Deductions for PAYE

[QMarigold]

Is it possible for the employer to deduct (hugely) different amounts of PAYE from employees even though their salaries stay the same.For instance, can an employer some times not deduct at all and then make up for the deficit by deducting more another month.

Basically the employer deducts different amounts each month, some more some less, on the same salary scale, as long as the required amount is met at the end of the tax period. I don't know if this is legal, and I understand if the salaries fluctuate or if its a March payslip etc. But I've noticed big differences in the amounts and when i queried it i was told that as long as they meet the annual requirement, it doesn't really matter how much they deduct. Is this possible? It seems kind of dodgy to play with people's budgets like that at least.

 

[ArmatageShanks]

Why would they do this on purpose, unless you asked them to?

 

[QMarigold]

Why would they do this on purpose, unless you asked them to?

Honestly. I have no idea, I started noticing it and then spoke to my sister who works for a different company (both of us work for Taiwanese owned companies), but the same thing happens there, They break your salary up in bonuses and then over or under tax you on the whole amount.

 

[acidrain]

Do they use a payroll system? We use Pastel and with my knowledge of how the system works, is deductions are automatically calculated and can't be manually set.

It is strange that for a set salary you are being taxed differently as my payslips to date have remained the same, so either there are additional remunerations set on your pay causing the system to re-calculate or they are doing everything manually and not using an automated system.

Either way, this is partly why it is important to always do a tax return. As far as illegal, if it's a statutory deduction then it is legal. You would have to prove otherwise. Tax season is coming up now anyways so will be easy to work that out. Get all your payslips for the year ending and add up all the tax paid and compare it to your irp5.

 

[QMarigold]

Do they use a payroll system? We use Pastel and with my knowledge of how the system works, is deductions are automatically calculated and can't be manually set.

It is strange that for a set salary you are being taxed differently as my payslips to date have remained the same, so either there are additional remunerations set on your pay causing the system to re-calculate or they are doing everything manually and not using an automated system.

Either way, this is partly why it is important to always do a tax return. As far as illegal, if it's a statutory deduction then it is legal. You would have to prove otherwise. Tax season is coming up now anyways so will be easy to work that out. Get all your payslips for the year ending and add up all the tax paid and compare it to your irp5.

We don't get our IRP 5 unless we explicitly ask for them( i asked the accountant and she said she doesn't give them out because no one's salaries meet the required threshold to file a tax return) They use excel to do all their accounting and the woman who does the salaries very old, with very limited computer knowledge.

But thanks, will recon it by myself. If they did deduct too much/ too little what do I do then?

 

[acidrain]

We don't get our IRP 5 unless we explicitly ask for them( i asked the accountant and she said she doesn't give them out because no one's salaries meet the required threshold to file a tax return)

We run the same but more because printing all of them only to have 2 people collect is a waste of resources. Also you can view your irp5 details on efiling. This has to be submitted by the company anyways to sars. I think she means that no ones salary meets the minimum requirement for personal tax return ( i.e. you not obligated to file a return ).

They use excel to do all their accounting and the woman who does the salaries very old, with very limited computer knowledge.

When it's manual there's probably bound to be a mix up somewhere. Human error and all. It happened a few times in my companies younger years before payroll.

I'd definitely file a tax return this year in that case.

If they did deduct too much/ too little what do I do then?

If they deducted too little, you will owe SARS money. If they deducted too much, SARS will owe you money.