360books gives every employee a private portal link — no login, no extra seat — where they can check their leave balance, request leave, and claim back business expenses with a photo of the slip. You approve everything from Payroll → Leave & claims.
Sharing the portal
Go to Payroll → Employees → Leave → 🔗 Copy employee leave portal link and send it to the employee (WhatsApp is fine). The link is protected by their ID number — a forwarded link alone shows nothing. Add the employee's ID number to their record first.
Leave
Types & rules built in (BCEA):
- Annual — accrues 1.25 days per finalised pay run (15 working days/year); the balance shows on the payslip.
- Sick — 30 days per rolling 36-month cycle (cycle anchored to the start date).
- Family responsibility — 3 days per 12-month cycle.
- Maternity / parental — recorded for the file (typically unpaid; the employee claims UIF).
- Unpaid — automatically reduces that month's payslip: daily rate = monthly salary ÷ 21.67.
Employees request leave from the portal → you get an email → approve or decline under Payroll → Leave & claims. Approving books the leave and adjusts balances automatically. The same page shows who's off this month and the leave liability report (accrued leave × daily rate — your accountant uses this for the AFS).
Leaving employees (BCEA s40(b)): on termination the accrued, untaken annual leave must be paid out. Open Payroll → Employees → Leave → 💰 Pay out balance (termination): 360books computes the amount (daily rate = monthly salary ÷ 21.67 × balance), adds a taxed Leave payout line to the final payslip (PAYE by the bonus method, UIF/SDL apply), zeroes the balance, and posting happens automatically when you finalize the payslip. Then mark the employee inactive.
Use it or lose it (BCEA s20(4)): annual leave carried over from a previous leave year must be taken within 6 months of the new cycle starting — after that it expires automatically. Both sides can see it coming: the Leave & claims page shows every employee with days at risk and the exact expiry date, and the employee portal shows the same warning. When leave expires, it's recorded as an expiry transaction in the employee's leave history and the balance (and leave liability) reduces. Old leave is always used first, so taking leave protects the carried-over days before the new ones.
Expense claims
From the portal an employee submits: date, amount, what it was for, VAT on the slip, and a photo of the receipt. You approve it with two choices — which expense account it belongs to, and where it's paid or owed from (a bank account = reimbursed now; a liability account = owed until you pay). Approval posts the books correctly: the expense (and input VAT, when claimable) on one side, the bank/liability on the other — and the receipt is stored and bundled into the SARS audit pack automatically.
What employees CAN claim
Business costs they paid personally, with a slip: fuel and parking for work trips, tolls, stationery and supplies, courier costs, work airtime/data, small tools or equipment, accommodation when travelling for work.
What to handle differently
- Per-kilometre travel ("I drove 120 km") is not a slip claim — pay it through the payslip's Travel reimbursement (non-taxable) field (per-km at or below the SARS prescribed rate). Above the rate, or alongside a travel allowance, it becomes taxable — ask your accountant.
- Fixed allowances (car, phone) are remuneration — put them in the payslip's Allowances field, where they're taxed correctly.
- Entertainment (client meals, gifts): claim the cost, but enter VAT as R0 — input VAT on entertainment is generally not claimable.
- Personal spend: only the business portion, clearly described.
Three rules that survive a SARS audit
1. No slip, no claim. 2. Business purpose in the description — "Fuel — delivery to Acme, Midrand" beats "Fuel". 3. Unsure about the VAT? Claim R0 VAT — you keep the expense deduction and lose nothing arguable.