Earlier today the Minister of the Department of Employment and Labour (“DEL”) announced that applications for the Temporary Employee/Employer Relief Scheme (“TERS”), operated by the Unemployment Insurance Fund (“UIF”), will be extended until 15 August 2020.
The Minister stated that:
“Following due diligence and consultation with the Unemployment Insurance Fund actuaries, and in line with the President’s decision to extend the life of the Disaster Management Act until 15th August, we have taken the decision to similarly extend the Covid19 TERS benefit until 15th August 2020”
The Minister continued further and stated that the DEL and the UIF are, however, currently considering closing the April, May and June applications at the end of July.
The full speech of the Minister can be found HERE.
We therefore suggest that our readers finalise and submit all their outstanding applications in relation to the period 27 March 2020 up to and including 30 June 2020 before 31 July 2020 in order to ensure these claims will still be processed by the UIF.
Lastly, we are aware that the majority of readers are experiencing delays in receiving the June TERS claims. We understand that this is due to the additional due diligence procedures that the UIF has brought into action to verify payments and close down on illegal claims. Hopefully these delays are resolved soonest.
Author: Mark Hewitt from Moore Cape Town’s specialist Tax and Advisory Department