MIBFA

The Metal Industries Benefit Fund Administrators (MIBFA) is an organisation that administers the pension, provident, and related funds of workers in the metal and engineering industries in South Africa. MIBFA also provides other benefits, such as medical and disability benefits, to eligible members and their dependents. Levies are also collected by MIBFA on behalf of the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC).

SimplePay allows you to generate a single report reflecting all information and contributions that need to be reported to MIBFA. These contributions may include levies, and contributions to a sick pay fund, as well as contributions to the Engineering Industries Pension Fund (EIPF) or the Metal Industries Provident Fund (MIPF).

Enabling MIBFA Functionality

The Bargaining Council feature is currently in beta; please feel free to provide feedback by clicking on the BETA label.

1. Contact our Support team to enable the feature for you.
2. Go to Settings > Advanced > General.
3. Check the Bargaining Council box.
4. Select “MIBFA” from the dropdown menu next to Industrial Council.
5. Click Save.

Creating Custom Items

Mapping requirements

When using the MIBFA reporting function, you must map your payroll items to the appropriate fields in the report. Each field can be mapped to a single payslip/custom item only. Therefore, we suggest creating one custom item per payroll item. For example, if you have weekly and monthly paid employees, don't create separate custom items for each pay frequency. Instead, create a single custom item that applies to all employees.

Custom items are needed to account for the various levies, pay amounts, pension and provident fund contributions, and shifts worked.

Where applicable, create the following custom items:

1. Council Administration Employee Levy
2. Council Collective Bargaining Employee Levy
3. Council Dispute Resolution Employee Levy

4. Sick Pay Employee Levy

   Follow the steps below for each of 1 to 4 above.

   1. Go to Settings > Custom Items > Add.
   2. Click Deduction as the type of custom item.
   3. Enter a Name.
   4. Select “Fixed Amount” next to Input type.
   5. Enter the Amount.
   6. Click Save.

5. Council Voluntary Leave Enhancement Pay

6. Sick Pay Employer Amount

   Follow the steps below for each of 5 and 6 above.

   1. Go to Settings > Custom Items > Add.
   2. Click Benefit as the Custom Item type.
   3. Enter a Name.
   4. Select “Fixed Amount” next to Input type.
   5. Enter the Amount.
   6. Ensure that you have checked the Bargaining Council Item box.
   7. Click Save.

7. EIPF/MIPF Shifts Worked

   Follow the steps below for 7 above.

   1. Go to Settings > Custom Items > Add.
   2. Click Informational as the type of custom item.
   3. Enter a Name.
   4. Select “Formula” next to Input type.

   5. Enter the following formula:

      if(hourly_paid, shifts_worked, default_days_worked – days_with_leave_for_system_type(“unpaid”))

   6. Click Save.

Informational custom items

• The informational custom item type will be available only if the Bargaining Council feature has been enabled as mentioned above.

• This informational custom item must be added under Regular Inputs for all employees. The shifts worked will be automatically calculated based on the employees' Regular Hours and any unpaid leave taken.

These custom items will then need to be mapped when configuring the inputs of the report. More information on Custom Items can be found here.

Creating Templates

Creating templates for all the Bargaining Council items will be a quick and efficient way to assign all required and recurring items to the relevant employees instead of adding each item. You can create a template as follows:

1. Go to Settings > Templates > Add New Template.
2. Give the template a name, such as Bargaining Council Employees.
3. Click Save.
4. Under Normal Items, add the created custom items as mentioned above, by clicking Add for each individual custom item.

This template can now be assigned to employees. To do so:

1. Go to an employee’s profile.
2. Click Add next to Regular Inputs, and select your template from the Templates section.
3. Click Add Template.

More information on Bargaining Council Templates can be found here.

