Every month you pay 1% of payroll to SARS as your Skills Development Levy. Submit a compliant Workplace Skills Plan and Annual Training Report on time and 20% comes straight back. Miss the deadline and it's gone. SolveSA appoints and manages your Skills Development Facilitator and coordinates the whole submission for you — delivered through vetted specialists, with us accountable for the result.
One deadline a year — 30 April. We make sure you never miss it.
Turning a monthly SARS deduction into recovered cash, funded training and B-BBEE points
The Skills Development Levy comes off your payroll every month whether you engage with it or not. The mechanism to get a fifth of it back — and to unlock far more — is a compliant WSP and ATR, submitted to your SETA by 30 April. It's a hard deadline, and it's where most companies quietly leave money behind.
Skip the submission and you forfeit the 20% mandatory grant — a refund you've already funded through your monthly levy.
Submissions close on 30 April. Late, incomplete, or filed without an appointed SDF, and the grant for that year is simply lost.
A WSP plans next year's training; an ATR reports last year's. Both must reconcile to payroll, SETA templates and your levy number — exactly.
Without a submission you're locked out of discretionary grants and you leave B-BBEE Skills Development points unclaimed.
SolveSA has spent more than 15 years helping South African businesses turn compliance obligations into real value. We don't deliver the submission ourselves — we structure and coordinate a vetted, scrutinised network of specialist facilitators, managed by us. As part of the Alternative Prosperity Group, we know every SETA's templates, timelines and quirks, and make sure your WSP and ATR reconcile cleanly to your levy and pass first time.
You stay focused on your business. We make sure the deadline is met and the grant lands.
Your Skills Development Levy is 1% of total payroll, paid to SARS each month. Of that, 20% is ring-fenced as the mandatory grant — refundable to any employer who appoints a Skills Development Facilitator and submits a compliant WSP and ATR by 30 April. A further 49.5% sits in a discretionary pot you can apply for.
The mandatory grant isn't a bonus — it's your own money coming back. The only thing standing between you and it is a compliant, on-time submission. Get that right and you also open the door to discretionary funding and B-BBEE Skills points.
A compliant WSP/ATR isn't just a refund — it's the key that unlocks the rest of the skills-funding system and feeds your scorecard.
Figures reflect the standard split of the Skills Development Levy: 20% mandatory grant, 49.5% discretionary grant, with the balance retained for SETA administration and the National Skills Fund. SolveSA coordinates the appointment, submission and reconciliation for you — delivered through vetted specialists.
From appointing your facilitator to reconciling the grant into your account, we coordinate every step of the annual submission through vetted specialists — and make sure it works as hard as it can across grants, training and your scorecard.
We appoint a vetted Skills Development Facilitator and manage all correspondence with the relevant SETA on your behalf.
A training-needs analysis and forward WSP that reflects your real business goals — compiled by our vetted specialists to the SETA template and your levy number, quality-assured by us.
A complete, reconciled ATR of the training you actually delivered — compiled through our specialists and checked by us. It's the evidence the mandatory grant depends on.
We track the submission through to payment and reconcile the 20% grant back against your levy — so you can see the cash returned.
We identify and position learnerships, bursaries and PIVOTAL programmes so you can access the larger discretionary funding pool.
Your skills spend is surfaced where it earns Skills Development points, and the submission supports your Management & Control reporting.
A clear, five-step route from "are we even claiming this?" to recovered cash and a scorecard that reflects it — with SolveSA carrying the load at every step.
We confirm your SETA and levy number, and appoint a vetted Skills Development Facilitator to act for you.
We coordinate a Workplace Skills Plan, built with our specialists, that reflects genuine business and transformation goals.
We oversee the gathering and reconciliation of the prior year's training into a complete Annual Training Report.
Your compliant WSP/ATR is filed through the SETA portal well ahead of the deadline — managed by us throughout.
We track the mandatory grant to payment, and surface the spend for your B-BBEE and EE reporting.
Whether you have to submit — and how much you can recover — comes down to your payroll and your levy. Here's the shape of it; we'll confirm your exact position in minutes.
Employers with an annual payroll above R500,000 must register for and pay the Skills Development Levy.
The SDL is 1% of your total monthly payroll, paid to SARS along with PAYE and UIF.
20% of your levy is refundable each year on a compliant, on-time WSP/ATR submission via an appointed SDF.
Submissions must reach your SETA by 30 April. Miss it and that year's mandatory grant is forfeited.
Not sure of your SETA, levy number, or whether you're claiming what you're owed? We'll check it for you →
You always know exactly where your submission stands — levy paid, grant recovered, deadline status and compliance — without managing any of it. Illustrative views of the oversight SolveSA gives you.
| Submission requirement | Detail | Status |
|---|---|---|
| SDL registration & levy number | Confirmed with SARS & SETA | Complete |
| Skills Development Facilitator appointed | Vetted SDF appointed & managed by SolveSA | Complete |
| Workplace Skills Plan (next year) | Training-needs analysis finalised | Complete |
| Annual Training Report (prior year) | Reconciled to payroll & levy | In review |
| PIVOTAL plan & report | Learnership & bursary programmes captured | Tracking |
| SETA portal submission | Filed ahead of 30 April deadline | Scheduled |
| Mandatory grant reconciliation | Matched to levy on payment | Pending |
A single compliant submission that recovers cash, opens discretionary funding, and feeds both your B-BBEE Skills Development score and Employment Equity reporting. Figures shown are illustrative of a sample employer.
The mandatory grant is assessed on your submission — not on good intentions. SolveSA keeps the evidence trail clean throughout the year, and shows you exactly what the submission is worth in cash, funding and scorecard terms.
A WSP/ATR submission means working with your payroll figures and employee training records. SolveSA treats that data with the same care we bring to your compliance.
Payroll and employee data managed in line with South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act.
Role-based access to submission records — the right people see the right information, and no more.
Every plan, report and submission time-stamped and retained — ready for SETA or verification review on demand.
One point of ownership for the whole submission — SolveSA stands behind every recommendation we make.
Book a demo to see how SolveSA manages your WSP/ATR submission end to end — or request a tailored proposal for your entity. We'll start by checking your levy, SETA and what you should be recovering, no obligation.