# Regulatory Compliance Category > General Regulatory Compliance Forum >  Workmens Compensation Returns

## Yvonne

Workmens compensation return hand delivered by required date to the offices in Pretoria.
Drove there solely for that purpose from Kempton Park as experience with the postal service is untrustworthy!

No assesment payment request received.
Numerous attempts to telephone, eventual success. 
Clerk reports that no return has been submitted. 
How can I argue that one -I did not demand a receipt on delivery!
Resubmitted.

To date still no return received. Telephoned again. Clerk advised no return submitted!

I have accepted that we will pay penalties and interest, and have no willpower to even "fight" this issue.

Eleven years with absolutely no problem, and now I am not able to complete my legal responsibility due to incompetence by the department.

Has anyone else had the same problem this past year?

Thanks
Yvonne

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## Dave A

I suspect they can take a *very* long time to capture the return. If you think about the way we are charged with provisional assessments etc I have a sense it does not really affect our payments much though as long as it is captured before the next annual billing run.

My concern is that if the capture section is under-resourced, it's going to take a year or more to discover that they are not getting though the load timeously.

SIDE NOTE: I'm finding under-resourced renewal sections of government departments is becoming quite problematic.

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## Marq

Every year I receive their form after the due date. Every year I give them stick, but its a losing battle. Every year I pay the penalty - its actually cheaper than the communication costs and also worth the extra sleep I get by not worrying about it anymore.

Welcome in South Africa - department of indifference.

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## Dave A

Late returns not only cost you penalties, it also loses your shot at a no-claim rebate  :Frown:

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## mags ninnis

26 minutes and counting - thats how long i have been holding on the phone
from kzn to pretoria - workmens compensation!!!!! if i hear one more time that they are experiencing unusually high call volumes i'm going to scream.
i have subitted my returns "on time" since 2004 and as yet have not been assessed.  i have phoned, faxed, emailed lettter after letter and nothing.

i'm now at my wits end - what is going on.:
33 minutes and 58 seconds and at last someone answered.  i've now been told that i have been assessed and now i'm waiting for the fax.  i dread to see how much i'm in for but i told them i'm not paying any interest or penalties. why should I? its their incompetance. she told me if i don't pay by the 6th of july they will start charging interest!!! what a cheek.  

now i need a letter of goodstanding and they will not give it to me.

here comes the fax R86421.13, where on earth am i supposed to find that
amount in 5 days?????????  i am sick and tired of these government departments - they are useless

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## Dave A

> here comes the fax R86421.13, where on earth am i supposed to find that amount in 5 days?????????


The money tree that every business owner has growing in the back garden  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

I was thinking: If you add it all up, Department of Labour is quite expensive, and cause of a lot of red tape.

DoL is responsible for UIF and Workmen's Compensation which applies to any business with staff. To this we can add SDL if you're big enough, and then Bargaining Council related costs if you have the misfortune of having one in your particular field of endeavour.

Given that Workmens Compensation often adds up to more than the UIF bill, I wonder why they don't collect it monthly along with all the other levies.

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## mags ninnis

having now scrutinized my return, i see that my assessment for the years 2004,2005,2006,2007 have all been done as one on the 2nd feb 2008 and straight
away, without any notification, they have charged interest and late payments to the
tune of +/ R7000.00.  i'm considering having discussions with my lawyer regarding this.
they have all my contact details - why didn't they phone, write, fax in feb and tell me
i have been assessed thereby giving me the chance to make good the debt before lumbering me with the added costs.  i'm furious.  i feel a real stinking letter to them will probably make matters worse.  what to do?

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## Dave A

I think there are more than a few of us who are feeling your pain, Mags.

I've been struggling to find a useful answer, and the best I can come up with right now is:

If you are going to write a letter, it might be worth the investment to get your lawyer to do it.

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## BRIGA

I would like to know who the regulator or "ombudsman" is for the workmans compensation. When calling their offices & even going there its difficult getting accurate information from anyone. 

Thanks

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## Dave A

For those who, like me, have:
not received their Return of Earnings form yet,tried to get hold of Workmen's Compensation office, only to get your call cut offtried to find an online version of the return of earnings
I've got two options for you.

The Return of Earnings form can be downloaded from the labour.gov.za site here (you have to search the site to get the 2008 form - using navigation takes you to an unavailable document  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):  ), or

I've uploaded them as attachments below for your convenience. The doc file is the guideline and the xls form is the return form.
HINT: Note that the return of earnings form has *two* pages that need to be completed.

Deadline for submission of returns is 31st March 2009.

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daveob (31-Mar-09)

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## Yvonne

Yipee, received our form this year! Wow!  although we only have just more than a week to get it completed and submitted, it is still an improvement!
I had already downloaded it from your link!
Thanks Dave!


Yvonne

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## Dave A

My pleasure.

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## Val Saunders

The Dept of Labour have not posted out the 2010 Return of Earnings. I have being trying to download the form from their website but to no avail. I believe that the return date has been extended to 3o April but where can I get the form?

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## Dave A

Our return forms arrived today. They *do* cut it fine, don't they. 

The return form can be downloaded off the DoL website here this year.

Or just in case there is the same problem they had last year - you can download the attachments below.

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daveob (06-Apr-10)

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## nadib

> The Dept of Labour have not posted out the 2010 Return of Earnings. I have being trying to download the form from their website but to no avail. I believe that the return date has been extended to 3o April but where can I get the form?


May I ask where you got the info that the deadline has been extended to 30 April please?

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## Dave A

You had me checking too (although I did file in time).

There's this on the DoL homepage:



Not much of a notice - but yes, the extension seems to be official.

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## Calcha-Charmaine

Hi All, 

Please could you have a look at our post in the General Business Forum - Workman's Compensation - IS IT WORKING FOR YOU!!!

If you are interested in having your battle fought for you, let us know. these are the issues we are looking for, details like this are hard to dispute when the evidence is in black and white.

Kind Regards, 

Charmaine
Calcha & Associates

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## nadib

I  have regiistered to do the returns online and it takes but a couple of minutes to do the return and get your assesment to pay.

It works very well actually.

N

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## mags ninnis

good day, you may remember from a few years back my frustration having not been assessed for 4 years and having a hefty bill at the end of it.  well guess what?  they did it to me again.  no assessment for 2010, 2011 and 2012.  I registered on line and low and behold I have been assessed for all 3 years at once and "no" letter of good standing until its paid.  I had to come up with R90 000 ! I'm sorry to say it on the Forum but they are a useless bunch of twats.  one good thing is that their new Website is terrific, means I don't have to speak to anyone in that department ever again. I'm poor but I'm happy.

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