The filing season for this year’s SARS Employer Annual Reconciliations, or Declarations, is running from 1 April to 31 May 2025. The official SARS notice was released on 28 March 2025 and can be viewed here.

What is the Employer Annual Reconciliation?

During the Employer Annual Reconciliation, an employer must submit their employees’ tax certificates to SARS. These certificates must then be reconciled with the employer’s EMP201s and EMP501, as well as the actual payments made to SARS. This information is pivotal for calculating the employer’s liabilities for PAYE, SDL, and UIF for the tax year ending in February.

Employers must reconcile and submit all employees’ tax certificates, irrespective of their income for the tax year. Employees’ tax certificates must also reflect accurate information, including personal details, income, tax deductions, and benefits.

How to Submit?

Submissions can be facilitated through eFiling for employers with fewer than 50 employees, or via the e@syFile application, which is mandatory for employers with 50 or more employees. It’s essential to utilise the latest version of e@syFile that is available for download (see below). Before installing a new version of the app, it is advisable to back up existing information.

Documentation required for submissions can be conveniently generated by SimplePay, based on your finalised payroll data. Additionally, pre-validation of information on SimplePay helps identify and rectify errors before submission, ensuring a smoother process. Don’t forget to monitor the status of your submissions to verify successful filing with SARS.

New e@syFile version 8.0

If you make use of e@syFile for your submissions, please note that SARS has recently released the new e@syFile version 8.0, which aims to make it easier for employers to manage their tax obligations.

The latest version introduces:

• A refreshed and user-friendly interface for easier navigation
• Better system performance for faster processing
• Stronger security features to protect employer data

The updated platform has not introduced any changes to the filing requirements, and the documentation generated by SimplePay will work without issue.

You can download the new e@syFile v8.0 from the e@syFile download page.

If you need assistance with the process, you can check out the official SARS promotional video here.

Is Submission Optional?

In short, no. Employers have a legal obligation to submit employee information to SARS. Failure to do so can lead to penalties, including a monthly penalty of 1% of the total annual PAYE, from June 2025 until submission (capped at 10%). It’s important to keep in mind that willful or negligent failure to submit can result in fines or even imprisonment of up to two years; this applies to both EMP201s and EMP501s.

Luckily, with SimplePay’s filing documentation, the compliance aspect of your submissions is already taken care of! Our system automatically generates EMP201s, EMP501s, and employee tax certificates based on your finalised payroll information. We also have a helpful guide on the filing process, which can be accessed on our help page here.

If you need any assistance, please feel free to reach out to our friendly Support team at support@simplepay.cloud.

Not a SimplePay member yet? We recommend signing up for a free, 30-day trial today to see just how simple filing season can be!

Take care,

Team SimplePay