SARS and UIF question

[Ark]

here's a hypothetical scenario:

Let's say Jim has worked for a company for let's say, 2 years. He worked full time, standard office hours. He has no contract, and the employer never paid UIF and any form of tax registrations never took place. Jim got fired. What happens now?

[SykomantiS]

Jim gets screwed over, goes to ccma and hopes he has some credible witnesses to support is accusations?

[Anakha56]

+1 I would involve a Labour lawyer. Pretty sure it states somewhere that if you are employed and paid on a regular basis by a company you become a permanent employee after 6 months. Our labour law was made up to protect against abuse like this. Also if monies were being deposited into Jim's account on a monthly basis it shows an employment history . If I see one of our NUMSA union reps I will ask them what they think...

*edit*

A mate here at work who knows a little about labour law says the same thing. Get a lawyer involved and you can sue for damages and such. Also drop SARS a line to get this company audited to really screw them over...

[doo_much]

Also drop SARS a line to get this company audited to really screw them over...

Sage advice. Remembering that Jim has 2 years' worth of taxes due himself, of course.

[IcePick88]

Jim is a mega idiot for not insisting on a contract between him and the company.
Who works for two years without a formal agreement between employer and employee?

Ok, so no contract, but surely there must have been a verbal agreement. Something in the lines of: "Come work here, we will pay you". Verbal agreements these days do hold some water me thing.

[RuadRauFlessa]

Does JIM have an ERP5 provided to him by the company he worked for
Also JIM needs to check his salary slip and see if they made any notations of UIF deductions. If they did the company is completely liable for the taxes owed to SARS. If not the company will be exempt from any liability as the onus is still on the employee not the employer. The only thing JIM can nail the company he used to work for with is the deduction of taxes from his salary without paying it over to SARS which is fraudulent.

EDIT:

Just talked to my sister as who works with this stuff.... She says

Hy moet na sy payslips kyk en seker maak dat hulle daarop aangedui het dat die paye en uif afgetrek is. Dis sy enigste bewys. Volgens sars is jy persoonlik aanspreeklik vir die belasting nie oorbetaal nie en nie die Co nie. Dan kan hy ook nie met sars daaroor stry nie. Hy moet met die werkgewer gaan praat en as hulle se dat hulle dit oorbetaal het moet hulle 'n bewys daarvoor gee. Daarna kan hy na sars gaan met daai bewys. Indien hulle dit nie betaal het nie sal hy die geld moet betaal en hy kan dan die Co dagvaar vir die geld

<Mind the AFR>

So in short...
1) check payslip for deductions
2) if no deduction then JIM is stuffed and has to pay SARS
3) if there is deductions on payslip then JIM has to find out from said company for proof that it was paid over to SARS
4) if they can not provide proof then JIM has to pay SARS first and then sue the said company for the fraudulent deductions made against his salary.
5) if the said company can provide proof the proof has to be presented to SARS who will in turn write off the arrears.

[doo_much]

@RRF

Thanks, interesting. I was always under the impression that registering for and payment of UIF was the responsibility of the employer.

[Anakha56]

Also drop SARS a line to get this company audited to really screw them over...

Sage advice. Remembering that Jim has 2 years' worth of taxes due himself, of course.

As I said above, regular payments into ones bank account = paper trail which = employment history. Yes Jim is going to get screwed by SARS himself but the benefit is you get to screw the company as well, also do an anonymous phone call they work wonders . Hell if you fight this in Labour Court you can get the company to pay your SARS amount and still get a decent amount to live off of. Hence the reason why my first advice is get a labour lawyer.