If your household is registered with the Compensation Fund and has not filed its 2025 Return of Earnings, or any earlier one, file it before 31 October 2026. The Fund published a final reminder in the Government Gazette on 8 September 2026 (Notice 4140 of 2026). After 31 October the Compensation Commissioner can raise your assessment on an estimate of your earnings and add a penalty of up to 10% of the final assessment. Every household that employs a domestic worker is an employer under COIDA, so the notice applies to you as much as to a business.
What the notice says
- It is addressed to all employers who have not complied with section 82 of COIDA, the section that requires a yearly Return of Earnings.
- The notice says the Act requires the return before 31 March each year, or by the date the Compensation Fund Commissioner announces. For 2026 the window for the 2025 assessment period was 1 April to 30 June.
- If an employer has not filed before 31 October 2026, the Commissioner may raise an assessment on estimated earnings (section 83(6)(a)) and may impose a penalty not exceeding 10% of the final assessment (section 83(6)(b)).
- Returns can be filed online at cfonline.labour.gov.za, or by email to cfcallcentre@labour.gov.za.
- The notice also reminds employers that the Department can carry out compliance reviews and audits under COIDA.
Which return is outstanding
The 2025 return covers what you paid your domestic workers from 1 March 2025 to 28 February 2026, plus an estimate for 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027. If you were registered before then and never filed, earlier years are outstanding too.
What it costs to file
The assessment is 1.04% of what you paid in the year, with a minimum of R560 per household. For a full-time worker on the minimum wage for 40 hours a week it is about R654 a year. Filing on time keeps it at that. An estimated assessment can be higher than your real wages justify, and the penalty comes on top.
What to do this month
- Find your CF registration number.
- Add up what you paid her from 1 March 2025 to 28 February 2026, from her payslips or your bank transfers.
- File on ROE Online at cfonline.labour.gov.za, or email the return to cfcallcentre@labour.gov.za.
- Pay the notice of assessment within 30 days.
If you never registered, register first: see COIDA for domestic workers. The full filing walk-through is in the Return of Earnings guide.
How AskMandla handles it
COIDA registration and the annual Return of Earnings are handled by our team behind the scenes for households on our full service, with the earnings totals taken from the payslips we already run. It is part of the full service, R450 once-off per worker and then R49 a month, with no extra fee for COIDA. See COIDA registration and Return of Earnings.
Questions people ask
Does the 31 October 2026 COIDA deadline apply to households?
Yes. Every household that employs a domestic worker must register with the Compensation Fund and file a Return of Earnings, so the final reminder applies to households that have not filed.
What happens if I miss 31 October 2026?
The Compensation Commissioner can raise your assessment on estimated earnings and add a penalty of up to 10% of the final assessment. File as soon as you can either way.
Sources
- Notice 4140 of 2026, Government Gazette 55347, 8 September 2026
- Notice 3894 of 2026, Government Gazette 54524, 15 April 2026 (the 2026 window)
- Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act 130 of 1993, sections 82 and 83, as amended by Act 10 of 2022