What the Compliance Dashboard is
The Compliance Dashboard is one screen that lists the SARS, Dept of Labour, CIPC and POPIA jobs a South African business needs to keep up with. It reads your own business profile and your recent filings, then shows you what looks up to date, what needs your attention, and where each job gets done. It is a checklist and a reminder, not a filing service. You still submit the returns yourself on eFiling, uFiling, ROE Online or BizPortal, or through your accountant.
You will find it under Compliance, as the Compliance Dashboard. It is on every plan. The page you land on is headed Compliance Dashboard, and the link at the very top takes you back.
Set up your business details first
The dashboard is smarter when it knows your business. It looks at your legal form and tax regime, whether you have a VAT number, a PAYE reference and SDL switched on, the staff on your register and your payroll, your sales over the last 12 months, and when you last marked your VAT201, EMP201, EMP501, UIF declaration and COIDA return filed. From that it works out which jobs apply to you and which do not — for instance, the CIPC returns are tagged Not yet for a sole proprietor, partnership or trust, because only companies, CCs and co-operatives file them.
Read the top of the screen
Just above the list are three count boxes so you can see where you stand at a glance. Tap any of them to show only those obligations — tap it again, or tap "Show all", to bring the rest back:
- Up to date — jobs that look done for now
- Action needed — jobs that need you to do something now
- Not registered — where you may need to register, for example VAT once your sales over the last 12 months pass the threshold
Every obligation in the list below carries the same words on a small tag of its own, in the same colour as the box that counts it. So if the Action needed box says 4, tapping it shows you exactly which four, each tagged Action needed. The POPIA row always counts as Action needed, because Worklog can't see your Information Regulator registration. A return's date is the deadline of the period it is judged by: while that period isn't marked filed you see its deadline, or — once it has passed — "Overdue since" it in red, with the period named, for example "Overdue since 7 Sep 2026 (Aug 2026)". On Turnover Tax an interim period reads "Payment due since" its deadline instead, in amber, because only the payment is due, not a form. Tapping the row opens the return on that period, so Mark filed records the right one, and Needs you today on the dashboard reminds you too (several overdue returns share one line there, so a deadline days away is never pushed out). After you mark it filed, the row moves on to the next period's deadline. Worklog only knows a return was filed when it is marked filed, so mark each one when you submit it. A return your plan or your permissions don't let you mark filed is never shown as overdue to you. That includes a return worked from a list your login can't view: the four payroll returns (EMP201, EMP501, the UIF declaration and the Return of Earnings) need Pay Run and the Staff Register, the VAT201 needs Money in, Money out, Invoices and Supplier Invoices, and provisional tax needs the books its estimate is worked from (on Turnover Tax, the receipts' books). A login missing one is shown none of its rows, so it can't tell a month with wages from an empty one, or a VAT period with sales from a quiet one, and can't mark the return — those rows show the next date instead. The EMP201, EMP501 and IRP5 rows stay while your business has a PAYE reference, because SARS expects a nil one when nobody is employed, and the COIDA rows stay while it has a Compensation Fund number; the UIF and UI-19 rows are there only if someone was an employee in the periods they cover: a contractor is not an employee, and a person who has left still counts for the months they worked in and the month their final pay was paid in. Once you have marked a return at least once, a missed one before the latest period is flagged too — never one from before your books start.
Above the boxes is a card headed Your set-up, with a ring showing how many of the things Worklog needs are filled in. One line sums you up — for example “Sole proprietor · Normal tax · Not VAT registered · 2 employees”. If anything is missing, an amber strip names it and says what it costs you. Tap “Check it →” for the full list, grouped under SARS — income tax, SARS — VAT, SARS — staff, Dept of Labour and CIPC; a ⚠️ means something you do needs it, a – means it doesn’t apply to you and isn’t counted. Owners get a “Set it →” button on each missing row.
Filter the list
Above the count boxes are three filter buttons. Tap one to narrow the list:
- All obligations — everything
- In Worklog — the jobs you can start inside Worklog
- External — jobs done on other portals or with your accountant
Go through your obligations
The jobs are grouped under headings: SARS, Dept of Labour, CIPC and POPIA. Each job is a card showing its name, how often it is due, and the due date. On the right is a tag saying where that job stands — the same words as the count boxes, plus On a portal for something Worklog works out but can never submit, and Not yet for something that does not apply to you yet. Who handles it is said inside the card when you open it: Worklog works this out, Your accountant handles this, or Handled outside Worklog.
- Tap a card to open it.
- Read the note — it explains the job in plain terms, the deadline, and what happens if you skip it.
- At the bottom of an opened card, tap the button to act. For a Worklog job the button opens the right tool, for example Open VAT201, Open EMP201 or Open IRP6 Estimator.
- For a job done elsewhere the button opens the correct portal in your browser, for example Register on eFiling, Go to uFiling, Go to ROE Online, Go to BizPortal or Go to InfoReg.
- Tap the card again to close it and move to the next one.
What Worklog does and does not do
Worklog now works out eight of these: VAT201, EMP201, the EMP501 reconciliation, each employee’s IRP5/IT3(a) figures, provisional tax (IRP6 or TT02), your annual return (ITR12, ITR14, IT12TR or TT03), the monthly UIF declaration and the COIDA Return of Earnings. Each opens the screen that holds it, and all but the IRP5 figures keep their own filing record. The rest — SDL registration, a UI-19, your Letter of Good Standing, CIPC annual returns, beneficial ownership and POPIA registration — is done on the government portals or by your accountant. Filing itself always happens on eFiling, uFiling, e@syFile, ROE Online or BizPortal; the tip box at the bottom of the screen says so.
Take the list with you
- Below the list, 📄 PDF and 📊 CSV / Excel give you the obligations you're looking at — with the filter you've chosen — grouped the same way, with how often each is due, when, its status and what to do. On a phone, each opens your phone's share menu with the file attached, so you can send it on WhatsApp or email, or save it; on a computer it downloads.