The order to do them in
Unlike most of this hub, this page really is a sequence: each step depends on the one before it, and one of them carries a statutory clock. Work down the list in order on the day you decide to hire, not on the day the first person starts.
| Registration or return | When | Where |
|---|---|---|
| SARS employer registration (PAYE, SDL, UIF) | Within 21 business days of becoming an employer | eFiling |
| EMP201 monthly declaration and payment | By the seventh of the following month | eFiling |
| EMP501 reconciliation | Interim and annual filing seasons | e@syFile |
| UIF employer registration | As soon as you commence activities as an employer | SARS or uFiling |
| UI-19 employee declaration | Before the seventh day of each month | uFiling |
| Compensation Fund registration | On starting to employ | CF-Online |
| Estimate of earnings (new business) | Within seven days of commencing business | CF-Online |
| Annual return of earnings | Annually; the Commissioner announces the season | CF-Online |
| Accident report | Within seven days of notice of the accident | CF-Online |
| Skills development levy | On becoming liable; above R500 000 of payroll | SARS |
| Employment equity report (50+ employees) | Annually, online 1 September to 15 January | ee.labour.gov.za |
| Information officer registration | Before the officer takes up their duties | Information Regulator |
| PAIA manual | Continuously available; no lodgement | Your own website and premises |
Figures last reviewed 9 September 2026.
1. SARS
The obligation is on every employer, with one narrow exception where no employee is liable for normal tax.
Every person who is an employer shall apply to the Commissioner in accordance with Chapter 3 of the Tax Administration Act for registration: Provided that where no one of such employer’s employees is liable for normal tax, the provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to such employer.
The period comes from the Tax Administration Act, which supplies 21 business days where a tax Act does not set its own deadline. PAYE, the skills development levy and the UIF contribution are all applied for on the same registration, which is why this step comes first.
After registration the rhythm is monthly: an EMP201 declaring and paying PAYE, the skills levy and UIF by the seventh of the following month, and a reconciliation (EMP501) in the interim and annual filing seasons. Every employer with employees files the reconciliation — there is no small-employer exemption from it.
2. The UIF
Two Acts sit behind this one registration. The Unemployment Insurance Act requires the employer to provide employee information as soon as it starts employing, irrespective of what those employees earn.
Every employer must, as soon as it commences activities as an employer, provide the information
The Contributions Act sets the monthly declaration deadline:
before the seventh day of each month
Contributions are 1% from the employee and 1% from the employer, calculated on remuneration up to a ceiling of R17 712 a month — so the maximum is R177,12 each. One exclusion matters: an employee who works fewer than 24 hours a month for you is outside the Act altogether.
employed by that employer for less than 24 hours a month
If you are registered with SARS for PAYE or the levy, the UIF contribution is paid over with the EMP201; the monthly UI-19 employee declaration is still made through uFiling or the UIF office. Domestic employers who are not SARS-registered register directly with the UIF. See domestic workers.
3. The Compensation Fund
Registration is a statutory duty with an offence attached, and it now covers households employing domestic workers.
An employer carrying on business in the Republic shall within the prescribed period and in the prescribed manner register with the Commissioner
The Act itself leaves the period to the regulations, so the honest statement is: register when you start employing. What the Act does fix are three seven-day clocks. A business that starts after the end of February must file an estimate of earnings within seven days of commencing:
within seven days after such commencement furnish the Commissioner with a return
Any change in the particulars you furnished must be notified within seven days. And an accident must be reported within seven days of your receiving notice of it:
within seven days after having received notice of an accident
Thereafter an annual return of earnings is filed and an assessment issued. For the 2026/27 year the maximum assessable earnings are R668 000 per employee, with a minimum assessment of R1 621 for employers generally and R560 for domestic employers, effective 1 March 2026. Late filing attracts a 10% penalty.
4. The skills development levy
The levy is 1% of payroll, and the exemption is forward-looking: it applies where there are reasonable grounds to believe that total remuneration will not exceed the threshold over the following 12 months.
will not exceed R500 000
Two practical points. SARS registers all employers for the levy and applies the exemption, so you declare the position rather than skip the registration. And because the test is prospective, a business that grows through the threshold mid-year becomes liable then — re-check when you add staff or increase pay.
Registration also requires you to identify the SETA whose jurisdiction covers your business, which matters later if you want to claim the mandatory grant or run a learnership. See learnerships, apprenticeships and internships.
5. Employment equity
Two duties here apply to every employer regardless of size: eliminate unfair discrimination, and display the prescribed summary of the Act where employees can read it. The reporting machinery starts at 50 employees.
A designated employer must submit a report to the Director-General once every year on such date and in such manner as may be prescribed.
In practice that means registering on the Department’s online system and filing between 1 September and 15 January. A designated employer must also consult employees, analyse its workforce, prepare a plan aligned to the sectoral numerical targets gazetted in April 2025, display the report, keep records and submit an income-differential statement to the National Minimum Wage Commission.
The turnover test that used to bring smaller businesses into the designated category was repealed with effect from 1 January 2025, so headcount is the only route in for a private employer. If you tender to the state you will also be asked for a compliance certificate or declaration — a point on which the statute book and the Department’s practice are not perfectly aligned, so take advice before building a bid around it.
6. Information officer and PAIA
The head of the business is the information officer by default, and the appointment has a sequence to it: registration comes before the role is performed.
Officers must take up their duties in terms of this Act only after the responsible party has registered them with the Regulator.
Registration is done through the Information Regulator’s portal. Alongside it, POPIA requires documented processing operations, a compliance framework, a personal-information impact assessment, procedures for handling requests, internal awareness sessions, reasonable security safeguards, written contracts with operators, and notification of a breach to the Regulator and to affected people.
The PAIA manual is not lodged anywhere — it must simply be available in the four places the Act lists, including your website if you have one. There is no size exemption. See the minimum policies every business must have.
7. Sector registrations
Two final registrations depend on what your business does rather than how big it is. If your sector has a bargaining council whose main agreement has been extended to non-parties, you must register with the council and pay its levies — and the council’s agreement can set minimum wages, hours and benefits above the BCEA floor. Metal and engineering, motor, road freight and logistics, private security, contract cleaning and the hospitality trades are the councils most businesses encounter.
If you supply people to clients for reward, you are a temporary employment service and registration is not optional:
A person may not operate a private employment agency except in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the terms of its registration.
The certificate must be displayed at the premises from which you operate, and being unregistered is no defence to a deeming claim by a placed worker. See labour brokers and secondment.
Common questions
Within 21 business days of becoming an employer, unless none of your employees is liable for normal tax. PAYE, the skills development levy and UIF are all applied for on the same registration.
Yes. Every employer must register and there is no domestic-worker exclusion since the 2022 amendment. The minimum assessment for a domestic employer is R560, but the duty is identical.
Yes — the exemption is applied on the registration rather than instead of it, and it is measured forward: whether there are reasonable grounds to believe payroll will not exceed R500 000 over the next 12 months.
A designated employer reports once every year, through the online system between 1 September and 15 January. Penalties for non-compliance are calculated on turnover, so this is the deadline to diarise first.