The Employee

Year of assessment (1 March – 28/29 February). It sets the tax tables, the medical credits and the ETI table.
EMP201 is a monthly declaration, so annual figures are divided by twelve.
The full package subject to PAYE — salary, allowances, overtime, commission and taxable fringe benefits.
R
Commission is part of remuneration for PAYE and SDL, but the UIF Act excludes it from the contribution base entirely.
R
The employee's pension, provident or RA contributions deducted through payroll. Limited to 27.5% of remuneration and the annual rand cap.
R

Deductible for PAYE: R 2 100 a month · annual cap R 430 000.

Donations the employer pays over on the employee's behalf to an approved PBO. Limited to 5% of remuneration after the retirement deduction.
R

5% ceiling: R 1 295 a month.

Main member plus dependants. The employer sets the section 6A credit off against PAYE each month.
1

Monthly credit: R 376

Age determines the secondary (65+) and tertiary (75+) rebates.
The UIF Act does not apply to an employee who works less than 24 hours a month.

The Employer

SDL is an employer-level levy, so it depends on your whole payroll — not on this one employee.

Total remuneration payable to all employees over the next 12 months. Below R500 000 you are not required to register for SDL.
R

Above the R500 000 threshold — SDL applies at 1%.

National and provincial government, public entities largely funded by Parliament, certain PBOs and exempted municipalities pay no SDL.

Employment Tax Incentive

Optional. ETI reduces the PAYE you pay over for a young employee — up to R1 500 a month, for up to 24 months.

Aged 18 to 29, holds a South African ID, asylum seeker permit or refugee ID, first employed by you on or after 1 October 2013, not a connected person, not a domestic worker, and paid at least the applicable minimum wage.
Months 1 to 12 pay the higher rate; months 13 to 24 pay half. After 24 qualifying months the incentive stops.
1 month

First 12 months — the higher band applies.

160 hours is a full month. Below that, remuneration is grossed up to 160 hours to read the table, then the incentive is scaled back down.
hrs

Estimates only — not tax advice. This models one employee; your actual EMP201 aggregates every employee, and ETI is set off against the total PAYE for the month. Directors' deemed remuneration, travel and other allowances with a partial inclusion, tax directives, variable and annual payments, retrospective ETI disqualification for outstanding returns or debt, and the special economic zone rules are not modelled. Consult a registered tax professional or your payroll provider.

Monthly EMP201 Payment

R 3 852,24

Due to SARS within 7 days after month end, for one employee on R 28 000 a month.

PAYE

R 3 239,00

UIF

R 354,24

SDL

R 259,00

ETI Earned

R 0,00

2027 (Mar 2026 – Feb 2027)UIF ceiling R 17 712 p/m

UIF is capped. Remuneration of R 28 000 exceeds the R 17 712 monthly ceiling, so each side contributes the maximum R 177,12 — R 354,24 in total, no matter how much more the employee earns.

What Makes Up The EMP201

After the ETI set-off.

Detailed Calculation

Annual remunerationR 336 000
Less retirement contributions− R 25 200
Taxable remunerationR 310 800
Tax per the tablesR 61 200
Less rebates− R 17 820
Less medical credits− R 4 512
Annual PAYER 38 868
PAYE for the monthR 3 239,00
UIF — employee (1% of R 17 712)R 177,12
UIF — employer (1%)R 177,12
SDL (1% of R 25 900)R 259,00
Total EMP201R 3 852,24
13.8% of gross remuneration goes to SARS each month.

What It Costs You

The employer's side, per month.

Gross remunerationR 28 000,00
Employer UIFR 177,12
SDLR 259,00
Cost To CompanyR 28 436,12

What They Take Home

The employee's side, per month.

Gross remunerationR 28 000,00
PAYE− R 3 239,00
Employee UIF− R 177,12
Retirement contributions− R 2 100,00
Net PayR 22 483,88
SDL and the employer's UIF are never deducted from the employee — they sit on top of the package.

Four Payroll Rules That Catch People Out

Commission is not in the UIF base.

Remuneration for UIF purposes expressly excludes any amount paid by way of commission, along with pensions and retiring allowances. A commission-heavy sales role can owe far less UIF than its payslip suggests — and payroll systems configured on gross pay quietly over-deduct.

SDL and UIF use different bases.

SDL is 1% of the balance of remuneration after the paragraph 2(4) deductions — pension, provident and RA contributions and payroll donations come off first. UIF gets no such reduction. Same payslip, two different bases, and mixing them up is one of the most common EMP201 errors.

The UIF ceiling has not moved since June 2021.

Contributions stop at R17 712 a month, so the most anyone pays is R177.12 each side — R354.24 in total. Everyone earning above the ceiling pays exactly the same amount.

ETI bands moved on 1 April 2025, but the maximum did not.

The tax-free band rose from R2 000 to R2 500 and the cut-off from R6 500 to R7 500, yet the maximum incentive stayed at R1 500 in the first year and R750 in the second. Because the change took effect on 1 April 2025, the 2026 year of assessment actually straddles both tables — March 2025 still used the old one.

ETI Table — From 1 April 2025

Per qualifying employee, per month.

R 0 – R 2 499,9960% of pay
R 2 500 – R 5 499,99R 1 500
R 5 500 – R 7 499,99Tapers to nil
R 7 500 and aboveNo incentive

Showing the first 12 months of employment.