Statutory deductions or compulsory deductions
Statutory deductions or compulsory deductions are all of those deductions that an employer must make as ordered by a court or legislation. These include:
a) PAYE and SITE,
b) UIF,
c) Emolument Attachment Orders,
d) Garnishee Orders. Important Note: Salary stop orders where a service provider or employer has an arrangement to deduct a payment from an employee’s salary must be excluded from deductions and treated either as debt (in the case of loan payments) or the expense type. This included pension fund backed/secured loans and other payroll deducted loans.
NDRC Practice NoteLast reviewed 2026-04
Statutory deductions are PAYE, UIF, and SDL. Pension and medical aid are compulsory only where the employment contract makes them so; if optional, they sit in living expenses, not in deductions from gross.
Drawn from NDRC's active case work. For your situation, see our debt counselling overview.
Cite this clause
National Credit Regulator. (2015). Annexure B — Debt Review Assessment Guidelines, clause 4.5: Statutory deductions or compulsory deductions. Guideline 001/2015 (Debt Review Task Team Agreements 2010), p. 37.