Monthly payroll processing
You send the changes for the month. We calculate, produce payslips, hand you a bank payment file and file the EMP201 with SARS. Weekly, fortnightly and monthly cycles, any headcount.
What monthly payroll processing covers
A payroll run is not one task. It is a sequence of them, and each one has to happen in the right order before the money moves. PayStream owns that whole sequence for you, from the moment you send through the month's changes to the moment the EMP201 is filed and confirmed.
In practice you send us a short list: new starters with their details, anyone who has left, overtime and hours for wage staff, commission, bonuses, leave taken and any deduction changes. Usually that is a WhatsApp message or a spreadsheet. Everything after that is ours.
The steps in a PayStream payroll run
- Capture and validate. Changes are loaded and checked against the employee master file. New starters are validated for ID number, tax number and bank details, because a wrong account number is the most expensive small error in payroll.
- Calculate. Gross to net for every employee: PAYE on the current SARS tables, UIF at 1 percent employee and 1 percent employer within the earnings ceiling, SDL at 1 percent where your annual payroll exceeds R500,000, plus medical tax credits, retirement fund contributions, travel allowances and any garnishee or loan deductions.
- Review. A variance check against last month flags anything unusual before it goes out: a salary that jumped, a person who appears twice, a leaver still being paid.
- Approve. You get a payroll summary and a payment schedule. Nothing is sent to staff until you sign it off.
- Distribute. Payslips go directly to employees by email or through a self service portal. You get the bank import file for your business banking platform.
- File. The EMP201 is prepared and submitted on eFiling before the 7th, with the SARS payment reference sent to you in time to pay it.
- Record. The payroll journal is posted to your accounting system, so the books and the payroll agree without anybody doing it twice.
Pay cycles and complexity we handle
Monthly salaried staff are the simple case. We also run weekly and fortnightly wage cycles, and companies that run more than one cycle in the same entity, which is standard in construction, hospitality, logistics and manufacturing. Cost centre and department splits are supported, so the payroll cost lands in the right place in your management accounts rather than as one lump.
The awkward items get handled properly too: pro rata pay for mid month starters and leavers, notice pay, leave encashment on termination, backdated increases, thirteenth cheques, commission on varying structures, travel and cellphone allowances at the correct taxable portions, fringe benefits including company cars and low interest loans, and employer retirement fund contributions treated as a taxable fringe benefit with the corresponding section 11F deduction.
What your employees get
A compliant payslip is a legal requirement under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, and it has to show the employer and employee details, the period, ordinary and overtime hours, the rate, gross pay, every deduction itemised, and net pay. Ours do. They are delivered to the employee directly, which stops the flow of payslip requests coming to you, and staff can pull their own IRP5 and check their leave balance from the portal.
Reporting you get each month
- Payroll summary by employee and by department or cost centre
- Statutory summary showing PAYE, UIF and SDL for the EMP201
- Leave liability report, which is a real balance sheet number most small businesses never see
- Headcount movement, showing starters and leavers for the month
- Payroll journal, ready to post or posted directly to your accounting system
Scope
What you get
Full processing
Any cycle, any headcount, including multiple cycles in one company.
Payslips to staff
BCEA compliant, delivered by email or self service portal.
Bank payment file
Ready to import into your business banking platform after you approve the schedule.
EMP201 filed
Prepared, checked and submitted on eFiling before the 7th, with the payment reference in advance.
Payroll journal
Posted into your accounting system so payroll and the ledger agree.
Monthly reports
Cost by department, leave liability, headcount movement and statutory summary.
Questions
Monthly payroll processing: common questions
What information do you need from me each month?
New starters with their ID, tax number and bank details, anyone who has left and their last day, hours or overtime for wage staff, commission or bonus amounts, leave taken, and any change to a deduction. If nothing has changed, tell us that and the payroll runs on last month's figures.
When do you need it by?
We ask for changes at least three working days before your pay date. That leaves time for the calculation, your approval and the bank file to reach you before payday rather than on it.
Can employees access their own payslips?
Yes. Payslips are emailed directly to each employee, and a self service portal is available where staff can pull historic payslips, their IRP5 and their leave balance without going through you.
Do you handle terminations and final pay?
Yes. Final pay is calculated to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, including notice pay, outstanding leave encashment and pro rata thirteenth cheque where applicable, and we issue the certificate of service and the UI-19 the employee needs to claim UIF.
Can you run payroll for a company with three employees?
Yes. There is a minimum monthly charge because the fixed work of a payroll run does not shrink to nothing, but small employers are well served by outsourcing precisely because the obligations apply in full from the first employee.
Do you post the payroll into my accounting system?
Yes, where you are on Xero, Sage, QuickBooks or Zoho. The journal is posted with the correct split between gross pay, employer contributions and the liability accounts, so nothing has to be recaptured.
Let's put a number on it.
Tell us your headcount and what you need covered. You get a written, fixed monthly quote within 48 hours. No obligation, no sales pressure.