Negotiate the minefield of compliance in payroll

Compliance in any facet of business management is critical, but specifically when it comes to finances – hence the focus on accuracy and efficiency in payroll administration.
While payroll administration has always been demanding and has to be run by skilled practitioners with meticulous attention to detail and a heightened sense of responsibility, HCM and HR experts agree it has become complicated.
Businesses are compelled to be registered with various industry bodies, for example Department of Labour (UIF, Employment Equity, etc.), Commissioner of Occupational Injuries and Diseases (COID, FEM, RMA), SARS (PAYE, SDL, UIF), Bargaining Council etc.
This level of industry compliance means that there are a number of common pitfalls that typify payroll administration.
Some of these pitfalls include incorrect calculation of statutory deductions, failure to submit statutory submissions for example Department of Labour (UIF19, EEA2, EEA4 etc.), Commissioner of Occupational Injuries and Diseases (COID, FEM, RMA), SARS (EMP501, EMP201) etc.
“The financial penalties for being non-compliant are very harsh,” says Ian McAlister, GM of CRS Technologies “and there are minimum requirements to be factored in, stipulated by the various Acts.  There are several levels to compliance and this can be tricky for many businesses to handle – especially small-to-medium businesses that may not have the available capital to invest more in their payroll/HR capacity.”
According to HR and HCM solutions and services provider CRS Technologies an automated payroll for a small business generally starts at about R15 per employee, per month if run in-house. “Outsourced payroll in the region of R100 per payslip per month. A competent payroll administrator would earn about R30k per month,” says McAlister.
Going forward, the likelihood is that as payroll administration calls for more specific skills sets, legislation will be passed that will make it an offence to not run payroll on a recognised payroll system.
The company believes that it is next to impossible to run a compliant payroll on a spreadsheet.