Tax numbers

An employee's tax number is optional to save their profile, and required before you can generate an EMP201 that includes them. This is what E·BIZI Pay does with the number, and what to do when the person does not have one.

Add the tax number

Open the person from the Employees list, choose the edit pencil, and go to the Tax section. Enter the number in Tax number.

E·BIZI Pay checks it as you type. South African tax reference numbers carry a check digit, so a typo is rejected immediately instead of surfacing weeks later when a submission fails. If E·BIZI Pay says a number is not valid, it is not a formatting preference, the number is wrong.

What happens if you leave it out

Nothing, until month end. Then the Processing dashboard shows a warning naming the person and what it blocks: "Add a tax number to Farouk Adams to generate the EMP201", with a link straight to their details.

You can run the payroll, pay the person and send their payslip without a tax number. You cannot generate an EMP201 that includes them.

Get a tax number for an employee

If the person does not have a tax number, choose Get a tax number, under the Tax number field. It opens a dialog with two routes:

• Register the person on the SARS site yourself, at I need my tax number.
• Ask our partners at EJM for a quote to do it for you. The dialog opens an email to info@ejm.co.za with the employee's name and ID number already filled in.

SARS registers most employees automatically once they appear on a submission. You cannot generate that submission without the number, which is the awkward part. Start this early rather than in the first week of the month.

Next

Banking details covers the other half of an employee's payment and reporting details.