Answer what applies. Only the questions that matter, given your earlier answers, are shown. The verdict updates as you go. Where you do not know, choose Not sure: it never counts as yes or no, and it is listed as something to find out.
In these questions, your business means the business paying for the work (the employer or client). The worker means the person doing the work, who wants to know whether they are an employee or an independent contractor.
Your answers, including the names, stay in this browser. Nothing is sent or stored.
Enter both names to start. The questions then use them, so it is always clear who is who.
Two separate tests
South African law asks the employee-or-contractor question twice, for two different purposes. The answers can differ, so this tool runs both and shows both.
A. Tax: must the business deduct PAYE?
Income Tax Act, Fourth Schedule, paragraph 1, definition of "remuneration", exclusion (ii), explained in SARS Interpretation Note 17.
Payments for services are "remuneration" (and PAYE applies) unless the person carries on a trade independently of both the payer and the person who receives the service. SARS applies the tests in the order drawn below.
If the business should have deducted PAYE and did not, it is liable for that PAYE plus penalties and interest, and may recover it from the worker. SARS does not issue rulings on whether someone is an independent contractor: the business makes the call (IN 17 para 4).
B. Labour: is the person an employee?
Labour Relations Act s200A and Basic Conditions of Employment Act s83A, with the Code of Good Practice: Who is an Employee.
Whatever the contract says, a person is presumed to be an employee if any one of seven factors is present, such as control of their hours or working only for this business. The business must then prove otherwise.
The presumption does not apply to a person who earns more than the BCEA threshold ( a year from ). The same factors still guide the ordinary common-law test, but the business no longer carries the onus.
A worker cannot contract out of labour-law protection by preferring contractor status. The reality of the relationship decides.
The tax test in the order IN 17 applies it
1. Who is being paid?
A non-resident, a personal service provider (the worker's own company or trust), or a labour broker each follow their own rules.
2. Three or more full-time employees?
Does the person, throughout the year, employ three or more full-time employees in this service, none of them connected persons?
3. Mainly at the premises AND under control or supervision?
More than half the work at the premises of the payer or its client, and control or supervision by anyone of how the work is done or the hours.
4. Common-law dominant impression
The indicators in the IN 17 grid, weighed together: near-conclusive, persuasive and resonant. Not a checklist or a score.
5. IRP5 code
PAYE deducted and an employee at common law: code 3601, and s23(m) limits their deductions. PAYE deducted but independent at common law: code 3616, and s23(m) does not apply.
The common-law indicators (IN 17 grid)
The text of IN 17 speaks of "20 of the more common indicators", but its grid lists 22 rows: integration is split three ways and "employee benefits" appears only in the grid. This tool follows the grid.
IN 17 says the grid should not be used as a checklist to arrive at a score. This tool shows a weighted lean and the indicators behind it, and says "Borderline: get advice" when the tiers conflict or "Not sure" answers could tip the balance.
The seven labour-law presumption factors (LRA s200A(1))
SARS & legal resources
Official sources only. The links open the issuer's own copy, so you always get the current version. Check the SARS register for a newer issue before relying on an interpretation note.