Despite a shortened week caused by not one, but two public holidays, it has been yet another busy period. In this blog we shall recap and link you to the important news and updates from the past days.

Recent Blogs and their Content

To help address confusion surrounding everything to do with lockdown, we have been creating several blogs to both inform you on updates to support measures and let you know how SimplePay is making your life easier to access these.

It is worth noting that the more recent the blog, the more up to date the information is, so it is advisable to work back from the most recent when looking for information. Equally though, the previous blogs are extremely useful for providing context and building a broad base of knowledge.

Below you will find a list of the most recent blogs and their content, just in case you missed them!

29 April Update Blog Contents:

• Clarification on how the TERS Payout functions and the impact of employer additional payments;
• Expansion of applicability for the 35% PAYE deferment scheme;
• Delay to Tourism Relief Fund Payout; and
• Information on updates to annuity funds.

28 April Update Blog Contents:

• Summary of the Minister for Finance’s speech on 23 April, notably listing prospective financial support measures

24 April Update Blog Contents:

• Information on how TERS benefit is to be distributed to employees;
• Increase in the amount of employers able to apply to TERS; and
• TERS application tracker.

23 April Update Blog Contents:

• Nature of TERS payouts;
• Clarification on the dates for TERS CSV export; and
• A summary of poignant parts of President Ramaphosa’s speech from 21 April.

Blogs which predate the ones listed are linked in our previous two lockdown recap blogs (below).

Lockdown Recap #2 Content:

• PAYE tax deferment, TERS, ETI, Tourism and Industrial support, Interest Rate reduction, filing.
• Details of changes that occurred between 6 and 14 April (+retrospective additions);

Recap Blog #1 Contents:

• List of Governmental body contact numbers, FAQ’s on a variety of topics and an explanation of the options open to employers and their employees.
• Details of changes that occurred between 27 March and 14 April.

Dedicated TERS Blogs

Update 7 May: The Department for Employment and Labour has not yet started accepting TERS applications for the month of May. They have requested that applicants continue to revisit the website until applications for May become live.

8 May Update blog: clarification on the manner in which you calculate TERS benefit payouts, as well as the effect of employer contributions on the TERS benefit amount.

New System Item: TERS Benefit Payout Contents:

• Details of how you can record employee’s TERS payout on the payslip using SimplePay.

Update to TERS Application Channel Content:

• New mandatory online application method (CSV Export is still utilised).

COVID-19 TERS CSV Export Content:

• Details surrounding the TERS CSV export required when applying, which can be exported from Simplepay.

A full list of COVID-19 related posts, including information on UIF claims can alternatively be found on our website.

Additional Updates

30 April: Lockdown Level 4

Following President Ramaphosa’s speech on 21 April, tomorrow South Africa will enter into lockdown level 4. This reduces the strictness of the measures that have been in place over the last 6 weeks, and provides opportunities for some businesses to reopen their doors.

The Government website provides information on what the changes that will come into place tomorrow are. A page on these measures can be found here.

Status of Changes from the Finance Minister’s Speech – 28 April

There was mention of an increase in the COVID-19 Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) amount from R500 to R750; When does this come into effect?

The increase in the amount of ETI will be given legal effect when the changes to the Disaster Management Tax Relief Bill and the Disaster Management Tax Relief Administration Bill are passed into law. These were meant to have been released today, 30 April, but unfortunately appear to have been delayed.

If you have any questions on ETI in the meantime, a useful source is the SARS Question and Answer page, found here.

We are making good progress on finishing the necessary adjustments to our system for you with respect to ETI, in time for the 7 May deadline. If it does turn out that this increase of R750 per employee is retrospective to 1 April, and you have already completed your EMP201 submissions we shall endeavor to ensure that the ETI carries over to the next month. If this is not possible for whatever reason, we shall get in contact with you to request that you resubmit your EMP201s.

How will the Skills Development Levy Holiday Function?

As above with ETI, we are still waiting for the release of the Bills to know how this is going to function.

This is a less pressing matter though as the initial drafts from SARS do not have the commencement of the payment holiday until 1 May, or in other words until your next pay run. We shall therefore get back to you as soon as we know more about this.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I track the progress of my TERS application?

In our blog on 24 April, we mentioned the new TERS application tracker. This is likely the fastest way to follow the progress of any applications which you have.

Alternatively, you can call the TERS hotline on 012 337 1997.

Something has gone wrong during my online application to TERS – HELP!

Sadly we cannot express any special knowledge as to what may have happened during an online application to TERS. Therefore we would recommend that you persevere with trying to contact the TERS hotline on 012 337 1997. We understand that this is an incredibly stressful and frustrating situation and will continue in our endeavors to obtain and provide any additional information we can.

I have submitted a UIF application through SimplePay, but have not received a response yet; what should I do?

Having submitted an application for UIF using SimplePay, first you will receive a status reading “awaiting response”, which will then change to “confirmed”.

At this moment in time it is taking a minimum of seven (7) days for a response to come back from UIF. Therefore, we would request that you wait a minimum of seven (7) days before contacting us with a query on this. If, after this period, your submission has still seen no progress please feel free to get in touch with our customer service team on support@simplepay.co.za.

We hope that this information proves useful to you. If you have any queries on how the above relates to payroll and the SimplePay system, please feel free to get in touch with our customer support team at support@simplepay.co.za.

Keep well. Stay home. Stay safe.

Team SimplePay