PR-M  Payroll Defaults

Use this program to enter defaults for each of your Payroll divisions.

Field Explanations

MAIN SCREEN

Division

This is the division code that will identify the accounts and deduction information associated with the payroll division.  When each employee is defined using PR-A  Enter Employees a division code that has been created here must be assigned to the employee.  At least one division designation must be assigned for your system.  Divisions can be used to handle different groups of employees, each with different deductions and GL accounts, or to handle benefits for employees in different states.  If you don't require multiple versions of payroll defaults (i.e., you operate in a single state and the same deduction and pay period apply to all employees), then you should create one division and assign all employees to it.  Individual employees can be assigned to GL Accounts different from the division defaults so it is not necessary to have multiple divisions solely for the purpose of GL posting.

Name

The name for the division.  This field is for reference only; a name such as "California" or "Direct Labor" or "Supervisory Labor" might define a payroll division.  This is a 20 character, alphanumeric field.

State

The two letter designator for the state information to be used for this division.  This is a required field.

Pay Period [DWBSM]

The normal pay period for the payroll for this division.  The table below summarizes the system designations by day and by hour for each type.

                             Days          Hours

D-  Daily                    1              8

W-  Weekly                5             40

B-  Bi-weekly            10             80

S-  Semi-monthly     11             88

M-  Monthly              22            176  

Time Card Format [ABC]

You are offered three formats in a pop-up window: AM/PM time, 24 hour time, and decimal time.  These are used by PR-J  Enter Time Cards.

WC Calculation [GHD]

Enter H if workman's compensation is calculated as the rate times the number of hours worked.  Enter D if it is calculated times the number of days worked.  Enter G if it is to be calculated on the rate times gross pay.  In some states workman's compensation is a payroll deduction; in states like California it is paid separately as an insurance premium. PR-L-K  Print Payroll Hours lists all hours and wages and is helpful in preparing workman's compensation forms.

Pay Categories - PR Expense Accts

All the fields in this section require assignment of a GL expense account for posting purposes.  If you have set up departments in your chart of accounts, you can override this particular account assignment with a department assignment in the employee's individual record through PR-A  Enter Employees.  The fields that require expense accounts are:

Regular

Overtime

Doubletime

Holiday

Commission

Vacation

Sick Pay

User-Defined (3)

Accrual Rate - Vacation

Only enter a rate here if all employees in the division receive an identical number of vacation hours, or if you wish to set a default rate for the division.  Each employee can have his/her own rate and annual cap when set up in PR-A  Enter Employees.  The vacation rate multiplied by the hours worked determines the number of vacation hours accumulated during the pay period.  Calculate this figure as follows.  (No days per year rec'd X number of work hrs per day) / 20802080 represents the number of work hours per year.  As an example, if two weeks a year are accumulated, the figure would be 10 x 8 / 2080, or .03846154.  This figure reflects the vacation time accumulated per hour worked.

Accrual Rate - Sick Pay

Just like the vacation rate, only enter a rate here if all employees receive the same number of sick days, or if you want to set a default for the division.  In PR-A  Enter Employees each employee can have his/her own sick pay rate and annual cap.  The sick pay rate multiplied by the hours worked determines the number of sick hours accumulated during the pay period.  Use the same formula used to calculate the vacation rate above.

USER-DEFINED DEDUCTION SCREEN

The system provides specification of 15 user defined deductions based on one of three methods of calculation: percentage of gross pay, fixed or flat amounts, or rate times total hours.  It also supports pre-tax deductions, such as the 401K and the 125 plan.  You can also use these account assignments without specifying percentage or flat amounts; in this case, the amounts will be specified in each employee's record (PR-A  Enter Employees ).  You can use any one of these deductions for a 40lK account or 125 plan since each of the user defined deductions can be a pre-tax deduction.  The names you assign to these deductions are printed on any screens or reports which reference these deductions.  The percentages and amounts you assign to these deductions are used for all employees unless you choose to override them by setting an alternate amount within the individual employee record via PR-A  Enter Employees .  The 15 user defined deductions' names, percentages, and amounts are separately defined for each division, so you can have, for example, one set of deductions for direct labor employees and another for office personnel.

