Field notes from building payloop.
Engineering, tax, product, and the boring details we get right so you don’t have to.
SARS auto-assessment 2026 — what changed, how to check, how to dispute
In early July, SARS sends a few million taxpayers an SMS saying their return has been auto-completed. Here is what is actually in your auto-assessment, the dates SARS published for 2026, the new two-pot catch, how to verify it against your IRP5, and exactly what to do — and by when — if it is wrong.
Your IRP5, decoded — every source code on the certificate (2026/27)
The IT3(a) and IRP5 your employer issues looks like a wall of four-digit codes. Here is what each one means — income codes, allowances, fringe benefits, lump sums, deductions and employee tax — plus how it gets onto eFiling, why it never matches your payslips, and what to do when it doesn't arrive.
How to claim UIF online in South Africa (2026 ufiling walkthrough)
The step-by-step ufiling walkthrough the Department of Employment and Labour should have written. How to register, submit a claim for unemployment, illness, maternity, parental, adoption or dependant's benefits, request a payment, and check your status — with the statutory citations, the Van Wyk parental-leave ruling, and the error messages explained.
What matters in payroll, once compliance is handled
PAYE and the EMP201 are the floor, not the building. Eight things that decide whether your payroll function is calm or loud — accuracy, timeliness, the variable stuff, reconciliation, access, cash flow, joiner-mover-leaver, and the tooling that ties it together.
How to calculate PAYE, UIF and SDL in South Africa (2026/27 tables)
A working-from-scratch guide to South African employee tax for the 2026/27 year. New brackets, the R 17 712 UIF ceiling, the SDL R 500 000 threshold, and three worked examples — the way your payroll system actually does it.
The South African employer tax filing calendar (2026/27)
EMP201, EMP501, IRP5/IT3(a), UI-19/UI-7 and the COIDA Return of Earnings — every employer deadline for the 2026/27 tax year, in one place, with the weekend rules and penalties spelled out.
How to upload bulk salary payments to FNB, Standard Bank, Capitec, Nedbank, Absa and Investec
The exact upload path for each of the six major South African business banks, the file format they expect, and the half-dozen reasons your payroll CSV gets rejected. Written by the engineer who has fed every one of them.
What the 2026/27 SARS tax tables change for your payroll
A short, working-engineer's breakdown of the new brackets, rebates and thresholds — and what payloop has already updated for you.
The anatomy of a calm payroll run
Compile. Calculate. Export. The three-act shape that turns month-end from a two-day exercise into twenty calm minutes.