GUIDE FOR GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS ON MAKING Pay-as-you-Earn (PAYE) PAYMENTS
There are a number of options available to you if you want to make a payment to SARS.
Payments via eFiling
All debit pull transactions have been discontinued and only credit push transactions will be accepted on eFiling. Taxpayers are advised to set-up a credit push option or use one of SARS’ alternative methods of payment. With a Credit push, the payment is performed by you, the bank account holder. When making a payment to SARS, eFiling will send a payment request to your bank which will indicate the amount that needs to be paid and gives a payment reference number (PRN).
The taxpayer then physically authorises this request normally via internet banking. This acts as an instruction to the bank to make the payment to SARS. The following banks can be used for Credit push transactions: ABSA, Capitec Bank, CITIBank, FNB, Investec, Nedbank and Standard Bank.
Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)
Payment may be made via the internet banking facilities by simply using the standard drop-down listing of pre-loaded beneficiary IDs provided by the bank. All SARS beneficiary IDs are prefixed with the naming convention “SARS- <Tax Type>”. All internet payments must be correctly referenced to ensure that SARS is able to identify your payment and correctly allocate it to your account. You will not be able to make a payment if your reference is incorrect. The following banks support this method: ABSA, Grobank Ltd (previously Bank of Athens), Capitec Bank, FNB, HBZ Bank LTD, HSBC, Investec, Mercantile Bank, Nedbank and Standard Bank.
How to Make a Payment to SARS
Important Points to remember are:
- When making a payment, quote the correct 19-digit PRN to ensure that payments are easily identified and correctly allocated the item(s) in the account.
- For those tax types where a PRN is not pre-populated on a tax return/declaration, the 19-digit PRN must still be manually determined by clients with reference to the tax account, tax type, and tax period. Insert zeros in front of a number, where the number does not meet the required number of digits.
Example of 19 Digit Payment Reference Number
| Tax Type | Payment Reference Number | Beneficiary ID |
| Assessed Tax | Unique 19-digit PRN appearing on the relevant payment form | SARS-ITA |
| Provisional Tax | Unique 19-digit PRN appearing on the relevant payment form | SARS-PROV |
| Administrative Penalties | Unique 19-digit PRN appearing on the relevant payment form | SARS-ITA |
| Employees Taxes | Unique 19-digit PRN appearing on the relevant payment form | SARS-PAYE |
| VAT and Diesel | Unique 19-digit PRN appearing on the relevant payment form | SARS-VAT |
