# Get your uFiling declarations through an API

> Read each employer's declaration history, employee list and Payment History from uFiling with one API call each. Or have a workflow check every employer you file for after the 7th and email you the periods still missing a declaration.

Page: https://fous.com/automate/ufiling
Updated: 2026-11-12

Works with your own uFiling account. Fous is an independent product.

## What you can build on uFiling

### Get declaration history for an employer

Opens the employer in Declarations Manager, selects View Returns and Calculate Returns, and reads the five-year list of periods with each one's status.

- Takes: UIF reference number
- Returns: Employer, period, status, issue, contribution amount

### List an employer's employees

Reads the employee list on the employer's Employment Summary in Declarations Manager, with each employee's employment and salary information.

- Takes: UIF reference number
- Returns: Employee name, ID number, commencement date, termination date, UIF taxable remuneration, UIF gross remuneration

### Get payment history

Reads the Payment History page: every electronic and manual payment, with its status, which reads PAID once the transaction has cleared.

- Takes: UIF reference number, from period (optional)
- Returns: Employer, period, payment type, amount, payment date, status

### Submit a monthly declaration

Opens the period under View Returns for one employer, checks the declaration values and selects Submit, so the status changes to Submitted.

- Takes: UIF reference number, period
- Returns: Employer, period, status, number of employees, contribution amount

## Automate uFiling with a workflow

A [workflow](/product/workflows) runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

### Missing declarations, every employer you file for

Starts: Every month on the 8th at 8:00, Africa/Johannesburg

1. For each UIF reference number you list, get the employer's declaration history.
2. Keep the periods that are not Submitted or that show an issue.
3. Email you the list, one section per employer, with period, status and issue.

### Cleared UIF payments, posted to your accounting system

Starts: Every weekday at 9:00, Africa/Johannesburg

1. For each employer, get the Payment History.
2. Keep the payments that are PAID now and were not PAID on the last run.
3. Post employer, period, amount, payment type and payment date to your accounting webhook.

### Employee records that changed, sent to your payroll system

Starts: Every month on the 1st at 7:00, Africa/Johannesburg

1. For each employer, list the employees and their UIF taxable remuneration.
2. Keep the employees added, terminated or changed since the last run.
3. Post them to your payroll system's webhook so the records match before you declare.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

## Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a [method](/product/methods), it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “Get declaration history for an employer” would look like.

Example request:

```
curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "ufiling.labour.gov.za/get_declaration_history",
    "input": {
      "uif_reference": "2501234/8"
    }
  }'
```

Example response:

```
{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "employer": "Acme Cleaning (Pty) Ltd",
    "uif_reference": "2501234/8",
    "periods": [
      {
        "period": "2026-10",
        "status": "Submitted",
        "issue": null,
        "contribution_amount": 4812.6,
        "currency": "ZAR"
      }
    ],
    "count": 1
  }
}
```

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

## UFiling’s own options

uFiling is free, and its user guide and FAQ describe no API or data export. Employers, labour practitioners and their delegates declare and pay UIF contributions in the portal, one employer at a time. Employees can be added in bulk from an Excel upload file, and payments go to your bank as an instruction you approve.

| Option | What it covers | What it takes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Bulk upload file | Creates or updates an employer's employee records from the file you get with Download Bulk upload File. | A uFiling account linked to the employer. Dates in YYYY/MM/DD format and the ID number column set as a number. |
| Pay Online For Period | Sends a payment instruction for a declaration to your bank. Manual Payment For Period records a payment made another way. | An employer bank account added in uFiling and approval in your banking app. Instructed every month, no credit cards. |
| uFiling by hand | Declarations Manager, View Returns, Payment History and Employee Declaration Status, one employer at a time. | A free, activated uFiling account. A practitioner also needs each employer to accept the request to add it. |

Read on November 12, 2026: [uFiling System User Guide](https://ufiling.labour.gov.za/docs/uFilingSystemUserGuide.pdf), [uFiling FAQs](https://ufiling.labour.gov.za/uif/help-faqs), [Instructed Debit Pull](https://ufiling.labour.gov.za/uif/debit-pull).

## Signing in to uFiling

uFiling signs you in with a username and password. A new account gets a temporary password by email or SMS, asks for a new one at first sign-in and then a vetting step. With Fous you sign in once through uFiling's own sign-in with your own account: the login is sealed with AES-256, and an expired session is signed back in.

## Worth knowing

- **Declarations follow the employee records**: uFiling prepares each declaration from the employer and employee details you captured. A declaration cannot be edited itself: you correct the employee's employment or salary details, and the declaration follows.
- **Due by the 7th, changeable until paid**: Employers send the UIF their employees' details by the 7th of every month. A return can be changed until it is paid, a payment cannot be reversed, and a correction to an earlier period goes into the next month.
- **One employer at a time**: uFiling has no consolidated view of all clients, and reports are per employer. Adding a client sends the employer an approval email, and the request stays Pending until it is accepted.
- **Payments need your bank's approval**: Pay Online For Period sends an instruction you approve in your banking app, and the bank usually answers within 24 to 48 hours. Penalties and interest cannot be paid through uFiling.

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- [KRA iTax](https://fous.com/automate/kra-itax.md)
- [SARS eFiling](https://fous.com/automate/sars-efiling.md)
- [SIMPL](https://fous.com/automate/simpl.md)
- [Egyptian Tax Authority e-Services](https://fous.com/automate/egyptian-tax-authority-e-services.md)
- [ZATCA e-Services](https://fous.com/automate/zatca-e-services.md)
- [EmaraTax](https://fous.com/automate/emaratax.md)
- [Mudad](https://fous.com/automate/mudad.md)

Other industries: [TRACES NT](/automate/traces-nt), [Companies House WebFiling](/automate/companies-house-webfiling), [LOOP](/automate/loop), [Halifax Intermediaries Online](/automate/halifax-intermediaries-online), [FBI NICS E-Check](/automate/fbi-nics-e-check), [PASSPort](/automate/passport).

## Frequently asked questions

### Does uFiling have an API?

Not one its documentation describes: uFiling's user guide and FAQ mention no API or data export. You work in the portal, one employer at a time, with a bulk upload file for employee records and Pay Online For Period for payments.

### When are UIF declarations due on uFiling?

By the 7th of every month. Employers must give the UIF the details of all their employees monthly, and uFiling also takes outstanding returns for the past five years.

### Can I see all my clients' UIF declarations in one place?

Not in uFiling, which has no consolidated view of all clients and gives reports per employer. With Fous, a workflow can loop over your clients' UIF reference numbers, read each declaration history and email you one list.

### Can I correct a UIF declaration after submitting it?

Yes, until it is paid. You correct the employee's details and the declaration follows. Once paid it cannot be reversed, and a correction to an earlier period goes into the following month's declaration.

### Is Fous affiliated with the Unemployment Insurance Fund?

No. Fous is an independent product. You use it with your own uFiling account, and a method reads and does only what that account can.

Fous is an independent product: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the operator of uFiling (Unemployment Insurance Fund, Department of Employment and Labour). The name is used only to say which system this page is about. Something here wrong or out of date? Write to legal@fous.com.