The Minister of Justice and Labour Relations has amended the Regulations under the Social Security Act, 1994, increasing the maximum basic salary used to calculate Monthly Social Security (MSD) contributions. The amendments were published in Government Gazette No. 8975 (Government Notice No. 236) on 15 July 2026.

One of the most common misconceptions in payroll is that an amount labelled as "non-taxable" on a payslip automatically means it is tax-free. In reality, this is not the case. Whether you use a payroll system or process payments manually, the same principle applies: unless the Income Tax Act specifically provides an exemption, any amount paid by an employer to an employee in respect of employment is taxable income.