COID ROE Annual Limit Increase

The Department of Employment and Labour has published updated limits for the Compensation Fund, effective 1 March 2026.

These changes impact how employer assessments are calculated for the current Return of Earnings (ROE) filing period.

What’s changed

New maximum earnings threshold

The annual earnings cap used to calculate Compensation Fund assessments has increased to R 668,000 per employee per annum, meaning that when calculating your assessment, any earnings above this amount won’t be included. For context, the previous threshold was R 633,168, so this represents a noticeable year-on-year increase.

Minimum assessment amounts

The minimum annual assessment remains in place and applies as follows:

• R 1,621 per year for employers (excluding domestic employers).
• R 560 per year for domestic employers.

This ensures that all registered employers contribute at least a baseline amount, even where calculated assessments are low.

How this affects your ROE submission

When preparing your ROE, you’ll need to take the updated limits into account:

• Actual earnings (past year):
  Report employee earnings for the period 1 March 2025 to 28 February 2026, applying the relevant threshold for that year.
• Provisional earnings (new year):
  Estimate earnings for 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027, using the new R 668,000 cap.

ROE submission period

The ROE filing season for 2026:

• Opened: 1 April 2026
• Closes: 30 June 2026

Submitting within this window helps you avoid penalties and keeps your Letter of Good Standing valid.

Additional update: BCEA earnings threshold increase

Separately, the Minister of Employment and Labour issued Government Gazette Number 54544 on 17 April 2026, increasing the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) earnings threshold from R 261,748.45 per annum to R 269,600.90 per annum, effective 1 May 2026.

Should you require any assistance, please reach out to our friendly Support team at support@simplepay.cloud. Additionally, more information can be found on our help page here.

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Take care,

Team SimplePay