SARS PAYE Update: New rules from 1 March 2026
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SARS updated the PAYE Employer Reconciliation rules (PAYE Employer Reconciliation BRS for 2026 / 2027) with the following changes from the 2026 budget speech changes related to long service awards and compensation i.r.o. death during employment and new source code for travel reimbursement related to the previous tax year. Effective 1 March 2026 (with system changes coming in September), the latest BRS introduces new source codes, stricter validations, and tighter identity rules. The changes are summarised below:
1️⃣New source codes introduced
SARS added multiple new codes, including:
3061, 3067, 3071, 3076, 3081
4590 (latest addition)
👉 Payroll systems should be updated or your submissions will fail.
2️⃣Identity & employee verification just got stricter
The biggest shift is around who your employee actually is.
Key changes:
Additional ID (3061) now matters more in specific cases
Country of Birth (3081) becomes mandatory for ITREG submissions
Expired passport details (3071 / 3076) introduced for tracking foreign individuals
More validation rules linking ID, passport, and country data
👉 SARS is clearly closing loopholes around foreign workers, asylum seekers, and identity mismatches.
3️⃣Validation rules tightened across the board
New validations affect multiple core fields, including:
Names (no numeric characters allowed)
Income tax numbers (must pass strict checks, no zero-only entries)
PAYE-linked validations across codes like 3696, 3698, 4118, etc.
👉 This means more rejections, more rework, more time spent fixing files before submission.
4️⃣Payroll data quality is now a compliance risk
This update reinforces one thing:
SARS is no longer tolerating “close enough” payroll data.
Missing fields → rejected submissions
Incorrect IDs → flagged employees
Inconsistent data → audit triggers
👉 Payroll is no longer admin. It’s a compliance control point.
⚠️ What this means for your practice
If you’re a business accountant running payroll for clients:
You carry the risk when submissions fail
You fix the data when systems don’t align
You explain the penalties when SARS rejects files.
And now the margin for error is smaller than ever.
💡 The real shift
This isn’t about forms. It’s about data integrity becoming enforceable. SARS is building a system where:
Every employee must be traceable
Every value must validate
Every submission must align perfectly.
👉And if it doesn’t, it doesn’t go through.
✅ What you should do now
Check your payroll software is aligned to BRS v25.1.0
Review how you capture ID, passport, and foreign employee data
Test validation rules before submission season hits
Clean your client data now, not during deadline week.
