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SA Practitioner Guide

SA Practitioner Guide

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Employee Master & SA Details

Employee Master & SA Details

The Employee record drives PAYE, ETI eligibility, the IRP5 certificate and Employment Equity reporting. za_local adds several South African sections to it. Capture these accurately — most downstream calculations and certificates read from here.

1. Employee Types

First create the Employee Type records you need (e.g. Permanent, Temporary, Contractor) so they can be selected on each employee.

2. Standard fields

For each Employee set the usual HRMS fields: name, company, department, designation, date of joining, and status.

3. South African Details

Field Why it matters
ID Number 13-digit SA ID. Used on the IRP5 and for ETI age checks.
Employee Type Link to the Employee Type.
Hours per Month Used for ETI proration (e.g. 160 for full-time).
Special Economic Zone Affects ETI eligibility where applicable.
Nationality Country link.
Working Hours per Week BCEA overtime context.
Has Children / Has Other Employments Leave and PAYE-directive scenarios.
Number of Dependants Drives the medical scheme tax credit.
Payroll Payable Bank Account The bank account net pay is paid from/to.

4. Tax Certificate section (for IRP5)

Field Notes
Identity Type SA ID, Passport, Asylum Seeker, Permit, etc.
Income Tax Reference Number The employee's SARS tax number (ITN).
Passport Country of Issue If not on an SA ID.
Nature of Person Individual, Director, Trust Beneficiary, Labour Broker, Personal Service Provider, Foreign Employee, etc.
Residential Address / Postal Address Required on the IRP5. Capture in SA address format.
Not Paid Electronically Tick if the employee is not paid by EFT.
Bank Account Type / Holder Name / Holder Relationship For electronic payment and certificate banking details.

5. Employment Equity section

For EE reporting (EEA2/EEA4) and skills development:

  • Race, Occupational Level, Is Disabled, Highest Qualification.

These feed the Employment Equity reports in the SA Labour module. Capture them even if EE filing is not immediate — back-filling later is tedious.

ETI eligibility at a glance

An employee typically qualifies for ETI when they: are 18–29 years old (from the ID number), have a valid SA ID (or qualifying SEZ status), have been employed 24 months or less in the current job, and earn below the ETI remuneration ceiling. The salary-slip engine evaluates eligibility per month and computes the ETI from the ETI Slab; the Hours per Month field prorates it for part-month or part-time work.

Verify before payroll

For each employee about to be paid, confirm: ID number, income tax reference number, a submitted Salary Structure Assignment with the correct Income Tax Slab, number of dependants (if on medical aid), and bank details. Missing data here is the most common cause of payroll and IRP5 errors.

Next

You are ready to run payroll: Payroll Entry & Salary Slips.

Last updated 1 month ago
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