Basic Info

This screen is where you will enter most of the employee's details such as their name, address, identification numbers, and relevant dates. It is the second step in adding a new employee, but you can also access it at any time:

  1. Go to Employees, and select the relevant employee.
  2. Click Edit Info > Basic Info.

Selected fields in the Essentials section are explained below.

The Pay Frequency is how often they are paid, e.g. weekly or monthly. You would have set up at least one pay frequency as part of adding the company, and all available pay frequencies will appear in the drop-down. If the frequency you need isn't there – for example, if you've always had weekly-paid employees and are now adding someone who is paid monthly – you will need to add this new pay frequency first. This process is explained here.

The employee's First Names (including all middle names) and Last Name should be entered in full and as they appear on their identification documents.

You should take great care to confirm the accuracy of the Date of Birth and Date of Appointment as these fields could have a significant impact on the employee's tax calculation and leave cycles/entitlements, respectively.

Employees under the age of 16

Some industries, such as Entertainment and Modelling, sometimes employ individuals under the age of 16. By default, SimplePay prevents users from adding minors to the system as per legislation; however, these industries are exempt from this requirement. Therefore, we can override the limitation to allow employees under 16.

To enable this feature:

  1. Click Settings > Advanced > General.
  2. Check the Allow employees outside age limit (e.g. entertainment industry) box.
  3. Click Save.

If the employee is very young, you will not be able to select their date of birth from the calendar. Instead, on the Basic Info screen, you will need to manually enter their Date of Birth, for example, "12 Jan 2016".

For each Identification Type, you will be required to enter a valid identification number. If you are unsure of the type, or if the employee has not provided you with any form of identification, select "None" for now. This information will have to be completed before you do your bi-annual filing.

Unique ID numbers

Confirm that, when adding a new employee or updating the ID number of an active employee, there is no other active employee with the same ID number.

Where "EFT" is selected as the Payment method, the employee's bank details must be entered. If you are going to be paying the employee by EFT but do not have their bank details yet, you can select "Cash". You will, however, need to confirm that their bank details have been entered before creating your first pay run in order to use our EFT export file to pay this employee.

Paying your employees

The Payment method records how you've chosen to pay this employee. SimplePay doesn't process payments to your employees directly, and we don't integrate with your bank to pay them on your behalf. Instead, you can download an EFT file and upload it to your banking platform. See the EFT Settings help page for more.

The employee's Address(es) and Income Tax Number are not compulsory during setup but are required for filing with SARS, so we recommend entering them at the outset where possible.

Valid income tax number

When entering an income tax number for an employee, you must use a valid number. For example, "0000000000" will not be accepted, and you will be unable to save.

Country and Code fields

If the Country field in the Residential Address section is set to "South Africa", the Code field above it is mandatory for SARS reporting purposes. If a foreign country is selected, the Code is optional.

Certain information requires additional setup before it can be entered. Please see the Pay Points and Job Grades help pages for more information.

If you are adding a new employee and have captured all of the necessary information in this section, you can move on to the final step – capturing their Regular Hours.

Keep your employee contact details up to date on the system for accurate reporting to SARS.