home Affairs to verify the foreign nationals. No payments will be made until the UIF has verified individuals’ identities, but it hopes it will manage this within the next fortnight.

Foreign nationals must be declared via uFiling, regardless of whether you submitted their declarations to the UIF using SimplePay.

How To Change Existing Applications

If you now realise that there’s an issue with one or more of your applications, this can be done using the UIF’s discrepancy function. Corrections can only be made once per employee, per application period so it’s crucial that you make the amendments carefully and accurately.

The discrepancy functionality is open for claims made up to and including the July / August application period, and will open in due course for the later lockdown periods.

How To End Service on SimplePay

It is important to correctly reflect your employees’ current working status on SimplePay for several reasons. Having this information allows:

SimplePay to provide you with accurate auto filled TERS CSVs;
you to make correct submissions to SARS;
Your employees to claim UIF where necessary; and
Reduces your monthly charge to the number of active employees

To allow for SimplePay to provide you with accurate auto filled TERS CSVs, make correct submissions to SARS and reduce your monthly premium to an appropriate amount, it is important to correctly reflect your employees’ current status on SimplePay.

For a reminder of how to end an employee’s service on SimplePay, you can read this previous blog post.

We hope that this information has proved useful to you. If you have any questions on how the information above relates to SimplePay, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]

Equally, if you are not yet a client of SimplePay but would like to be, why not try out our service free? You can sign up for your free 30-day trial here, get to grips with our user-friendly service by reading our getting started page, or try our free online course. Concerned about cost? Don’t be; we’ve simplified that too – check out our pricing page. Alternatively, you can request a formal quote if you need one here.

Keep well and stay safe.

Team SimplePay

October 8, 2020

Repayment of the 35% PAYE Deferral

If you participated in the 35% PAYE deferral during the COVID-19 lockdown period, you may be aware that the first instalment is due this month. SARS has recently issued the following additional important information:

The first instalment must be paid separately from your usual monthly EMP201 payment.
The first instalment must make use of a separate reference number, referred to as the Payment Reference Number (PRN). This differs from your usual SARS reference number used for EMP201 payments.

Locating Your Reference Number and Amount Owed

It is important to note that Payment Reference Number (PRN) will be different from your EMP201 reference number for October. It’s crucial that you use the correct reference number, so that your payment matches with SARS’ records.

To find your PRN, first locate your Statement of Account on eFiling and in the row relating to October you should be able to see the label “COVID-19 INSTALMENT” (marked below with a red “A”).

The column to the right should contain the amount owed for October’s instalment, the column to the left contains the PRN / Transaction Reference.

Payment

Provided that you use the PRN, payments can be made to SARS via the normal means.

To pay the instalment on eFiling, you need to use the PRN when making the payment for the amount. If you are at all unsure about how to do this, we would encourage you to get in contact with SARS to confirm on 0800 00 7277.

Alternatively, you can make the payment by EFT using the “SARS-PAYE” public beneficiary option on your online banking platform. If unsure on what this is your bank should be able to assist you. Again, you will need to use the PRN on the statement of account as the reference for the transaction.

Going forward

SARS’ statement suggested that changes may be made before the next instalment falls due on 6 November. Hopefully this will combine the sums owed from your EMP201 submission and instalment, streamlining this process.

You can read the SARS notice released on 6 October here.

We hope that this information has proved useful to you. If you have any questions on how the information above relates to SimplePay, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

Keep well and stay safe.

Team SimplePay

October 5, 2020October 5, 2020

TERS Update and September Recap

Another month has passed by meaning that it is time to reflect on September’s events, as well as see what October has to offer. September has been an eventful month, with the country entering level 1 of lockdown and so triggering a number of changes. This is a good thing, providing more freedom for businesses to reopen and recover.

In our blog today we will be giving you updates on some of the changes brought about by level 1 of lockdown, as well as updates on the TERS process after its recent rehaul.

TERS Update

Update 5 October: Due to a water leak, the office running TERS operations is experiencing some downtime. They expect the issue to be resolved by the end of today.

Since our last blog covering the TERS process on 15 September, the UIF has significantly updated its safeguards. The process had to be halted in order for the UIF, now headed by acting commissioner Marsha Bronkhurst, to address the findings of the auditor general.

On 21 September, after a two week pause, the UIF restarted its newer and better constituted TERS process. A key change is better bank verification, where you can opt to use your company’s CIPC / CK number, RSA ID number or the trade name which is linked to the account.

You should be careful to ensure that the information you enter exactly matches the bank’s records. The UIF has advised that the verification steps won’t take place till you’re next due to receive payment, meaning that unless instructed otherwise by a notification on your TERS profile, any amendments you’ve made are either still to be checked or are correct.

Applications for 16 August to 15 September

Applications for TERS benefits between 16 August and 15 September opened last Thursday (1 October 2020). Before applying you must ensure that your employees were still eligible for TERS benefits during this period, i.e. 16 August to 15 September.

For more information on the application period and eligibility requirements, you can read this Department of Employment and Labour media statement.

Duration of the TERS scheme

The COVID-19 TERS Direction from 7 September 2020 gave us some clarity on how long this support will last. In summary, based off this Direction, TERS will come to a conclusion either:

When South Africa is no longer under a national state of disaster (currently due to end on 15 October); or
When the Minister announces its conclusion on an earlier date.

Level 1 – Effect on Businesses

The key effect of level 1 is that it allows almost all normal commercial activity to resume. Below we have summarised some of the key changes that affect economic activity.

Gatherings

Provided that the safety measures are followed, gatherings are now permitted up to 50% of a venue’s capacity. This is up to a maximum of 250 people for an indoor venue, or 500 people for an outdoor venue.

An owner or operator of a venue where gatherings are held must display a certificate of occupancy, listing the maximum number of people permitted. The certificates are provided by your local municipality, meaning that you should be able to find out how to get one from their website.

Travel

Level 1 brings extremely positive news if you operate in the hospitality and travel industries. From 1 October, international travel is permitted, both into and from South Africa for business and leisure. We hope that this will provide a boost in business after what must have been an extremely trying time.

For travel by air, this is subject to the travellers country of origin not being on the red list, in addition to other safety measures such as the traveller providing a negative test upon arrival which is less than 72 hours old.

All 18 land borders are now open, subject to safety requirements and border post limitations. All docks are now also open, but passenger liners for luxury travel are still prohibited to disembark.

We hope that the timing of this change has been a good one and that October will mark a revival in your business.

You can find more information about travel restrictions on this Government page, under Alert level 1.

Economic Activity

Providing that all the relevant health protocols, social distancing measures, occupational health and safety direction and sector-specific health protocols are met, businesses can carry out economic activity. We hope that this is a positive and meaningful change for your business, that will help speed your recovery over the coming months.

Unfortunately the return to business is not universal. The following list of activities are still not permitted at the date of writing:

Night vigils
Night clubs.
The 35 land borders that remain closed.
Initiation practices.
Passenger ships for international leisure purposes.
Attendance of any sporting event by spectators.
International sports events.
Exclusions relating to public transport services as set out in the directions issued by the Cabinet member responsible for transport.
Exclusions relating to education services as set out in the directions

We hope that this information has proved useful to you. If you have any questions on how the information above relates to SimplePay, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]

Equally, If you are not yet a client of SimplePay but would like to be, why not try out our service on the house? You can sign up for your free 30-day trial here. Get to grips with our user-friendly service by reading our getting started page, or trying our free online course. Concerned about cost? Don’t be; we’ve simplified that too – check out our pricing page. Alternatively, you can request a formal quote if you need one here.

Keep well and stay safe.

Team SimplePay