March 2020 marks the start of the new 2020/2021 tax year for RSA users.

In order to make the transition to the new tax year an easy process, we have compiled the following tips to assist you when selecting dates and reconciling your payroll during the new tax year.

Selecting payroll dates:

1. Plan your Payroll Calendar: Ensure the dates are correct and that you know how many weeks should be allocated to each calendar month.
2. When you start a new tax year in a wages company, you have an option to select 52 weeks or 53 weeks (for weekly payroll) / 26 bi-weeks or 27 bi-weeks (for fortnightly payrolls). Only select 53 or 27 weeks, if you need to bring your tax year end closer to 28 February 2021.
3. If you use "Other Period" planning is very important in order to allocate the weeks to the correct calendar month (since you can select any amount of pay periods within the tax year e.g. 13 or 24).
4. Each period when you do a Start New Period, be sure to review all onscreen dates to confirm they are correct.
5. When you start a new company during the tax year, be sure to review and ensure the dates of the company is correct and in line with the tax year start and end date, and the period within the tax year.

The Period End Date Calculator available to assist you with planning of your dates in the new tax year. Click here to download the latest calculator.

Should you require any assistance with your date planning, please book a consultation or discuss with your Business Partner.

Reconciling payroll values:

1. Ensure you have finalised all processing for the month (this includes processing terminations before you pay them - when you terminate a record a final tax calculation is done).
2. If any late processing was done after the EMP201 was printed but before SARS was paid, print the EMP201 again.
3. If any late processing was done after the EMP201 was printed and after SARS was paid, force the PAYE, UIF and SDL to be the same as what you originally paid and let the system recalculate the values as roll over to the new month.
4. Depending on the number of processing periods you have in the month, a weekly company has to be in period 4 of 4 or 5 of 5 when printing the EMP201.
5. Depending on the number of processing periods you have in the month, a bi-weekly company has to be in period 2 of 2 or 3 of 3 when printing the EMP201.
6. If you claim ETI and you have appointed an employee after the beginning of the month or terminated an employee before the end of the month, based on your setup, take note of what is required to ensure your ETI calculates correctly.
7. Always validate the company dates during a Start New Period.
8. Review that your employees are making sufficient provision for tax on annual bonus. Click here for more information.

We recommend that you use the in-system feature "End of Period Checklist" which allows you to ensure all task are completed, before starting a new pay period on your payroll. Click here for more details.

Should you have any queries or require assistance with any of the above:

• Refer to the Sage Knowledgebase
• Talk to us via Live Chat
• Submit an query via web form