The most common reason is that she was never declared under your UIF number. Your UIF reference number belongs to you, the employer. Your worker only counts towards it once she has been declared under it, with her ID or passport number, her start date and her pay. A payment with your reference number on it is credited to your account and says nothing about which worker or which month it is for. So you can pay every month and she can still have no UIF record. The fix is to declare her under your number from the day she started working for you.
Registering, declaring and paying are three different things
| Step | What it does | Where it happens |
|---|---|---|
| Registering | Gives you, the employer, a UIF reference number | Once: uFiling, or the UI-8D form |
| Declaring | Puts your worker on your number, with her ID or passport number, start date and pay, so the contributions count for her | On uFiling, or on a UI-19 form |
| Paying | Sends the money (1% from you, 1% from her) to the Fund | Monthly, before the 7th, with your reference number |
A UIF claim looks at the declarations under her ID number. If none are there, the Department cannot see that she worked for you, whatever you paid.
How to tell if she is not declared
- She goes to claim and is told there is no record of you as her employer.
- The Department checks her ID number and your employer reference number does not come up against it.
- On uFiling, she is not listed in your employment summary, or the months show as not submitted in the declarations manager.
Your bank statement proves you paid. Only the declarations prove she was declared. If you are unsure, the Department can check her ID number against your reference number.
How to fix it
- Do not register again. If you already have a reference number, a new registration only creates confusion. Use the number you have.
- Add her under your number on uFiling, or on a UI-19, with her real start date with you. Not the date you registered, and not the date you started paying.
- Declare every month from her start date to now, with what you paid her each month.
- Pay any months that were never paid, plus a once-off 10% penalty on the unpaid amount, using your reference number. The full method, with a worked example, is in UIF arrears, step by step.
- Keep declaring from now on, so her record stays current.
If she has a passport, not a South African ID
You can still declare her. uFiling accepts a passport or permit number for a worker on the employer's side. Keep her declarations up to date so her record is there when she claims.
How AskMandla helps
On our full service, her UIF is worked out on every payslip, her 1% comes off her pay and your 1% is added. Once your UIF reference number is confirmed and on file, we declare her under it and pay her UIF every month. If she was never linked before you joined us, we add her with her real start date and declare the earlier months with no AskMandla fee; you still pay the contributions for the months before you joined, plus the once-off 10% penalty, to the Fund. The months since you joined are paid from the UIF already deducted on her payslips, so you are not charged twice. If you only want the catch-up on its own, we do that too: see UIF back pay, done for you.
Questions people ask
Why is my domestic worker's UIF not showing?
Usually because she was never declared under your UIF reference number, even though contributions were paid. Declare her under your number from her real start date, and the months will count for her.
Does paying UIF register my worker?
No. Paying sends money to the Fund against your employer reference number. She has to be declared under that number, with her ID or passport number, start date and pay, for the money to count towards her claim.
Can I declare my worker for months that have already passed?
Yes. Declare every month from her start date with you. Any month that was never paid also needs paying, with the 10% penalty on the unpaid amount.
Sources
- Unemployment Insurance Act 63 of 2001: the employer's duty to give the Commissioner each employee's details, and benefits payable only to declared contributors
- Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act 4 of 2002, section 13 (the 10% penalty)