Home › UIF › UI-8D: Registering Your Household as a Domestic Employer

UI-8D: Registering Your Household as a Domestic Employer

Before you can pay UIF for a domestic worker, nanny, housekeeper or gardener, your household must be registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund as an employer. The UI-8D — Application for Registration as an Employer of Domestic Employees — is the once-off form that does this for private households. It takes about ten minutes to complete. Here is what every field means and exactly where to send it.

Last reviewed June 2026 · wage figures from 1 March 2026

What the UI-8D is and who must complete it

The UI-8D is issued under the Unemployment Insurance Contributions Act, 2002. It registers a private household — not a business — as a domestic employer and generates the UIF employer reference number you will use on every future declaration and payment. Businesses use the longer UI-8 form instead; the UI-8D is the simplified household version, headed 'Private Household'.

You must register if you employ anyone in your home for 24 hours or more per month. Workers employed less than 24 hours a month are excluded from UIF, as are commission-only earners. Domestic workers and their employers have been covered by the UIF since 1 April 2003, and the UIF FAQ is blunt about the consequences of not registering: penalties and interest apply under the Contributions Act, and workers are advised to report non-registering employers to the Department of Employment and Labour. You complete one UI-8D per household, however many workers you employ.

Have this information ready before you start

Everything the form asks for should be at hand before you sit down: your own ID, work permit or passport number; the date your first domestic worker started; your phone numbers and addresses; and, for the accompanying UI-19, your worker's 13-digit ID number, gross monthly wage and start date. Remember that her wage must be at least the national minimum — R30.23 per ordinary hour from 1 March 2026 — and that the minimum cannot be reduced by deductions for food, transport or accommodation.

The form, field by field

The UI-8D is a single page with 15 numbered fields. Taken in order:

• 1. Identity / work permit / passport number of employer — your own number, not your worker's. This becomes the anchor of your UIF record.
• 2–3. First names and surname of employer — the household registers in one person's name; pick the person who will handle declarations and payments.
• 4. Date on which the first contributor (employee) was employed — the actual start date of your first worker. The form itself notes this cannot be earlier than April 2003, when domestic workers were brought into the UIF.
• 5. Number of employees employed — count everyone who works in your household 24 hours or more a month: domestic worker, nanny, gardener, au pair, driver.
• 6–9. Telephone numbers — office hours, after hours, cellphone and fax (fax only if applicable). Give numbers you actually answer; the Fund uses them to query declarations.
• 10. Personal or other email address — strongly recommended, as confirmation correspondence can be emailed.
• 11. Language preference — 1 for English, 2 for Afrikaans (the only two options on the form).
• 12–13. Postal address and residential address — the residential address should be where the worker actually works.
• 14–15. Magisterial district and municipality of your residential address — if unsure, your municipal account shows the municipality; the magisterial district is usually your town or metro name.

Attach a UI-19 and sign the declaration

The UI-8D carries a bold note: a completed UI-19 in respect of employees must accompany this form. The UI-19 is what actually lists your worker — her ID number, wage and start date — so the pair must travel together; a UI-8D on its own registers an employer with no employees. See our full guide to completing the UI-19.

Finally, date and sign the declaration that all information is true and correct. An authorised agent (for example a payroll service) may sign on your behalf.

Where to send it — or skip the paper entirely

The submission options are printed on the form: post it to the UIF, Pretoria, 0052; fax it to head office on (012) 337-1636 or to the regional fax number nearest you (numbers for Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Polokwane, Bloemfontein, East London, Gqeberha and others appear on the form); or hand it in at any UIF branch or labour centre.

The faster route is online. The UIF FAQ says employers can register on Bizportal or at uFiling (ufiling.labour.gov.za), and that registration is finalised immediately. After registering you receive a UI-54 confirmation with your unique employer reference number, and a UI-32 confirming each employee's registration. Keep both documents — you will quote the reference number on every payment and declaration.

After you register: your ongoing duties

Registration is the start, not the end. From your worker's first payday you must deduct 1% of her wage, add your own 1%, and pay the Fund by the 7th of the following month — the full mechanics are in our guide to UIF contributions for domestic workers. You must also keep declarations current and submit a final UI-19 when employment ever ends, so that she can claim her benefits without delay.

One related duty is often missed: UIF is not the only registration. Since the Constitutional Court's Mahlangu judgment (Mahlangu v Minister of Labour, decided in 2020), domestic workers are covered by the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, and household employers must also register with the Compensation Fund under section 80 of COIDA and file annual returns of earnings. That is a separate process with its own form (CF-1E) — budget time for both.

Protect yourself with legal cover →