IRP5 / IT3(a) Certificates
The IRP5 Certificate is each employee's annual tax certificate. Where no employees' tax was deducted (e.g. below the threshold), the same record functions as an IT3(a). za_local_payroll builds the certificate by grouping the year's salary-slip amounts under their SARS payroll codes.
When
At the annual reconciliation and, where required, the interim reconciliation. The interim period is 1 March to 31 August; the annual period runs to the last day of February. Generate and reconcile certificates before finalising the internal EMP501 working paper.
The app's certificate/PDF and generic exports are not the SARS BRS payroll-import or encrypted reconciliation format. Use approved SARS capture/import tooling and retain external submission evidence.
How the certificate is built
For each employee, the engine sums all submitted salary-slip components for the tax year and groups them by SARS Payroll Code into:
- Income details (e.g. 3601 normal income, 3605 annual payment, travel allowance codes, fringe-benefit codes).
- Deduction details (e.g. 4001 retirement, 4005 medical, 4102 PAYE, 4141 UIF).
- Employer contribution details (e.g. employer retirement/medical).
Components marked Exclude from IRP5 are omitted. The header pulls the employee's identity, tax reference and addresses from the Employee master, and the employer details (name, PAYE reference) from the Company.
Step-by-step
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Generate the certificates for the company and tax year (individually or in bulk from the SA Payroll workspace).
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Review each certificate. Confirm:
- Employee ID/passport and income tax reference number are present and valid.
- Residential and postal addresses are complete (required by SARS).
- Income, deduction and contribution lines carry the right SARS codes and amounts.
- The certificate totals agree with the employee's salary-slip sums for the year.
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Handle directives. If the employee had a lump sum or final settlement, the relevant Tax Directive number must appear — see Tax Directives & Final Settlements.
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Print / export. Use the IRP5 Employee Certificate print format (or IRP5-it3 Certificate for IT3(a) cases) to produce the PDF.
Audit trail
IRP5 Certificate has change tracking enabled, so edits to a certificate are recorded — important for a SARS audit. Prefer regenerating from corrected source data over hand-editing amounts.
Common issues
- Missing tax reference number — capture it on the Employee before generating.
- Totals don't match — a salary slip was amended after generation; regenerate the certificate.
- Code missing on a line — the source Salary Component has no SARS payroll code; fix the component and regenerate.
Next
Consolidate the year with the EMP501 Annual Reconciliation.