Employer Annual Filing Season 2026

Author: Danni Strydom

    2 minute read    

The 2026 Employer Annual Reconciliation, or Declaration, period has officially opened and will run from 1 April to 31 May 2026. If you’re an employer, this is your chance to make sure everything you’ve submitted to SARS over the past year lines up correctly.

What is the Employer Annual Reconciliation?

The Employer Annual Reconciliation is when employers submit their employees’ tax certificates to SARS and ensure that all payroll information aligns. This includes reconciling:

  • Monthly declarations (EMP201s)
  • The annual reconciliation (EMP501)
  • Actual payments made to SARS

It confirms their liabilities for PAYE, SDL, and UIF for the tax year ended on 28 February.

All employees must be included, and tax certificates should be accurate, covering personal details, income, deductions, and benefits.

How to submit?

Submissions can be made via eFiling for employers with fewer than 50 employees, or via e@syFile for employers with 50 or more employees. Make sure you’ve downloaded the latest version of e@syFile and back up any existing data before updating. If you need assistance with the process, you can check out the official SARS promotional video here.

SimplePay generates the required documentation from your finalised payroll, and our pre-validation of your submission information helps to catch errors before submission. Be sure to check your submission status on your selected platform to verify successful filing with SARS.

Is submission optional?

No, submitting employee information to SARS is a legal requirement. Failure to do so can lead to penalties, including a monthly charge of 1% of total annual PAYE from June 2026 until submission (capped at 10%). Wilful or negligent failure can also result in fines or even up to two years’ imprisonment. This applies to both EMP201s and EMP501s.

How to prepare for smooth filing?

A few simple steps can make the process much easier:

  • Start early and don’t wait until May
  • Review employee details in advance
  • Fix any discrepancies before submitting
  • Use the latest version of your filing software
  • Make use of SARS support sessions if needed

Luckily, with SimplePay’s filing documentation, the compliance aspect of your submissions is already taken care of! Our system automatically generates EMP201s, EMP501s, and employee tax certificates based on your finalised payroll information. We also have a helpful guide to the filing process, available on our help page here.

If you need any assistance, please feel free to reach out to our friendly Support team at support@simplepay.cloud.

Not a SimplePay member yet? We recommend signing up for a free, 30-day trial today to see just how simple filing season can be!

Take care,

Team SimplePay

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