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Qualifying Employees

ETI may only be claimed for qualifying employees. This article outlines the criteria for qualifying employees, and how this is determined on the system.

Criteria

An individual is a qualifying employee if they:

  • have a valid South African ID, Asylum Seeker permit or an ID issued in terms of the Refugee Act;
  • are 18 to 29 years old;
  • were employed by the employer or an associated person to the employer on or after 1 October 2013;
  • are paid the minimum wage applicable to that employer or as prescribed in the Minimum Wage Act and not more than R6 500 remuneration;
  • are not a domestic worker; and
  • are not a connected person to the employer.

All of the above requirements must be met before you are eligible to claim ETI for an employee.

Please Note:

An employee’s age must be determined at the end of each month for which the ETI is being claimed. Therefore, an employee will start qualifying in the month that they turn 18 and will stop qualifying during the month that they turn 30.

For example, an employee who turns 18 on 24 September won’t qualify yet in August but will qualify in September. Also, an employee who turns 30 on 11 November will still qualify in October but won’t qualify in November.

Criteria Checks

Each of the criteria from above is either checked automatically by the SimplePay system or needs to be manually checked by the employer.

Criteria Checked By Additional Info
Has a valid ID or permit SimplePay We use the ID Type field on an employee’s Basic Info screen. It is therefore essential to ensure that this is correctly set up.
Between 18 and 29 years old SimplePay We use the Date of Birth field on an employee’s Basic Info screen. It is therefore essential to ensure that this is correctly set up.
Employed on or after 1 October 2013 SimplePay We use the Original Employment Date field on an employee’s ETI screen. If this is left blank, we use the Appointment Date field on an employee’s Basic Info screen. It is therefore essential to ensure that these are correctly set up.
Paid more than the minimum wage but less than R6 500 SimplePay We use payslip figures and an employee’s hours for this check.
Not a domestic worker Employer You are responsible for checking the criteria for domestic workers and connected persons for each employee. By default, ETI is disabled for all employees on the system. If you enable ETI for an employee under the employee’s ETI page, this serves as confirmation that the employee is not a domestic worker or connected person.
Not a connected person Employer