Most South African employers pay UIF twice — once to SARS on the EMP201 and once to the Department of Employment and Labour on uFiling — and forget that the two declarations must agree. When they don't, employees can't claim maternity, illness, adoption or unemployment benefits when they need them most. We manage the uFiling side end-to-end and keep it in lock-step with your SARS payroll return.
Every employee earning above the prescribed threshold contributes 1% of remuneration, matched by 1% from the employer, capped at the monthly ceiling gazetted under the UI Contributions Act. Contributions are declared to SARS on EMP201 and paid together with PAYE and SDL, and — separately — declared to the Department of Employment and Labour on the uFiling portal, which is what triggers the employee's benefit record at the Fund.
Each new employee has to be added to uFiling with correct ID number, employment start date and hours worked; each termination requires a UI-19 lodgment with the correct reason code (dismissed, resigned, retrenched, contract expired, maternity, deceased) so the ex-employee can claim without the fund rejecting the application. We lodge every UI-19 the same working day the exit is processed on payroll.
SARS EMP201 and Labour uFiling must report the same UIF-liable remuneration every month. Where they drift — a mid-month salary correction, a bonus that pushes an employee over the ceiling, a director whose UIF status changed — we reconcile and resubmit before either fund raises a query. This is the same reconciliation logic that later saves your EMP501 in October and May.
Domestic employers (households employing one or more workers) and small businesses under the PAYE threshold are equally obliged to register and declare with UIF. We handle the U-Filing registration, monthly declaration and annual UI-8 update — often for less than the fine a single missed declaration would attract.
Common questions about uif (department of labour) in South Africa.
Bookkeeping, payroll, tax and CIPC compliance — all under one SAICA registered team.
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