Interim PAYE Reconciliation (Bi-annual Submissions)

The 2011 Interim PAYE Reconciliation Season has closed. Late or inaccurate submissions will lead to a penalty of 10% on the PAYE paid for the period being imposed.

Note to all Businesses
Your submissions will be a breeze if you use our automated payroll solution, where you will only need to capture employees’ information and their payslips. No manual calculations are required! Furthermore, our software comes standard with an EMP501 report and full custom report writer.

How can Pastel Payroll assist with the Interim PAYE Reconciliation?

Below, please find our support tips and tools, including our contact centre, e-mail support, workshop and seminar, to assist with your bi-annual PAYE Reconciliations.

The Tax Season commenced on 01 July 2011

The 2011 tax filing season has begun for millions of South African taxpayers. From 1 July taxpayers are able to request their income tax returns from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and submit their returns manually by post or electronically (online using eFiling).

SARS is encouraging individual taxpayers to submit their returns electronically by offering taxpayers using eFiling an additional 2 months to submit.

SARS Submissions 2011 - did you submit manually?

Returns are pre-populated for all tax payers who submitted their returns online during the recently completed Tax season. Taxpayers that submitted manually can request a pre-populated return by contacting the SARS Call Centre or by simply visiting the nearest SARS branch.

2011 Submission Deadlines

Please take note of the submission deadlines below:

• Manual Submissions are due on 30 September 2011.
• eFiling users have until 25 November 2011 to submit their returns.
• Provisional taxpayers who file via eFiling have until 31 January 2012 to submit their returns.

Manual returns must be received by SARS before the end of September 2011 so manual filers have just three months to get their affairs in order. To encourage electronic submissions, individuals submitting through eFiling have almost 4 weeks more, up until 25 November 2011.

SARS Penalties

If you submit your return after the deadline you face an administrative penalty of at least R250 per month that your return is outstanding.

New Requirements for Change of Banking Details

As of 01 July 2011, SARS implemented a new procedure with respect to the way taxpayers notify them of a change in banking details. For security reasons, changes can only be done in the following ways:

• In person at a SARS branch. Click here to view the supporting documents that need to be submitted with the change request.
• Via SARS eFiling when submitting a tax return. Please note that SARS may still request that you visit a branch to supply any supporting documentation.

e@syFile™ Employer

The latest e@syFile™ version is available to download from www.sarsefiling.co.za. Make sure you download the latest version as it will enable you to complete your declaration seamlessly and give you the option to either submit your declaration electronically via eFiling or burn the data onto a disk and submit it to SARS together with your signed hardcopy documents.

Click here for further information.

New Reconciliation Facilities for Employers

SARS have put a number of Guides on their website giving some details of new tools that they have made available to employers to assist them in reconciling their PAYE transactions with SARS.

Two of these new facilities that deserve special mention are the Employer Statement of Account (EMPSA), and the Reconciliation Assistant. If properly understood and properly used, the EMPSA will help employers enormously to take control of their PAYE account with SARS, to be able to solve problems when they happen instead of leaving them until the end of the tax year, and generally to give ownership of employer’s data back to the employer.

Employers will no longer be able to submit an EMP501 on which the EMP201 liabilities, the EMP201 payments, or the tax totals from the tax certificates don’t balance with one another as has been possible in the past. When reconciling the Feb 2011 tax certificate submissions, the employer will be ‘forced’ to sort out the areas that don’t balance in the Reconciliation assistant.

Click here to visit the SARS website and download the relevant guides.

SARS official interest rate change

Kindly note that effective 01 October 2010, the official interest rate to be used in the calculation of interest free or low interest loan fringe benefits, was reduced to 7%.

What is an ITA88 and what does the ITA88 process involve?

An ITA88 is an Agent Appointment Notice issued by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) enforcing employers to deduct outstanding tax deductions and/or penalties from employees through the company payroll. 

Due to the large number of tax payers who consistently do not comply with their tax obligations, SARS has initiated an Agent Appointment process to recover any outstanding amounts owed to SARS. SARS will appoint an employer or anyone who pays over, or holds money for the tax payer, including salaries and wages, to act as a collections agent on its behalf.

The tax payer will be offered the opportunity to pay back the tax debt before collection by an agent. Notice will be given via the SARS e@syFile system or will be delivered via post using the employers’ postal address. The following parties can act as agents:

• Employers
• Banks
• Attorneys
• Medical Aids
• Investment manager per investment
• Insurance policies

On receipt of the ITA88 Agent Appointment notice, the employer is obligated to deduct the stipulated amount from the salaries or wages of the respective employees. The employer will then have to pay the amount over to SARS by the due date as indicated on the ITA88 form. If the employer is unable to execute the request, the employer must provide feedback to SARS via e@syFile, by contacting the SARS contact centre or by visiting a SARS branch.