UIF done the easy way

Life does not always go as planned, and often circumstances outside of our control lead to unfortunate outcomes, such as being retrenched or having to let go or retrench someone in your employ.

Being unemployed can be incredibly overwhelming and stressful as the majority of people cannot afford to be unemployed for an extended period of time.

South Africa has an Unemployment Insurance Fund from which workers can claim for a limited time to offer short-term financial assistance to workers when they become unemployed or are unable to work. This can be due to illness, maternity or adoption leave. The fund also assists dependants of a contributing worker who has died.

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The fund has a very easy to follow online system that is explained further down in this article.

Who is an employer?

“Employer” means any person, including a person acting in a fiduciary capacity, who pays or is liable to pay to any person any amount by way of remuneration, and any person responsible for the payment of any amount by way of remuneration to any person under the provisions of any law or out of public funds, excluding any person who is not acting as a principal.

Who is an employee?

“Employee” means any natural person who receives remuneration or to whom remuneration accrues in respect of services rendered or to be rendered by that person, but excludes any independent contractor.

How to declare and pay:
All registered employers are required to submit employee returns as per the UIF Act.
The employee returns must provide the details of all employees employed for the period in question.
In order to capture the return information, you would need the following information:

Employer UIF reference number
Employee identification number
Employee start work date
Employee salary details
Employee period of employment
Hours worked
Termination date (in the event the employee is terminated)
The termination reason (in the event the employee is terminated)
The returns must be submitted no later than the seventh of each month for the preceding month
We encourage all employers to submit their returns online
Once you submit your returns online, you will be able to make payments using the payment functionality.
SARS registered employers may still submit returns online, however, may not make payments via uFiling and payment needs to be made directly to SARS.

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How to apply:

To activate your employee account you need to have the following documents and information available:

Your valid 13-digit South African ID number
Your email address where all correspondence will be emailed
Cellphone number mandatory
As an online registered employee you will be able to securely submit your Application for Benefits (for Unemployment, Reduced Time Benefits, Maternity, Illness and Adoption), to submit Continuation of Benefits and Notice of Appeal.

How to register:

In order to use the uFiling website and services, you need to complete a registration process to obtain
your own unique login name and password.
Step 1
Open a browser and go to www.ufiling.co.za to access the home page. Click on “REGISTER” in the top
right-hand corner to review the terms and conditions for use of the Unemployment Insurance Fund
portal. You need to accept the terms and conditions and then click on “Continue” to proceed.

Step 2
Complete all the required information and click on “Register”. This will send the captured data to the
UIF for verification.

Step 3
When you receive the activation message via your preferred method of contact, click on the link
provided to activate your account.

Step 4
Use the username and temporary password provided in the email or SMS to log on to your new uFiling
account.