14. EMPLOYERS TO KEEP RECORDS AND FURNISH RETURNS
(1) In addition to the records required in accordance with Part A of Chapter 4 of the Tax Administration Act, every employer shall in respect of each employee maintain a record showing-
(a) the amounts of remuneration paid or due by him or her to such employee;
(b) the amount of employees’ tax deducted or withheld from the amounts of remuneration contemplated in item;
(c) the income tax reference number of that employee where that employee is registered as a taxpayer in terms of section 67; and
(d) such further information as the Commissioner may prescribe,
and such record shall be retained by the employer and shall be available for scrutiny by the Commissioner.
(2) Every employer shall when making any payment of employees’ tax submit to the Commissioner a return.
(3) Every employer shall –
(a) by such date or dates as prescribed by the Commissioner by notice in the Gazette; and
(b) if the employer ceases to carry on any business or other undertaking in respect of which the employer has paid or becomes liable to pay remuneration to any employee or otherwise ceases to be an employer, within 14 days after the date on which the employer has so ceased to carry on that business or undertaking or to be an employer, as the case may be,
or within such longer time as the Commissioner may approve, render to the Commissioner a return.
(4) ……….
(5) Unless the Commissioner otherwise directs, no employees’ tax certificate as contemplated in paragraph 13(2)(a) or (c) shall be delivered by the employer until such time as the return contemplated in subparagraph (3) has been rendered to the Commissioner.
[Subparagraph (5) added by section 22 of Act 4 of 2008, substituted by section 16 of Act 61 of 2008 effective on 29 August 2008 and section 13 of Act 23 of 2015 effective on 8 January 2016]
(6) If an employer fails to render to the Commissioner a complete return referred to in subparagraph (3) within the period prescribed in that subparagraph , the Commissioner may impose on that employer a penalty, which is deemed to be a percentage based penalty imposed under Chapter 15 of the Tax Administration Act, for each month that the employer fails to submit a complete return which, in total, may not exceed 10 per cent of the total amount of employees’ tax deducted or withheld, or which should have been deducted or withheld by the employer from the remuneration of employees for the period described in that subparagraph .
[Subparagraph (6) added by section 22(1)(b) of Act 4 of 2008 and substituted by section 22 of Act 8 of 2010, by section 271 read with paragraph 85(e) of Schedule 1 of Act 28 of 2011, by section 20 of Act 21 of 2012 and by section 9 of Act 33 of 2019]
(7) If the total amount of employees’ tax deducted or withheld, or which should have been deducted or withheld for the period described in subparagraph (3), is unknown, the Commissioner may estimate the total amount based on information readily available and impose the penalty under subparagraph (6) on the amount so estimated.
[Subparagraph (7) added by section 7 of Act 21 of 2021]
(8) Where, upon determining the actual employees’ tax of the person in respect of whom the penalty was imposed under subparagraph (7), it appears that the total amount of employees’ tax was incorrectly estimated under subparagraph (7), the penalty must be adjusted in accordance with the correct amount of employees’ tax effective on the date of the imposition of the penalty under subparagraph (6) read with subparagraph (7).
[Subparagraph (8) added by section 7 of Act 21 of 2021]