Is Payroll Africa suitable for farms?

Yes. Payroll Africa is used by farms across South Africa. Every industry-specific requirement listed above is handled on every plan.

Can you migrate our current payroll?

Yes, and it's free. We import your employees, YTD balances and pay history from Sage, SimplePay, PaySpace or any CSV. Most farms are fully live within 24 hours.

How much does Payroll Africa cost?

From R90/month for 2 employees, scaling to R4,182 for 200. No setup fees, cancel anytime, all features included.

Is Payroll Africa SARS compliant?

Yes. All PAYE, UIF, SDL, EMP201, EMP501 and IRP5 processes align to the current SARS tax tables and file formats.

Our employee count changes every month with seasonal workers. How is billing calculated?

Payroll Africa is billed per employee, per month, only for employees included in an active payroll run that month. In your off-season you pay for your permanent headcount; in peak season you pay for the extra seasonal workers you actually run. There is no annual contract or minimum user count.

Can we import hours from our existing clocking system?

Yes. The standard path is a CSV export from your clocking or time-and-attendance system — employee number, date, normal hours, overtime hours and shift premium codes — which Payroll Africa maps into the payroll run. If your clocking vendor has an API, we can also build a direct connector on request.

Can we split payroll between the farm and the packhouse?

Yes. Cost centres let you report payroll by farm, packhouse, orchard or production line, while still filing one consolidated EMP201 and producing a single bank payment file.

Farm

Payroll for farms in South Africa

Farm and packhouse payrolls must handle seasonal pickers, permanent workers, sectoral determination minimums, deductions for housing and food (Section 34 BCEA), UI-19 declarations and SETA (AGRISETA) skills levies — all often in remote areas with intermittent internet.

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SARS-aligned 2026/27 No credit card Free migration

Payroll Africa Editorial · SARS Payroll Compliance Team

The Payroll Africa editorial team is composed of registered tax practitioners, payroll administrators and BCEA specialists who maintain the SARS PAYE, UIF, SDL and ETI engines that power the platform. Every article is reviewed against the current SARS BRS and Basic Conditions of Employment Act before publication.

SARS registered tax practitioners
SAPA-affiliated payroll administrators
BCEA and LRA compliance reviewers

Last updated 01 Oct 2026

Payroll challenges facing South African farms

Farms have payroll pain points that generic payroll software wasn't designed for. The most common:

Seasonal peaks — hundreds of pickers for a few weeks
Packhouse piece-rate and hourly sorters on different shifts
Sectoral Determination 13 minimum wage (agriculture)
In-kind payments (housing, transport, meals) valued correctly
AGRISETA SDL and mandatory grant claims
COIDA registration and annual ROE
Clocking data from farm and packhouse arriving in different formats

How Payroll Africa fits farms

Every feature listed here is included on every Payroll Africa plan — no per-module add-ons.

Bulk employee onboarding via CSV for seasonal staff
CSV import of clocking / time-and-attendance hours per shift
Automatic sectoral minimum wage checks
In-kind fringe benefit calculations
Bank payment files for FNB, Standard Bank, ABSA, Nedbank, Capitec
WhatsApp payslips for workers without email
AGRISETA SDL reporting and cost-centre split by farm/packhouse

SARS compliance for farms

Whatever your industry, SARS treats payroll the same — accurate PAYE, UIF and SDL, EMP201 by the 7th, EMP501 bi-annually and IRP5 by 31 May. Payroll Africa produces every SARS artefact automatically from your monthly payroll run.

Pricing for farms

Payroll Africa is priced in simple headcount tiers — from R90/month for 2 employees to R401 for 10, R1,712 for 50 and R4,182 for 200. No setup fees, no annual contract.

Frequently asked questions

Stop looking this up. Let payroll do it.

Payroll Africa applies Farm rules automatically every month — SARS PAYE, UIF and SDL, payslips, EMP201 and IRP5. From R90/month.

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Run Payroll Africa alongside your current system until you're happy to switch.