Payroll services
Professional payroll processing services
Payroll processing turns employment data into an accurate, compliant and auditable pay run. Patuza collects your payroll input, calculates earnings and deductions, produces BCEA-compliant payslips and delivers the reports your finance team needs — every cycle, on time.
What payroll processing involves
A payroll run is a controlled process, not a spreadsheet exercise. Each cycle moves through input collection, calculation, validation, approval and distribution, with a full audit trail behind every figure. Statutory results feed directly into your payroll compliance obligations.
- Payroll input collection: new engagements, terminations, salary changes, overtime, leave, allowances and once-off payments
- Payroll calculations: gross earnings, pro-rata amounts, statutory and voluntary deductions, employer contributions
- Payslips: itemised, BCEA-compliant and distributed securely to each employee
- Payroll validation: variance checks against the previous cycle before anything is finalised
- Payroll reports: cost, deduction, third-party and general ledger reports issued with each run
Earnings, deductions and contributions
Earnings
Basic salary or wages, overtime, Sunday and public holiday pay, shift allowances, travel and cellphone allowances, commission, bonuses and once-off payments are all treated according to their correct payroll and tax classification.
Deductions
Statutory deductions such as PAYE and UIF are calculated on the correct remuneration base, alongside voluntary deductions like retirement funding, medical aid and loan repayments. See PAYE and statutory deductions for how the deduction hierarchy works.
Employer and employee contributions
Employee contributions reduce net pay; employer contributions increase cost to company without appearing in take-home pay. Both are reported separately so your management accounts reflect true employment cost.
Payroll validation and controls
Before a payroll is released, Patuza runs a structured validation: cycle-on-cycle variance analysis, exception reports for negative or zero net pay, duplicate banking detail checks, and a reconciliation of statutory totals to the amounts that will be declared to SARS.
Nothing is paid or submitted until an authorised person on your side has approved the run.
Payroll frequencies and workforce types
- Monthly salaried payrolls, weekly and fortnightly wage payrolls, and mixed-frequency employers
- Fixed-term, part-time, seasonal and commission-based employees
- Bargaining council and sectoral determination environments with prescribed rates and deductions
- Multi-entity groups needing consolidated reporting across companies and cost centres
What you receive each cycle
- Approved payroll register and payslips
- Net pay banking file ready for release
- Statutory deduction summary supporting the monthly EMP201
- Third-party payment schedule for medical aid, retirement funds and other beneficiaries
- General ledger journal for import into your accounting system
Frequently asked questions
What is payroll processing?
Payroll processing is the end-to-end process of converting employment and time data into paid, compliant salaries and wages. It covers input collection, gross-to-net calculation, statutory deductions, payslip production, payment files, statutory declarations and payroll reporting.
What information is required to process payroll?
At minimum: employee master data (identity number, tax number, banking details, engagement date), the agreed remuneration package, pay frequency, and the changes for the cycle — new starters, terminations, salary changes, overtime, leave, allowances and once-off payments.
What deductions are processed through payroll?
Statutory deductions such as PAYE and the employee UIF contribution, plus permitted voluntary and contractual deductions like retirement fund contributions, medical aid, union subscriptions, garnishee or emoluments attachment orders and staff loan repayments.
What is included in outsourced payroll?
Patuza's outsourced payroll includes processing, payslips, statutory calculations and submissions, third-party payment schedules, payroll reporting, general ledger journals and year-end reconciliation support. Employees and management have a single point of contact for payroll queries.
Send us your current payroll structure and we will show you exactly how a takeover would run — parallel cycle included.
Book a consultationRelated services
- Payroll reporting →
Cost, variance, management and reconciliation reporting from every payroll cycle.
- Employee administration →
Employee records, onboarding, changes, banking details and statutory data kept accurate and secure.
- Payroll & GL reconciliation →
Payroll reconciled to the general ledger: salary expense, control accounts and payroll liabilities.
Related topics
- PAYE →
Pay-As-You-Earn: how employees' tax is calculated, withheld, declared and paid to SARS.
- UIF →
Unemployment Insurance Fund contributions, declarations and employer obligations.
- SDL →
Skills Development Levy: who pays, how it is calculated and how it is recovered.
- Net pay →
How take-home pay is derived from gross remuneration, deductions and tax.
Related insights
- What payroll processing involves →
A cycle-by-cycle walkthrough of how a South African payroll actually runs.
- BCEA payslip template →
Compliant payslip layout you can download.
- Payroll calculators →
PAYE, leave, overtime and 13th-cheque tools.