Salary Structures & Assignments
A Salary Structure defines the earnings, deductions and company contributions for a pay grade or role. A Salary Structure Assignment attaches a structure to an individual employee, with their base salary and the income tax slab to use.
1. Create a Salary Structure
Go to Salary Structure → New:
- Name it for the grade/year, e.g.
General Staff 2026-27. - Company — set it.
- Earnings — add components (Basic Salary, Travel Allowance, etc.), each with an amount or formula.
- Deductions — add PAYE, UIF Employee Contribution, Medical Aid, Pension, etc. PAYE and UIF are formula/auto-calculated by the SA engine, so you do not hand-key their amounts.
- Company Contribution —
za_local_payrolladds a Company Contribution table to the Salary Structure. Add UIF Employer Contribution and SDL Contribution here (and employer retirement/medical if applicable). These are employer costs, not employee deductions. - Save and Submit.
The Company Contribution table feeds employer costs onto the slip and payroll posting. The engine materialises the configured employer UIF and SDL rows when their statutory bases are positive, even if HRMS removed a zero structure row. Add any other employer retirement, medical or benefit contributions explicitly.
2. Create a Salary Structure Assignment per employee
Go to Salary Structure Assignment → New for each employee:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Employee | The employee. |
| Salary Structure | The structure from step 1. |
| Company | The company. |
| From Date | When this structure takes effect (use 1 March for a new tax year). |
| Base | The employee's monthly base salary. |
| Income Tax Slab | The Income Tax Slab for the tax year of the payroll period (e.g. South Africa 2026-2027). |
| Annual Bonus | (za_local_payroll field) Expected annual bonus, used to annualise PAYE correctly. |
Submit the assignment.
The Income Tax Slab link is critical: PAYE is computed from the slab on the assignment. If it points at the wrong year, PAYE will be wrong. At each tax-year rollover, create a fresh assignment dated 1 March linked to the new slab.
3. Multiple structures and changes
- Use separate structures for materially different remuneration models (e.g. monthly-paid staff vs commission earners).
- When an employee's pay changes mid-year, create a new assignment with the new base and a later From Date; do not edit a submitted assignment.
Optional: retirement funds and private benefits
If the employer offers retirement funds or fringe benefits, configure them next in Retirement Funds & Private Benefits before running payroll, so deductions and medical tax credits compute correctly.
Next
Configure Retirement Funds & Private Benefits, then capture your Employee Master & SA Details.