Setting Up Shifts

1. Go to Settings > Payroll Calculations > Basic Pay.
2. Check the Enable input of number of shifts box.

To capture the shifts worked for hourly paid employees, go to Basic Salary under Payslip Inputs. SimplePay will automatically calculate the shifts worked for salaried employees based on their Regular Hours and any unpaid leave taken, using the Informational Custom Item mentioned in no. 7 above.

More information on shifts in Basic Pay Settings can be found here.

Capturing Bank Details

You have the option to capture your banking information for the MIBFA file. This can be captured in two places:

1. EFT Settings

   If you don’t make use of our EFT Settings functionality for paying employees, then you will just be required to enter your banking details without selecting an EFT file format.

   More information on EFT Settings can be found here.

2. When downloading the MIBFA file

   You can also enter additional banking details when downloading the MIBFA file on the Report Setup page as mentioned below.

Setting Up Job Grades

1. Go to Settings > Job Grades.
2. Add the relevant job grades.

More information on Job Grades can be found here.

Checking/Updating Basic Info

Certain information is required under every employee's Basic Info:

• EIPF / MIPF Date of Engagement – the date the employee first contributed to the EIPF or MIPF

  Default value for EIPF / MIPF Date of Engagement

  As noted on the screen, if this field is left blank, it will default to the employee’s appointment date, so it’s important to check it for every employee contributing to the EIPF or MIPF.

• Trade Union

• Remarks – where the name of another trade union can be entered

  Remarks field

  The Remarks field will be visible (individual) or editable (bulk) only if "Other Trade Union" is selected as the Trade Union.

This information can be checked/updated individually or in bulk.

Individually

1. Go to an employee's profile.
2. Go to Edit Info > Basic Info.
3. Under Essentials, check/update the relevant fields.

In Bulk

1. Go to Employees > Bulk Actions.
2. Under Informational Inputs, click on Essentials.
3. Check/update the information in the relevant columns.

More information on Basic Info can be found here.

Pensionable Remuneration

MIBFA defines pensionable remuneration as the total remuneration paid to an employee, excluding only overtime pay, leave enhancement pay, and allowances.

Pensionable remuneration includes, in addition to the basic rate of pay, payment for Sick Leave, Family Responsibility Leave, Annual Leave, Public Holidays, and all bonuses other than the leave enhancement pay.

To ensure accurate mapping of employee and employer contributions, on the Report Setup page, you should map:

• EIPF Employee and Employer Amounts to the Pension Fund item; and
• MIPF Employee and Employer Amounts to the Provident Fund item.

More information on Retirement Funds can be found here.

Generating a Report

It is recommended to generate a report that will allow you to confirm which values are included within the file for the period. To do this, we recommend creating a Custom Report with the fields that would be present in the MIBFA file.

Downloading the MIBFA TXT File

Once all the above has been set up, you will now be able to generate and download a monthly TXT File.

Finalising payslips

Ensure that you have finalised all employee payslips before generating the report.

Initial Steps

1. Go to Reports.
2. Under Bargaining Council, click Export File.
3. Select the Date Range by using the dropdown menu.
4. Use the Click here link to configure the inputs of the report.

Configuring the Report

1. On the Report Setup page, enter your unique Firm Number in the blank field.
2. Enter your banking information under Bank Account Details.

3. Do all the Payslip Mappings by using the dropdown menus.

   Basic Info

   If you haven't yet checked and updated your employees' Basic Info, you should do so before downloading the report.

4. Enter the required information under Monthly Inputs.

5. Click Save after you have completed all of the above.

Once-off and regular steps

• You will be required to configure inputs on the Report Setup page only once.
• You will need to capture Monthly Inputs each month when generating the MIBFA TXT file.

Downloading the Report

1. Click Download TXT.

The downloaded file can now be sent to MIBFA.

Submitting to MIBFA

Once you have generated and downloaded the MIBFA TXT file, email it to [email protected]. The subject heading of the email must be: “[firm number] yyyy/mm”. Note that there should be one submission per email. Please contact MIBFA for more information.