The Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases (COID) Act requires all employers to submit a declaration, known as a Return of Earnings (ROE) or W.As.8, of their employees’ annual earnings to the Compensation Fund each year. This amount, combined with the category in which the business is registered, will determine the amount payable by the employer to the Compensation Fund. The Return of Earnings must be submitted between 1 April and 30 June each year.
Once they have submitted their ROE, employers are issued with a Notice of Assessment / Invoice (W.As.6). This indicates the amount owing to the Compensation Commissioner based on the salary information contained in the ROE.
To access the report on SimplePay, go to
- Filing > OID (Workmen’s Comp) Return.
- Select the income / allowance / benefit accounts to be included as earnings for ROE purposes.
- Click Download. The resulting download will still allow you to modify the totals per employee.
Please note: Overtime pay should be included in earnings only if an employee is regularly paid overtime. You should, therefore, choose to include overtime pay based on what applies to the majority of your employees. You can then make adjustments in the downloaded spreadsheet if desired.
Please ensure that you follow the instructions at the top of the downloaded document carefully. You will then need to manually capture the information from this file on form W.As.8.
Please note: The Compensation Fund uses the opening date when referring to the year of submission, e.g., the 2023 submission refers to the Return on Earnings for the period from 1 March 2023 to 29 February 2024. This can be confusing, since the tax year makes use of the end date, e.g., the 2023 tax year refers to the period from 1 March 2022 to 28 February 2023.
Should you require more information, please contact the Compensation Fund here.
Earnings Threshold
An annual earnings threshold applies to each employee. This threshold indicates the maximum amount of an employee’s earnings that the OID contribution can be calculated on, and it changes annually.
Please note: There is no clear guidance from the Compensation Fund on how they expect the earnings threshold to be applied in practice, despite requests for more clarity. As a result, each payroll provider has had to decide on the most practical approach of implementing the threshold. SimplePay applies the maximum earnings threshold on an annual basis when determining the amounts to be included in the Return of Earnings.
Examples:
Suppose the annual threshold is R484 200.
Example 1:
Suppose that an employee earns R25 000 per month. The earnings for the year that will be reported on the Return of Earnings are R300 000 (R25 000 x 12), as the R300 000 falls below the annual threshold.
Example 2:
Suppose that an employee earns R25 000 per month and an annual bonus of R25 000 in December. The earnings for the year that will be reported on the Return of Earnings are calculated as follows:
- R25 000 x 11 months = R275 000
- R50 000 for December
- Total = R325 000 (R275 000 + R50 000)
Example 3:
Suppose that an employee earns R50 000 per month. The earnings for the year that will be reported on the Return of Earnings are calculated as follows:
- R50 000 x 9 months = R450 000
- In month 10, the threshold of R484 200 will be reached, and only the first R34 200 (i.e., R484 200 minus R450 000) will be subject to OID.
- Total = R484 200 (R450 000 + R34 200)
Registration and Submissions
Employers can register with the Compensation Fund and submit their ROE online here. Please see the process flow document created by the Fund here.
Please note: There is a penalty of 10% for late submissions, and interest will be charged on overdue accounts.
Resubmissions
The Compensation Fund does not have a facility for resubmissions. They have advised that if you have made an error with your submission, you must correct this in the submission for the next year.
Should you require more information, please contact the Compensation Fund here.