Employees in Sage Payroll are a record of your employee's personal details, including their employment information and everything to do with their pay. You can create and edit these records from the Employee tab.

Create an employee

Go to the Employee tab.
Select Add new employee.

📎NOTE: If this is your first employee, the system opens the add employee screen automatically.

3. Complete each of the eight tabs with the employee’s details, where applicable

4. Select Save.

Understand pay run specific details

Employee type
- Select from Asylum Seeker, Natural Person, Personal Service Provider (PSP), or Refugee
- Most employees are Natural Persons
- A Personal Service Provider applies when:
  • An individual connected to the company renders the services personally
  • The client normally considers the individual an employee
  • Duties take place mainly at the client’s premises and under supervision
  •Over 80% of income comes from one client unless the company employs at least three full‑time staff
Employee code
- The internal reference number for the employee
Tax start date
- This is the employee’s start date
- If the employee started the last tax year, the date defaults to the current tax year’s start
Tax status
- Available statuses depend on the employee type
- If unsure, contact the South African Revenue Service (SARS) or a tax practitioner

Understand personal details

RSA ID number
- Required for tax, Occupational Injuries and Diseases (OID), and Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) submissions
Work telephone number
- A required field for tax submissions

Understand tax details

Income tax reference number
- Issued by SARS to the employee
Standard Industry Classification (SIC)
- Ask your tax practitioner if you're unsure
Exclude from UIF, SDL, or OID report
- Confirm with your tax practitioner whether exclusions apply
Exclude from tax certificate submission
- Use this if the employee earned no income during the tax year or will receive a manual certificate

Check employment tax incentive (ETI)

Select the relevant options to determine whether the employee qualifies
The screen indicates if ETI criteria have been met
If you're uncertain, contact SARS or a tax practitioner

Edit an employee

To change an existing employee's details:

From the Employee tab, select the employee you want to edit.
You can then select whether to edit the Employee Details or their Payslip Template Values.