How UIF is worked out, and the monthly ceiling
How much UIF a South African employer deducts and pays, how the remuneration ceiling caps it, when it is paid, and checking the ceiling in your tax table.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in South Africa
UIF looks like the simplest line on a South African payslip: a small percentage, the same for everyone. Then the business hires its first well-paid manager, and the UIF on that payslip is no bigger than the UIF on a mid-level salary. Someone asks whether payroll has made a mistake.
It has not. UIF is charged on pay only up to a ceiling, and above it the contribution stops growing. This article explains how the contribution is split between employee and employer, where the ceiling sits and what it does to the maximum deduction, when the money is due, and how Achekam applies the ceiling from your own confirmed tax table.
One percent each
SARS says the employee's UIF contribution is 1% of remuneration, and the employer must pay a total of 2%: 1% deducted from the employee and 1% from the employer. The government's UIF services page puts it the same way: the monthly contribution is two percent of the worker's gross salary, with the employer deducting one percent from the worker and contributing one percent itself.
So UIF is two equal halves:
| Part | Who bears it | How it appears |
|---|---|---|
| Employee's 1% | The employee | A deduction on the payslip |
| Employer's 1% | The business | A cost to the business, not shown as a deduction |
| Total 2% | Paid over by the employer | One payment for both halves |
The employer is responsible for paying over both halves, including the part taken from the employee's pay. If the deduction was made but never paid over, the business has kept money that belongs to the Fund.
The ceiling and the maximum contribution
SARS says UIF contributions are calculated on remuneration up to a ceiling of R17 712 per month, which is R212 544 a year, a ceiling that has applied from 1 June 2021. As a result, the maximum employee contribution is R177.12 per month.
In practice:
- An employee earning below the ceiling contributes 1% of their actual remuneration, and the employer matches it.
- An employee earning above the ceiling contributes R177.12 a month, however much they earn, and the employer's 1% is worked out on the same capped figure.
A worked example in words: a bookkeeper earning less than the ceiling pays 1% of her salary, and her UIF moves up and down with overtime. Her manager earns well above the ceiling, so his deduction is R177.12 every month, including the month he receives a large bonus. The bonus pushes his pay further above the ceiling, but the contribution does not change.
The ceiling here is the figure SARS gave at the time of writing. SARS's Unemployment Insurance Fund page sets out the contribution rates, the remuneration ceiling and the payment rules for employers registered with it.
Paying by the seventh
Two sources set the payment date, in slightly different words.
SARS says UIF contributions must be paid within seven days after the end of the month in which they were deducted, using the EMP201. If that day falls on a weekend or public holiday, payment is due on the last business day before it.
The Department of Employment and Labour's basic guide to the UIF says the worker's 1% and the employer's 1% are paid to the Fund on or before the 7th day of every month.
For an employer registered with SARS, the practical result is the same: the month's UIF goes with the EMP201 early in the following month. An employer that is not registered with SARS pays the UI Commissioner instead. Either way, the money comes with monthly declarations of who was paid what, covered in UIF declarations, UI-19s and the COIDA return.
How Achekam applies the ceiling
In Achekam, the South African payroll calculation caps UIF at the ceiling, together with applying the tax brackets, age rebates, medical tax credits, the retirement-contribution deduction limit and the SDL exemption. All of these come from the confirmed tax table.
That is the important word. Achekam ships its payroll tax tables pre-loaded but unconfirmed, and no payroll run uses a table until a named person at your business confirms your own copy. The South African table that ships is the 2025/26 one. Confirming creates your copy; the shared table stays unconfirmed for everyone else.
So the ceiling Achekam applies is the ceiling in your confirmed table. If that figure is right, every high earner's UIF stops at the right point. If it is wrong, the error repeats on every payslip above the ceiling, every month, until someone notices.
Checking the ceiling before you confirm
Before confirming each year's table, compare the UIF ceiling in it with SARS's published figure. A few checks make the comparison quick:
- Find the monthly ceiling in the table and compare it with SARS's page.
- Multiply it by 1% and check the result against SARS's maximum employee contribution.
- Run a test payslip for your highest earner and confirm the UIF line matches that maximum.
- Run one for an employee below the ceiling and confirm it is 1% of their pay.
- Note in your confirmation which SARS page you checked and on what date.
Staff who work very few hours for you are a separate case: below a certain number of hours a month, no UIF is payable at all. That is covered in staff working under 24 hours a month.
When the question comes up again
When an employee asks why their UIF has not gone up with their raise, the answer is the ceiling, and you can show them SARS's figure. When SARS changes the ceiling, your table has to change before the next run it affects. Keep that check on the list for each new tax year, and the UIF line will look after itself.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
