Payroll Recapture — rebuilt accurately, ready for SARS.

What is payroll recapture?

Payroll recapture is the process of re-entering or reconstructing past payroll information into a professional payroll system so that your records are complete, accurate and trustworthy. In practice that means rebuilding earnings, deductions, statutory contributions (PAYE, UIF and SDL), year-to-date totals, payslip history and leave balances inside Sage Pastel Payroll & HR.

Recapture can be more time-consuming than processing a payroll for the first time — but it has one big advantage: there is a definitive, checkable endpoint. When the recaptured figures agree with what was actually paid and with your statutory submissions, you know the job is done and your reconciliation will hold up.

How did we get here? Common reasons businesses need to recapture payroll

There are many roads that lead to a recapture. If one or more of these sounds familiar, you’re in good company — and there is a clear way forward:

• SDL captured incorrectly. SDL was deducted on payslips even though the company is below the R500,000 annual payroll threshold and isn’t registered for SDL.
• Statutory figures rolled over wrong. PAYE, SDL or UIF were captured incorrectly and the error has already been rolled over into more than one pay period.
• A prior period needs fixing. Payroll figures for a previous period need to change, but they can’t be corrected in the current period.
• Lost data with no backup. A server crashed, a machine was stolen, or ransomware struck — and there was no usable backup.
• Data lost some other way. Files were corrupted, deleted or simply can’t be found.
• New system mid-year. You want to move to a new payroll system part-way through the financial year and bring your history with you.
• Only part of the year captured. A new system was implemented but data was only entered from mid-year, leaving a gap.
• Manual or Excel records. You’ve been running payroll on paper or in spreadsheets and want it captured into a proper system.
• Employees need payslips. There’s no formal system yet, but staff are asking for professional payslips.
• You’re being audited. The figures aren’t making sense and need to be reconstructed so they reconcile.
• An employee wants to verify deductions. Someone needs professional reports confirming what was deducted and paid over on their behalf.
• Custom codes needed. You want payroll codes that auto-calculate figures correctly going forward.
• Leave balances to rebuild. You need leave balances captured and reconciled accurately.
• The payroll person has left. Whoever captured the payroll has resigned or is incapacitated, and nobody else knows the system.

Whatever the cause, the remedy is the same: a careful, methodical recapture that ends in a set of figures you can stand behind.

Where is “here”? Working out how much you need to recapture

As a rule of thumb, if you need to recapture two or more pay periods, it’s worth treating it as a recapture project rather than a quick fix.

If you’re tackling it yourself and you’re on Sage Pastel Payroll & HR (on a PC or virtual server), our ready-made import layouts save a great deal of manual capturing. Download the one that fits what you need to bring in:

Use the income & deduction transactions layout for individual transaction lines — each row is an employee code, the payroll transaction code and the amount for the period. Use the monthly salaried capture layout to take on salaried employees for a pay period (basic salary, UIF, SDL and PAYE), with the matching transaction codes already shown in the template.

How to use the import layouts

1. Open the relevant CSV in Excel and fill in your figures, keeping the column headings exactly as they are.
2. Use the employee codes and transaction codes exactly as they appear in your Sage Pastel Payroll & HR masterfile. Leave Job Code and Cost Centre blank unless you use them for project reporting.
3. Save the file as CSV (comma delimited).
4. In Sage Pastel Payroll & HR, import the file using the matching import layout, then check a few payslips against your source figures before finalising.

Not sure which layout you need, or would rather we handle the import for you? Get in touch and we’ll take it from here.

Our payroll recapture process

We keep the process simple and transparent, so you always know where things stand.

1. Schedule a call

   We start with a short consultation to assess your current position, the outcome you need, and your timeframe. This is where we work out the scope and what’s realistic.

2. Receive your fixed quote

   Based on the number of payslips and the complexity of the data, we send a clear, fixed quotation — no surprises later.

3. You accept and we begin

   Once you’ve accepted the quote and sent proof of payment, along with the source data, we get to work recapturing your payroll.

4. Reconcile to a definitive endpoint

   We capture and then check the recaptured figures against what was actually paid and against your statutory submissions, so the result reconciles cleanly.

5. Hand back a clean payroll

   You receive an accurate, reportable payroll in Sage Pastel Payroll & HR — payslips, YTD figures and leave balances all in order.

What we need from you

To recapture your payroll accurately and quickly, we’ll ask for:

• Your acceptance of the quotation.
• Proof of deposit payment.
• Where we’re recapturing from a past point inside Sage Pastel Payroll & HR — a backup taken from the point at which your data is considered correct.
• The payroll figures to be captured, ideally in Excel.
• The actual figures paid to each employee, per pay period.

The cleaner and more complete your source data, the faster and more cost-effective the recapture.

Pricing & turnaround

How long is a piece of string? Turnaround depends on how many pay periods and employees are involved and how the source data is supplied. We’re flexible, we work within your timelines, and we’ve built a reputation for fast, accurate turnarounds — including when the deadline is uncomfortably close.

Why recapture matters for your SARS reconciliation

Your EMP501 reconciliation is only as reliable as the payroll data behind it. If year-to-date figures are wrong, if PAYE, UIF or SDL were captured incorrectly, or if whole periods are missing, the numbers simply won’t reconcile — and that surfaces at exactly the wrong moment, during submission or an audit.

A proper recapture rebuilds the foundation: accurate earnings and deductions, correct statutory contributions, and clean YTD totals that tie back to what was actually paid. That’s what makes your EMP501 submission defensible and your audit straightforward.

Frequently asked questions