New Employer

1. Who is an employer?
2. Employer Registration Number (ERN)
3. Filing Obligations

1. Who is an employer?

   • An employer means a person who employs one or more employees who work under a contract of service or apprenticeship whether written or oral. An employer includes a person employing part-time employees but excludes a self-employed person providing services.

   • For PAYE purposes, a person responsible for payment of emoluments is an employer and includes any person who acts as an agent of an employer and is responsible for the payment of emoluments to an employee or to a former employee on behalf of that employer e.g. an insurance company that pays pension on behalf of an employer under a superannuation fund. 

2. Employer Registration Number (ERN)

   • Where a person applies to the Registrar of Businesses for the registration of a business and he indicates in the application form that he will have employee/s in the business, the MRA will automatically register that person as an employer for payment of social contributions / NSF contributions and PAYE, if any. The MRA will communicate to that person, his:

     • Employer Registration Number (ERN); and

     • password for filing of the monthly return;

   • An existing business which was not issued an ERN previously and which starts to employ workers; it will be automatically registered as an employer when it submits a social contributions, NSF contributions / PAYE return to remit the social contributions, NSF contributions / PAYE contributions. To file the social contributions, NSF contributions / PAYE return, it will have to use its ERN as user ID and the password issued to it by MRA for filing of contributions / tax returns.

   • An individual who employs workers in domestic service will be issued an ERN on submission of a social contributions / NSF contributions return. He will have to use his ERN as user ID and the password issued to it by MRA for filing of contributions/tax returns.

3. Filing Obligations

   1. Every Employer is required to file a joint monthly social contributions, NSF contributions / PAYE return declaring the contributions payable in respect of its employees under the Social Contributions and Social Benefits Act 2021, National Savings Fund Act (NSF contributions), Training Levy under the Human Resource Development Act and PAYE tax deducted under Income Tax Act. 

   2. Following the enactment of the Workers’ Rights (Portable Retirement Gratuity Fund) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, employers are required to submit, as from the month of January 2022, a monthly PRGF return and effect payment in respect of PRGF contributions to the Director-General of the MRA. Both the return and the payment are required to be made electronically on or before the end of the month following that in respect of which the PRGF is payable.