Employers paying the Skills Development Levy can recover a portion of it as a mandatory grant from their SETA, but only by submitting a Workplace Skills Plan and an Annual Training Report by the annual deadline — ordinarily 30 April. Miss the deadline and the mandatory grant for that year is generally forfeited. Most small employers pay SDL every month for years without ever claiming anything back.
It is one of very few taxes in South Africa with a refund mechanism attached, and it goes unused because nobody is told about it.
What is SDL and who pays it?
A levy of 1% of your total remuneration bill, paid monthly to SARS on the EMP201 alongside PAYE and UIF.
You register once your annual payroll exceeds the threshold, which is R500,000 in remuneration over a 12-month period.
It is an employer cost. Unlike PAYE and UIF it is not deducted from the employee — it comes out of the business.
SARS collects it and passes it to the SETA for your sector. Which SETA you fall under is determined by your main business activity, and it is on your registration.
See what is SDL and does your business have to pay it.
What can you get back?
Two kinds of grant, and they work very differently.
| Mandatory grant | Discretionary grant | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A fixed proportion of the levies you paid, returned to you | Funding for specific programmes |
| How much | Ordinarily 20% of levies paid | Varies — can be far larger |
| How to get it | Submit a WSP and ATR by the deadline | Apply, competitively |
| Certainty | High, if you submit correctly and on time | Low — applications compete |
The mandatory grant is the one to start with, because it is essentially a rebate for filing a report.
A business with a R2 million payroll pays R20,000 a year in SDL. The mandatory grant on that is in the region of R4,000 — modest, but it is money you have already paid, returned for submitting a document.
Discretionary grants are where the larger amounts sit — funding for learnerships, apprenticeships, bursaries and skills programmes. They are competitive and they take real effort, but they can substantially exceed what you paid in.
Confirm the current grant percentages, deadline and your SETA's requirements directly with your SETA. Grant regulations, percentages and processes are amended from time to time and vary in practice between SETAs.
What is a WSP and an ATR?
Two documents, submitted together, ordinarily by 30 April each year.
The Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) looks forward. It sets out the training you plan for the coming year — who, what skills, what interventions, and how it links to the business's needs.
The Annual Training Report (ATR) looks back. It reports the training actually delivered in the year just ended, against the previous WSP.
Both are submitted to your SETA, ordinarily through its online system.
Neither is as onerous as it sounds for a small employer. A business with fifteen staff is describing a realistic amount of training in a structured format — not producing a corporate development strategy.
What you need in place first
Four things, and the first two are where small employers stall.
1. SDL registration and payment up to date. You cannot claim a grant on levies you have not paid. Arrears are the most common disqualifier.
2. A Skills Development Facilitator (SDF). Employers are generally required to appoint one to prepare and submit the WSP and ATR. For a small business this is frequently an internal person — an HR or operations manager — registered with the SETA in that role, rather than an external consultant.
3. Employee data. Headcount, demographics, occupational categories, qualifications. This comes out of your payroll, which is a good reason for payroll records to be accurate and complete year-round. See casual staff and UIF.
4. A record of training delivered. Not only formal courses — induction, in-house training, mentoring and on-the-job development generally count. Most employers do more training than they record, and then cannot report it.
The annual rhythm
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Monthly, by the 7th | Pay SDL on the EMP201 with PAYE and UIF |
| Throughout the year | Record training as it happens — who, what, when, how long |
| February / March | Draft the ATR for the year ending, and the WSP for the year ahead |
| By 30 April | Submit both to your SETA |
| After submission | Mandatory grant paid, per the SETA's cycle |
| Watch for | Discretionary grant windows — they open on the SETA's schedule |
The second row is what makes the fourth row easy. An employer recording training as it happens completes the ATR in an afternoon. One reconstructing a year of training in late April usually does not bother — which is exactly why the grant goes unclaimed.
Is it worth the effort?
For the mandatory grant alone, on a small payroll — honestly, it is marginal. A business with a R700,000 payroll pays R7,000 a year in SDL and might recover R1,400. That may not justify appointing anybody.
Three things change the calculation:
Scale. At a R5 million payroll the mandatory grant is meaningful, and the reporting effort barely increases.
Discretionary grants. This is where the real money is. Learnership and apprenticeship funding can substantially exceed your levy contributions — but SETAs generally prioritise employers who are already submitting WSPs and ATRs. Participation is the entry ticket.
Section 12H learnership allowances. A separate income tax deduction available for registered learnership agreements, which stacks with SETA funding. Take advice on this if you are considering a learnership, because the combined effect can be significant.
And it feeds B-BBEE. Skills development is a scorecard element, and training you are already doing and reporting contributes to it. See how your turnover sets your B-BBEE obligation.
Why most employers never claim
Five reasons, and none of them is that the money is not worth having.
Nobody told them. SDL appears on the EMP201 as another deduction. Nothing indicates a portion is recoverable.
The deadline is unrelated to anything else. 30 April sits outside the tax and CIPC calendars, so it is not diarised alongside anything.
No SDF appointed, and the requirement is not obvious.
Training was delivered but never recorded, so the ATR cannot be completed.
SDL is in arrears, which disqualifies the claim regardless.
All five are fixable in the same afternoon, and four of them only need fixing once.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get my Skills Development Levy back? Partly. Employers can recover a mandatory grant — ordinarily 20% of levies paid — by submitting a Workplace Skills Plan and Annual Training Report to their SETA by the annual deadline.
When is the WSP and ATR deadline? Ordinarily 30 April each year. Confirm the current date with your SETA, and diarise it separately because it does not align with the tax or CIPC calendars.
What happens if I miss the deadline? The mandatory grant for that year is generally forfeited. There is usually no retrospective claim.
Who has to pay SDL? Employers whose total remuneration exceeds R500,000 over a 12-month period, at 1% of the remuneration bill, paid monthly on the EMP201.
Do I need a Skills Development Facilitator? Generally yes, to prepare and submit the WSP and ATR. For a small employer this is often an internal person registered with the SETA in that role rather than an external consultant.
What counts as training for the ATR? More than formal courses — induction, in-house training, mentoring and on-the-job development generally count. Most employers deliver more training than they record.
Is it worth claiming on a small payroll? The mandatory grant alone is modest on a small payroll. It becomes worthwhile at scale, and participation is generally the entry ticket to discretionary grants, which can substantially exceed what you paid in.
What is the most common reason a claim fails? SDL in arrears. You cannot claim a grant on levies you have not paid.
Record the training as it happens
The employers who claim are not the ones with better training programmes. They are the ones who wrote down what they did during the year, so that filing the report in April took an afternoon rather than a week nobody had.
Smartbook keeps SDL registration and payments current through monthly payroll, maintains the employee data the WSP and ATR need, and flags the 30 April deadline alongside your other filings so it stops being the one nobody diarised.
See monthly accounting plans →
Last reviewed: 28 August 2026. Written by the Smartbook team — SAIPA and SAICA accredited, SARS registered tax practitioners. Grant percentages, submission deadlines and SDF requirements are set by regulation and applied differently between SETAs, and change from time to time — confirm the current position with your own SETA. General guidance, not advice on your circumstances.
Primary sources: SARS — Skills Development Levy · Skills Development Levies Act 9 of 1999 · Skills Development Act 97 of 1998 · Department of Higher Education and Training