A leaving temp's tax certificate: due within 14 days
SARS's rule on giving a leaving employee an IRP5 or IT3(a) within 14 days, why it bites for temp agencies, and what stops a certificate being issued.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Recruitment businesses in South Africa
A temp finishes a six-week warehouse assignment on Friday. On Monday she calls the agency: she has a permanent job offer, the new employer's payroll wants her tax certificate from you, and she needs it this week. Your payroll person says certificates come out after the tax year ends.
That answer is wrong for someone who has left. South African law gives the employer a short deadline to hand a departing employee their tax certificate, and for a staffing agency, where people join and leave the payroll all year round, it is one of the most frequently triggered deadlines in the whole payroll calendar.
SARS's rule for employees who leave
SARS states that under paragraph 13(2)(b) of the Fourth Schedule to the Income Tax Act, an employer must deliver an employee's tax certificate within 14 days after employment ceases, including on death, resignation or retirement. It applies even if the EMP501 reconciliation for the period has not yet been submitted.
The certificate is the IRP5 where tax was deducted, or the IT3(a) where it was not. SARS sets out the rule, together with the reconciliation dates and the penalties, on its Pay As You Earn page.
So the year-end certificate run is not the only certificate run. Every leaver starts a clock.
Why the rule bites harder for agencies
Most businesses issue a handful of leaver certificates a year. An agency that places temps can have leavers every week, and each one needs a certificate within the deadline.
Two questions make it harder:
- When does employment end? A temp's assignment with one client may end while they stay on your books waiting for the next placement. Whether employment has ceased, or only an assignment has, depends on the contract you have with the temp. Agree with your adviser how your standard contract answers that, and apply it the same way every time.
- Who notices? The client knows the assignment ended. Your payroll team may only find out at the next pay run. Make "assignment ended, not re-placed" a trigger that reaches payroll the same day.
Missing numbers stop certificates
SARS states that valid income tax reference numbers for all employees are mandatory, and that from the 2026 reconciliation period EMP501 submissions without the required tax reference numbers will not be accepted.
Achekam applies a matching rule at the certificate itself: an IRP5 or IT3(a) cannot be issued while the employee's ID number or tax number is missing. A certificate with missing data can be produced for checking, but it cannot be issued.
For an agency, this is the main reason a leaver's certificate is late. Temps are often registered in a hurry, and the tax number is "to follow". By the time they leave, nobody has it. The fix belongs at sign-up:
- Collect the ID or passport number and the income tax reference number before the first shift.
- If a temp has no tax number yet, help them get one, and follow up before the first pay run.
- Check the numbers on the first payslip, not on the last.
- Do not place a temp on a second assignment while their details are incomplete.
Producing the certificate in Achekam and getting it to the temp
The certificates Achekam prepares are the year-end IRP5 and IT3(a). They are built from issued payslips and download as PDFs, carrying the business's logo and details. For a temp who leaves part-way through the tax year, confirm with your payroll adviser how the leaver's certificate will be produced within 14 days, rather than assuming the year-end run will cover it. Plan this before the next leaver, not on the day they call.
Delivering the certificate is a separate step. Achekam's automatic e-mailing covers payslips: they can be e-mailed one per person, or sent automatically when a run is approved, with a delivery log, once an e-mail service is set up on the server. A temp whose login is linked to their payroll record can download their own payslips. The tax certificate itself is a PDF your team downloads and sends to the temp, so keep a note of the date it went and the address it went to.
| Step | Owner | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment ends, temp not re-placed | Branch consultant tells payroll | Same day |
| Final pay run with any leave pay due | Payroll | Next scheduled run |
| ID and tax number checked | Payroll | Before the certificate is prepared |
| Certificate sent to the temp | Payroll | Within 14 days after employment ends |
How leavers fit the EMP501 reconciliations
SARS states that employers reconcile PAYE on the EMP501 twice a year. The interim reconciliation covers the first six months, 1 March to 31 August, and at the time of writing is submitted from 21 September to 31 October 2026. The annual reconciliation for the year ended 28 February 2026 was submitted from 1 April to 31 May 2026.
A leaver's certificate is part of those reconciliations, not something separate from them. Achekam's EMP501 reconciliation shows month by month what was deducted, declared and paid and what the certificates cover, and produces the certificate file that SARS e@syFile Employer imports. Achekam submits nothing to SARS itself: a person files and records the reference SARS gives. A leaver whose certificate could not be issued because of a missing tax number will show up again at reconciliation time, when the submission needs that number too.
What late certificates can cost
SARS states that an employer may face a fine or imprisonment of up to two years for failing to deduct PAYE or pay it over within the prescribed period, for failing to deliver IRP5 or IT3(a) certificates within the prescribed deadlines, or for using deducted tax for other purposes.
Beyond the legal risk, late certificates cost an agency goodwill. Temps talk to each other, and an agency known for slow paperwork finds it harder to attract good people for the next peak.
Put the trigger in place
Make a leaver notice from the branch the start of a short, owned process, and make tax numbers a condition of the first placement. For the final pay itself, see paying an employee who leaves, and for the year-end side of the same certificates, IRP5, IT3(a) and the EMP501.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
