The validation error indicates that an employees has an negative value on the ETI History screen. According to the SARS Business Requirement Specification (BRS) negative values are not allowed.
The negative ETI value could be related to an issue linked the the initial Release 5.4c update software (released May 2020), where the system applied an incorrect backdated ETI recalculation for the month of April 2020.
The recalculation was resolved in the subsequent Release 5.4c+ software. The new software however did not correct the values already recalculated, and had to be manually corrected.
See related Sage City post: URGENT NOTICE: ETI calculated incorrectly in April 2020 for employees earning R6500 or more (Release 5.4c). *** Updated 04/06/2020 ***
The negative ETI values will need to be removed from the ETI history of the affected employees.
Step 1 - Export the existing ETI History from you payroll
Step 2 - Identify and correct ETI values.
NOTE: If the negative or incorrect values were included in your EMP201 declaration for the specific month, it will impact on the ETI amounts claimed and carried forward.
Step 3 - Import corrected ETI values.