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South Africa: Preparing for the EMP501 Interim Reconciliation

Francois Brand
Posted By

Employers in South Africa are required to submit their EMP501 Interim Reconciliation for the first half of the tax year to the South African Revenue Service (SARS).

The exact submission dates for this year have not yet been confirmed, but historically the period runs from mid-September to the end of October. For the latest updates, visit the Pay As You Earn page on the SARS website.

To help you prepare in advance (especially in August), here are some key steps:

1. Stay updated on your payroll version

  • The submission must be done on our next update, Release 6.5a.

  • This new update will be released for the mid-year submission — the release schedule and dates will be shared in the community.

  • The update will include the IRP5 changes to align your system with the latest specifications from SARS.

2. Verify company information

  • On the Basic Company Information screen, ensure all reference numbers and submission details are accurate.

  • Double-check company date settings in the Period Info section:

    • Processing period

    • Tax year start and end dates

    • Pay periods in the tax year

    • Weeks in the month

3. Review earning, deduction & contribution definitions

  • Ensure all definitions are set up correctly.

  • Pay special attention to taxability and IRP5 codes — these directly affect payroll calculations and reporting.

  • Reach out to your Business Partner to review your setup.

4. Confirm employee information

  • SARS requires correct employee contact details, bank details, and tax registration numbers.

  • Review the IRP5 start dates per employee - any changes on this field could result in tax changes.

  • Update any missing or incorrect records before submission.

5.  EMP501 reconciliation

6. Reconcile Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) values

7. Run key validation & exception reports

Be sure to book your consultation in time with your Business Partner if you need help with reconciliations and submissions.

If you have tips or processes that make submissions smoother, share them in the discussion forum — your insight could help others.

Parents

  • hi! 

    my Pastel Payroll EMP501 report balances exactly to my efiling.  I imported the irp5 file to E@syfile, and although the payments match the liabilities,  there is a discrepancy with the certificates.  How do i balance this?  Only one certificate (for a fired staff member) comes up on payroll, and it is not the amount the report is out by

  • in reply to Sue Connock

    Hello ,

    Based on the image above, the values of the certificates and your declared values are different - and might only be for one employee.

    When you review the reports printed from the payroll, when running the IRP5 file export, are the values of the report the same as your declared values, or the tax certificate totals?

  • in reply to Francois Brand

    They are the same as the declared totals.

    if I look at the summary, there is only one printed certificate, and the tax on that is R7050.23

    just checking - payroll doesn’t create irp5s in August unless the employee left? 

  • in reply to Sue Connock

    Hi Sue,

    The same thing happened to me - although I use VIP Payroll. What I did to resolve this issue, was to delete the payroll import and import it again.

    Just make certain when you choose the employer on the employers list at the bottom (I have a few clients and choose from the list at the bottom), that the company name reflect at the top next to the dropdown for the submission period. Do not do anything in those fields and do not drop down and click the submission date. It takes a few seconds before the company name appears at the top.

    Then continue to import the file again. Once the import is done, the submission period will reflect automatically. This worked for me and all the strange negative amounts disappeared and my totals and certificates balanced and I could submit

    I hope this will assist you as well.

    Zelda

  • in reply to Sue Connock

    Hi Sue,

    Please see Zelda's feedback - she had a similar issue which she was able to solve. The payroll file would include all certificates, which need ot create on the SARS e@syFile database, not only the terminations.

    If you open the live run file, you should be able to see the amount of certificates included for submission. If the same amount of certificates do not create for your mid-year submission, you can maybe test this on another computer with the same version of e@syFile to see if the issue persist.

    If the certificates are find in the import file, but doesn't create (without any errors on import), the issue might be related to the SARS software or database.

Reply
  • in reply to Sue Connock

    Hi Sue,

    Please see Zelda's feedback - she had a similar issue which she was able to solve. The payroll file would include all certificates, which need ot create on the SARS e@syFile database, not only the terminations.

    If you open the live run file, you should be able to see the amount of certificates included for submission. If the same amount of certificates do not create for your mid-year submission, you can maybe test this on another computer with the same version of e@syFile to see if the issue persist.

    If the certificates are find in the import file, but doesn't create (without any errors on import), the issue might be related to the SARS software or database.

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