Employer of Record · South Africa
Employer of Record in South Africa
Hire in South Africa without registering a company. We become the legal employer, run payroll through the statutory registrations, and support the visa route for expatriate staff — from our group headquarters in Johannesburg.
Our office
Johannesburg — group HQ
Local entity needed
No
Payroll registrations
PAYE · UIF · SDL · COIDA
Regulator
CIPC · SARS · DoEL
What is included
What we carry for you in South Africa
Employment contracts
Contracts drafted to South African labour law, with the terms that matter on restraint, notice and probation.
PAYE and payroll
Monthly payroll with employees’ tax deducted and remitted to SARS, and compliant payslips issued.
UIF and SDL
Unemployment Insurance Fund contributions from employer and employee, and the Skills Development Levy where the payroll threshold is met.
COIDA cover
Registration with the Compensation Fund, which follows quickly after the first employee is hired.
Work visas for expatriates
Support on the work visa route for foreign staff, and the documentation that goes with it.
BCEA-compliant administration
Leave, hours, notice and termination administered to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
How it works
How a mandate runs
Step 01
Scope
Roles, packages, start dates and any expatriate assignments.
Step 02
Contract
One service agreement with Horizon; compliant employment contracts for your team.
Step 03
Onboard
Payroll registrations applied, employees loaded, first cycle scheduled.
Step 04
Operate
Monthly payroll, statutory filings and a named contact at our headquarters.
Form a South African entity first
Five steps before anyone worksDecide the structure — shareholding, MOI, directors
Register with the CIPC — and file beneficial ownership
SARS, PAYE, UIF, SDL and COIDA — the full statutory set, in sequence
Open the bank account — with FICA documentation in order
Then hire — BCEA-compliant contracts, payroll, filings
Hire through an Employer of Record
Three steps, no entity requiredScope the roles — checked against local labour law
Issue the contracts — in the local instrument and language
Enrol and start — your people are working
Not either-or Many clients run both: the team starts under our Employer of Record while the South Africa entity is formed in parallel, then the staff transfer across with continuity of service preserved.
Local context
Employing in South Africa: what actually governs it
South African employment sits on a well-defined statutory base. An employer that hires anyone must register for employees’ tax (PAYE) with SARS, contribute to the Unemployment Insurance Fund alongside the employee, and register with the Compensation Fund under COIDA shortly after the first hire. The Skills Development Levy applies once annual payroll passes the statutory threshold.
Working conditions, leave, notice and termination are governed by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Labour Relations Act, and dismissal is procedurally demanding — which is where foreign employers most often get caught.
Why the EOR route is used here
Registering a company at the CIPC is not the hard part; carrying the employer obligations correctly is. An EOR gives you a compliant payroll from the first month, with the registrations already in place, and removes the exposure that comes from getting a termination wrong in a jurisdiction with strong employee protections.
- No CIPC registration, no public officer, no annual returns for you.
- Payroll compliant from the first cycle rather than the first audit.
- Convert to your own entity whenever it makes sense — we handle the formation and the transfer.
Thresholds, rates and turnaround times at CIPC and SARS change. We confirm the current position for your case rather than publishing figures that may already be stale.
At group headquarters
- Johannesburg is our head office, not a branch
- Regional engine for Southern Africa
- Company registration available when you convert
- Freight and procurement on the same contract
- Telephone: +27 67 386 6383
Why Horizon
Our headquarters, which changes what we can do here
South Africa is where the group is run from, so a South African mandate is executed by the same office that oversees the rest of the network. We carry South Africa through establishment, workforce, procurement and freight under one agreement.
Group headquarters in Johannesburg
The senior team is here. Escalation does not cross a time zone, and decisions about your file are taken in the same building.
The full statutory set, not only the registration
CIPC, SARS, PAYE, UIF, SDL and COIDA are handled as one sequence, because a company registered without them cannot lawfully pay anyone.
The gateway for the region
Most groups entering Southern Africa establish here first. We build the structure so Angola, Mozambique and the corridor markets can hang off it later.
Common questions
Employer of Record in South Africa
Do we need to register a company to employ someone in South Africa?
Not if you use an Employer of Record. We employ the person through our South African entity, which already holds the PAYE, UIF, SDL and COIDA registrations. You avoid CIPC registration, appointing a public officer and filing annual returns.
Which payroll registrations does an employer need?
Employees’ tax (PAYE) with SARS, the Unemployment Insurance Fund with contributions from both employer and employee, registration with the Compensation Fund under COIDA after the first hire, and the Skills Development Levy once annual payroll exceeds the statutory threshold.
How difficult is termination in South Africa?
Procedurally demanding. Both substantive fairness and a fair procedure are required, and getting the process wrong is the most common and most expensive mistake foreign employers make. We administer notice, process and documentation for staff on our payroll.
Can you sponsor work visas for foreign employees?
We support the work visa route for staff employed through us. The category and requirements depend on the role and the candidate, and we confirm both before an assignment is planned.
Is Johannesburg a real office or a partner arrangement?
It is our group headquarters and the engine of our Southern African network — our own people. That matters when something needs resolving in person.
Can you combine hiring with sourcing and freight?
Yes. Our responsibility does not end at payroll. We can carry procurement at origin, freight and customs into South Africa on the same agreement, which is usually why clients come to us rather than to an HR-only platform.
Begin with the objective. We will map the route.
Describe the South African operation you need — an entity, a payroll, a supply chain, or the regional structure behind all three — and we return the model and the sequence.