UIF declarations, UI-19s and the COIDA return
What Achekam prepares from payroll for UIF and COIDA, and what a South African employer still files itself, including the 2026/27 COIDA earnings ceiling.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Running a business businesses in South Africa
SARS is not the only body a South African employer reports to. The Unemployment Insurance Fund expects a monthly declaration and a form for every employee who leaves. The Compensation Fund, which covers injuries at work under COIDA, expects an annual Return of Earnings. Each has its own forms, its own channel and its own way of catching up with employers who fall behind.
These returns are easy to neglect because the money involved feels small next to PAYE. The consequences are not small: an employee who cannot claim UIF because their former employer never sent a UI-19, or an injured worker whose claim stalls because the employer's COIDA account is not in order. This article covers what Achekam prepares and what remains your job.
The monthly UIF declaration
Every month, an employer declares its employees and their earnings for UIF purposes. In Achekam, the monthly UIF declaration is prepared from payroll, from the same approved runs that produce payslips.
Because it comes from the runs, the declaration is only as accurate as the employee records behind it. Before each month's declaration, check that new starters have been added with full details and that anyone who left has their end date recorded. A person then files the declaration and records the reference in Achekam.
The UI-19 for an employee who leaves
When someone leaves, whatever the reason, the employer completes a UI-19 for them. It tells the Fund when the employment ended and why. Without it, a former employee who needs to claim unemployment benefits can be held up. The Department of Employment and Labour publishes the gazetted UI-19 form, which employers use to declare employee and remuneration details, including new appointments and terminations.
Achekam prepares the UI-19 for an employee who leaves from payroll. Make it part of your leaving routine rather than something done when the former employee phones to ask for it:
- Record the end date and the reason in payroll.
- Run the final pay.
- Produce the UI-19 from Achekam.
- File it and record the reference.
- Give the former employee a copy with their final payslip.
The COIDA Return of Earnings and the earnings ceiling
Once a year, an employer registered with the Compensation Fund submits a Return of Earnings, declaring what it paid its employees. The Fund uses it, with the employer's assessment rate, to work out what the employer owes.
Achekam prepares the COIDA Return of Earnings from payroll. One condition matters: an employer that has not entered its Compensation Fund assessment rate gets a Return of Earnings without an assessment figure. The earnings are there; the amount owed is not. Enter the rate the Fund gave you before you produce the return.
The Fund caps the earnings it assesses per employee. At the time of writing:
| Assessment year | Earnings ceiling per employee |
|---|---|
| 2025/26 | R633,168 a year |
| 2026/27, which started on 1 March 2026 | R668,000 a year |
Earnings above the ceiling for an employee are not assessed. The 2026/27 figure comes from Notice 3910 of 2026 in Government Gazette 54577, dated 24 April 2026. Before you file, check that each employee's earnings on the return are capped at the ceiling for the year the figures relate to, and look out for the Fund's notice for the following year.
No E03 electronic file
Achekam prepares the content of these returns, but it does not produce the Department of Employment and Labour's E03 electronic file. In practice, that means the person filing takes the figures Achekam prepared and submits them through the Department's own channel, rather than uploading a file Achekam generated.
Plan for that in your month-end timetable. Keying or uploading declarations by hand takes longer than people expect, especially in the first months.
Filing and recording the reference
Achekam does not file any payroll return with, or pay, any authority. It prepares the documents and records what a person filed and paid. For each UIF declaration, UI-19 and Return of Earnings, the person who files it records the reference in Achekam.
Those references are your evidence. If the Fund later says a declaration was never received, the reference and the date are what settle it.
Records worth keeping
Keep a small file for these returns, separate from your SARS records:
- your UIF and Compensation Fund registration numbers;
- the letter or notice that gives your current COIDA assessment rate;
- each month's UIF declaration reference, and the date it was filed;
- a copy of every UI-19, with the date the former employee received theirs;
- each year's Return of Earnings, its reference and proof of payment.
When an inspector visits or a former employee's claim is queried, this file answers most questions straight away.
Who does what
| Return | How often | Achekam | You |
|---|---|---|---|
| UIF declaration | Monthly | Prepares it from payroll | File it, record the reference |
| UI-19 | When someone leaves | Prepares it from payroll | File it, give the employee a copy |
| COIDA Return of Earnings | Yearly | Prepares it from payroll; needs your assessment rate for the amount owed | Check the ceiling, file it, pay, record the reference |
All three returns start from the same payroll, so they depend on a confirmed tax table; see confirming the 2026/27 tax table before payday. Paying staff is a separate step again, covered in producing a wages file your bank will import. If you also employ people in Nigeria or Kenya, what payroll does not yet do for NG and KE employers explains how the statutory side differs there.
Enter your Compensation Fund assessment rate this week if it is missing. It is the one figure that turns your Return of Earnings from a list of wages into an amount you can pay.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
