Your EMP501 Will Be Rejected Without Valid Tax Reference Numbers

A missing income tax reference number used to be a warning in e@syFile. That grace period ended with the 2026 employer filing season.

SARS will not accept an EMP501 that is missing the required tax numbers. This is a hard reject, not a note you fix after you file.

The next listed window is the interim recon: 21 September to 31 October 2026, covering 1 March to 31 August 2026. Confirm the live dates on the SARS PAYE page when September opens. If your file still has blank tax numbers, that window is the problem, not May 2027.

This is for the FD, HR lead, or ops owner who has to sign off the recon. If you run 50 or more employees, this is an e@syFile Employer job.

What changed

On 19 November 2025 SARS said that from February 2026, employers will not be able to submit PAYE reconciliations without valid Income Tax Reference Numbers for employees who must register under section 67 of the Income Tax Act.

Previously, missing numbers triggered warnings in e@syFile and you could still get the return in. That is over. Reconciliations without the required numbers are rejected. Non-compliance attracts administrative penalties.

The 30 January 2026 SARS FAQ says the same thing in one line: from the 2026 EMP501 period, submissions without the required TRNs will not be accepted.

The April 2026 Monthly Tax Digest, written while the annual window was open, repeated it: employers cannot submit PAYE reconciliations unless valid Income Tax Reference Numbers are provided on IRP5s for employees who must register under section 67.

We already walked the rest of the interim recon in EMP501 Interim Reconciliation 2026: What to File Before 31 October. This piece is only the tax-number block.

Who must have a number

SARS’s rule is not “every human who was ever on the file.” It is employees who are required to register for income tax under section 67.

In practice, on a 50 to 250 employee payroll, that is most of the file. New hires, leavers in the period, and people who never gave you a number are where it breaks.

Do not invent a workaround in the payroll system. If SARS requires the number, a blank field is a reject.

On 29 May 2026 SARS published FAQs on what to do when the employee’s income tax number is not available and the employee cannot be contacted. Read that on the SARS PAYE page before you guess. This does not paraphrase those answers.

Get the numbers before you import

SARS lists the employer channels. Use those.

• e@syFile Employer: individual registration (ITREG) or bulk (BundleReg)
• eFiling: up to 200 employees per batch
• TRN Enquiry Services on eFiling: check or request a number
• A SARS branch, with an appointment

Employees can register or retrieve their own number on eFiling, on the SARS Online Query System, on WhatsApp (save 0800 11 7277 and send “Hi”), or on USSD (*134*7277#).

Run the enquiry first. A lot of “missing” numbers already exist. Registration is for people who genuinely have none.

Do this before you build certificates. A certificate file with blanks will not become a submitted EMP501.

How this hits the interim

The listed 2026/2027 interim window is 21 September to 31 October 2026. Period: 1 March 2026 to 31 August 2026. SARS caveats those dates. Confirm them.

Fifty or more employees: e@syFile Employer, not eFiling on its own.

The rest of the recon still has to balance: EMP201s, payments, IRP5 / IT3(a). A clean tax-number file on a broken three-way balance is still not ready. A balanced file with blank TRNs will not import.

Late EMP501 still costs 1% of annual PAYE per month, capped at 10%. A reject for missing numbers is how a return that was “almost ready” on 31 October becomes a late return in November.

The rest of the year’s dates sit on the SA payroll compliance calendar 2026/2027.

What to do this week

1. Export the people paid from 1 March to 31 August 2026, including leavers.
2. Flag every certificate that has no income tax reference number.
3. Run TRN Enquiry on those IDs.
4. Register the ones that still have no number, through ITREG or BundleReg.
5. Only then build the certificate file.

If that list is long, do not wait for 21 September. The window is for filing a ready return, not for starting the hunt.

If you want the bureau to own the recon, Andrea replies within 24 hours: https://talentide.co.za/contact/.

Sources

• SARS, Mandatory Income Tax Numbers for 2026 Employer Filing Season, 19 November 2025: https://www.sars.gov.za/latest-news/mandatory-income-tax-numbers-for-2026-employer-filing-season/
• SARS PAYE page (updated 29 July 2026): 30 January 2026 TRN FAQ; 29 May 2026 “IT number not available” FAQ; BRS table for 2026/2027 interim 21 Sep–31 Oct 2026. https://www.sars.gov.za/types-of-tax/pay-as-you-earn/
• SARS Monthly Tax Digest, April 2026: https://www.sars.gov.za/monthly-digest/monthly-tax-digest-april-2026/