Deceased Employee – responsibility of the Employer

Feb 11, 2022 | Taxation Blog

Deceased Employee – the responsibility of the Employer: The Fourth Schedule to the
Income Tax Act places various obligations on an employer in respect of the withholding
of employees’ tax and the administrative requirements related thereto.
What obligation rests on the employer?

  • Para 13(2)(b) of the Fourth Schedule provides that the employer must deliver
    an employees’ tax certificate within 14 days after the employee passed away.
    The employer is required to provide the employees’ tax certificate to the
    executor acting as the representative taxpayer of the deceased employee.
  • The provisions of para 14(5) of the Fourth Schedule that states the employees’
    tax certificate shall not be delivered until the EMP501 reconciliation is submitted
    to SARS is not applicable to the circumstances envisaged under para 13(2)(b).
    An employer must, therefore, in the case of an employee’s death, provide the
    employees’ tax certificate even if the reconciliation is not yet submitted.