If you pay someone to work for you — a nanny, a gardener, household help, or staff in a small business — you almost certainly have to register them for UIF (the Unemployment Insurance Fund). It is a legal obligation for nearly every employer, and it is cheaper and simpler than most people expect.
How much is UIF?
UIF is 2% of the employee's earnings in total, split evenly:
- 1% is deducted from the employee's wage.
- 1% is paid by the employer, on top of the wage.
So for a worker earning R4,000 a month, you deduct R40 from their pay and add R40 of your own, and R80 goes to the fund each month.
The earnings ceiling
Contributions are capped. The UIF earnings ceiling is R17,712 a month. Any earnings above that are ignored for UIF, so the maximum contribution is:
- Employee: R177.12
- Employer: R177.12
- Total: R354.24 a month
An employee earning R25,000 still only contributes R177.12, because the calculation stops at the ceiling.
How to register for UIF
- Register as an employer with the Department of Employment and Labour, either on the uFiling website or at a labour centre.
- Register each employee by name and ID number.
- Declare and pay monthly. Each month you submit a declaration of who was paid and how much, and pay the 2% by the 7th of the following month.
Household employers can register through the domestic-employer path on uFiling, which is designed for exactly this situation.
Why it matters to the worker
UIF is not a tax that disappears. It is insurance. If the employee loses the job, goes on maternity leave, or falls ill and cannot work, they can claim from the fund — but only if their contributions were declared. Skipping UIF quietly removes a safety net the worker is legally entitled to.
Making the monthly declaration painless
The monthly declaration is where most small employers fall behind, because it means keeping wage records and filling in a uFiling form every month. WageDesk keeps the wage record automatically and generates your monthly UIF declaration file — ready to upload to uFiling — so the admin is a two-minute job instead of a monthly headache.
Want to see what a compliant payslip looks like alongside your UIF? Read what must be on a South African payslip.
Want the exact split for a wage? Use the free UIF calculator - type the monthly wage and get both contributions instantly.