Enter your payroll to see the skills development levy you pay, the mandatory grant you can claim back, and what is left. The rates come from SARS and the SETA Grant Regulations, with their sources under the result.
Mecer Inter-Ed, 322 Fifteenth Road, Randjespark, Midrand 1685. (+27) 10 730 0860, info@mecerintered.co.za. An estimate from the published rates. Your accountant and your SETA confirm the final figure.
Your payroll
Wages, overtime, leave pay, bonuses, fees, commissions and lump sums (SARS).
From the plan builder. It lets us show what share of the plan the grant could cover.
Enter your payroll to see the levy and the grant.
An estimate from the published rates. Your accountant and your SETA confirm the final figure.
How we worked this out
- Levy. The skills development levy is 1% of the total amount paid in salaries. An employer whose total remuneration over the next 12 months will not exceed R500,000 is exempt, and above that the 1% applies to the whole amount, not only the excess. levy = 0 if annual remuneration is R500,000 or less, otherwise annual remuneration x 0.01.
- Mandatory grant. A SETA pays 20% of the total levies an employer paid in a financial year to the employer who submits a workplace skills plan and an annual training report, once the SETA has approved them. grant = levy x 0.20. The regulations put the yearly application date at 30 April, and the Minister has extended it in some years (to 31 May in 2025), so check the date with your SETA.
- What is left. net levy = levy - grant. It is the levy you carry after the grant, if the grant is paid in full.
Sources, read on 14 October 2026
- SARS, Skills Development Levy (page last updated 19 August 2026): 1% of total salaries, and the exemption where remuneration over the next 12 months will not exceed R500,000.
- SARS, Guide for Employers in respect of Skills Development Levy (SDL-GEN-01-G01): 1 per cent from 1 April 2001 and the R500,000 exemption.
- Skills Development Levies Act 9 of 1999, the law behind the levy.
- SETA Grant Regulations, Government Notice R. 990, Government Gazette 35940 of 3 December 2012, regulation 4(4): 20% of the total levies paid by the employer, paid to the employer who submits a WSP and ATR; regulation 4(5): the SETA approves them first.
- HWSETA Annual Report 2024/25: the mandatory grant is still 20% of the total levies paid by the employer.