Employer Interim Filing Season 2026

It’s that time of year again — the Employer Interim Reconciliation filing season has arrived. The submission period runs from 22 September to 31 October, covering the first six months of the tax year (1 March to 31 August 2025). During this season, you’ll need to submit the following:

• The EMP501 reconciliation declaration.
• Employee IRP5/IT3(a) tax certificates.
• Relevant EMP201 and EMP701 declarations.

Income Tax Numbers Now Enforced

This interim season was also created to support SARS’s new enforcement of Income Tax Numbers. We’ve had questions from customers about whether imports will fail if employees with IT3(a) certificates don’t yet have tax numbers.

Here’s what we know:

• The import will still be successful, even if those employees don’t have income tax numbers.
• However, the submission itself will run into issues if tax numbers are missing at that stage.
• SARS is strongly encouraging employers to make use of ITREG/TRN, or to collect tax numbers from employees before submitting.

Submitting an accurate interim reconciliation ensures that the PAYE, UIF, and SDL you’ve declared match your employees’ tax certificates. It also helps highlight any problems early, before the annual reconciliation season next year.

We recommend not leaving submissions to the last minute, as the system can get busy close to the deadline.

If you’re unsure about anything or want help getting your payroll ready, just let us know at [email protected]. We’re here to make this season go smoothly for you.

Take care,

The SimplePay Team