Friday has come around again meaning, it is time for our blog rounding up the week’s events.

The contents of the blog today includes a summary of this month’s blogs to date, as well as some reiterations of key points that were made within these blogs throughout the week.

May’s Blog Posts to Date

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

8 May Update blog contents:

• Clarification on COVID-19 TERS payout amounts, as well as the effect of additional payments made by the employer on the benefit amount.
• UIF electronic submissions: new progress notification functionality to update you on your submissions.
• SARS Updates: Note on the annual employer reconciliation period, as well as means to get updates directly from SARS.
• ETI: Explanation as to how our system will be altered when the latest draft Disaster Management Tax Relief and Tax Administration Bills pass into law.

COVID-19 ETI relief blog contents:

• Update on the amount of ETI an employer will receive for each ETI qualifying employee, during the period of 1 April to 31 July 2020.

Draft Disaster Management Bills summary blog contents:

• Summary of the proposed amendment’s effects on ETI entitlements, SDL payment holiday and employer PAYE deferment.
• Outline of the workplace requirements for employers reopening under lockdown level 4.

Summaries of the contents for the end of April’s blogs, as well as a COVID-19 TERS specific section can be found in our Lockdown Recap #3 blog. 

Alternatively, if you would like to see the full list of our blogs, including information about UIF claims, these can be found on our website.

Take Homes from the Week

Additions to the SimplePay Help Site

In order to help ease some of the confusion and concern around the lockdown, we have been very active in producing blog content dealing with the various measures to support businesses and employees. We have also created a dedicated COVID-19 Help section, which will be updated as quickly as possible as new information and requirements are made available.

If you have a query relating to COVID-19, we’d like to request that you consult one or more of the following posts and / or help articles (accessible from the two links above) as they contain the most up to date info we have and will hopefully resolve your query.

Annual Employer Reconciliation Period

SARS has not announced any extensions to the employer filing deadline of 31 May. We have made all the necessary arrangements on our end, so you can proceed with annual filing whenever you’re ready!

When can the Disaster Management Bills be relied upon?

As mentioned in previous blogs, the latest draft Bills are open to public comment until 15 May 2020. It therefore follows that soon after this date, they shall pass into law, possibly with minor changes made. 

A good indication of the progress of certain subject matter within the Bills can be gleaned from Government body websites and media platforms. An example of this being SARS’ twitter handle (@sarstax) today tweeted, that employer SDL contributions shall be defaulted to zero on their EMP201s, for the months of May to August. This therefore provides a strong indication of what will pass into law in the near future.

Calculation of the COVID-19 TERS Benefit 

COVID-19 TERS is a subject which has caused much confusion and media attention, not only in how to apply for this aid, but also how to distribute it to employers correctly.

As discussed in the 8 May Lockdown blog post, the Department of Labour has released an FAQ document, hopefully providing clarity on many of the questions you may still have around the subject.

Returning to Work – Lockdown Level 4

Coming to the end of the first week back for many businesses, it is important to know where your responsibilities stand to your employees and otherwise under lockdown level 4.

Our blog from 5 May helps outline what you as an employer need to do to remain compliant when reopening your workplace.

We hope that this information proves useful to you, and that the first 5-day working week in a while has been kind 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