Introduction to Payroll

Payroll is one of the most important jobs in any business. If pay is late or wrong, employees suffer, trust breaks down, and the business can face penalties from SARS and claims at the CCMA or from the Department of Employment and Labour. That is why employers value people who can calculate pay carefully and follow the rules. This course teaches you the basics of South African payroll: how the payroll cycle works, keeping employee records, checking timesheets, working out ordinary pay, overtime, Sunday and public holiday pay under the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, checking the national minimum wage, calculating PAYE, UIF and SDL, preparing a payslip that meets the law, and doing the month-end checks and SARS submissions (EMP201, EMP501 and IRP5). Every calculation is shown step by step with worked examples, using the rates for the 2026/27 tax year. The course is fully online and self-paced. Each lesson has a practice activity in your workbook. You finish with a practical payroll task and a final assessment, and you receive a MetaCo Certificate of Completion that you can add to your CV.