Deduction No

The number of the user-defined description.  This number can be any number between 1 and 15.

Description

The name of the user-defined deduction.  

Pre-Tax?

If the deduction is to be set up as a pre-tax deduction, enter a Y in this field.  Also, the items in the Exempt from section to the right of this field will contain Y or N values indicating which standard deductions this user-defined deduction is exempt from.  If the Pre-Tax? field is set to N, the Exempt from section will be blank.

"Exempt from" Section

If the deduction's Pre-Tax? field is set to Y, you must enter Y or N values in the fields in this section (Fed Inc Tax, FICA (SS), FICA (Med), FUTA, State Inc Tax, SUTA, SDI, Workers Comp) indicating which standard deductions this deduction is exempt from.  If the Pre-Tax? field is set to N, these fields will be blank.

EMPLOYEE PORTION

Calc Method

The calculation method used to determine the employee's portion of the deduction.  Enter a zero if there is to be no employee deduction amount; otherwise, press F1 to get a listing of the applicable Calc Method codes.  There are three basic calculation methods:

Flat $ Amount

$ Amt X Total Hours

%  of Gross Pay

Deduction Amount

The amount or percentage to be deducted each payroll, according to the type defined above.  This is a default value which can be changed at the employee level when setting up employees in PR-A  Enter Employees.

Pay Period $ Limit

The maximum dollar amount that can be deducted per pay period.  This is a default value which can be changed at the employee level when setting up employees in PR-A  Enter Employees.

Annual $ Limit

The maximum dollar amount that can be deducted per year.  This is a default value which can be changed at the employee level when setting up employees in PR-A  Enter Employees.

Liability GL Acct

The GL liability account to which the withheld amounts are to accumulate.

Vendor

The institution that is to receive the funds from the accounts.  This allows a transfer of payroll totals to standard payees through PR-H  Transfer Liabilities to AP.  You can click on the lookup icon or button (or press F2) to select from the vendors you have already set up in AP-A  Enter Vendors.

Amount Outstanding

The total amount that has not yet been transferred through PR-H  Transfer Liabilities to AP.

EMPLOYER PORTION

Calc Meth

The calculation method used to determine the employer's portion of the deduction.  Enter a zero if there is to be no employee deduction amount; otherwise, press F1 to get a listing of the applicable Calc Method codes.  There are four basic calculation methods:

Flat $ Amount

$ Amt X Total Hours

%  of Gross Pay

Matching Percentage

Deduction Amount

The amount or percentage to be contributed by the employer each payroll, according to the type defined above.  This is a default value which can be changed at the employee level when setting up employees in PR-A  Enter Employees.

Pay Period $ Limit

The maximum dollar amount that can be contributed per pay period.  This is a default value which can be changed at the employee level when setting up employees in PR-A  Enter Employees.

Annual $ Limit

The maximum dollar amount that can be contributed per year.  This is a default value which can be changed at the employee level when setting up employees in PR-A  Enter Employees.

Expense GL Acct

The GL expense account to which the employer expense is to be posted.

Advance EIC ?Negative Deduction

To set up a user defined deduction for Advance EIC to be added to a qualifying employee's gross, pre-tax, create the deduction as a fixed amount, NOT pre-tax. The logic in PR-B  Enter Pay Info assumes any negative deduction is pre-tax. Setup the applicable Advance EIC amount for the employee in PR-A  Enter Employees as a negative amount, and remember to override the amount, if necessary, in PR-B based upon the Advance EIC table in Circular E for the current pay period gross wages.

STANDARD DEDUCTIONS ?RATES SCREEN

FICA [SS] ?Employee%, Employer%, $Limit

The employee rate, employer rate, and limit.  The limit is in terms of maximum gross pay amount, not the FICA (Social Security) deducted amount.

FICA (Md) ?Employee%, Employer%, $Limit

The employee rate, employer rate, and limit.  The limit is in terms of maximum gross pay amount, not the FICA (Medicare) deducted amount.

FUTA ?Employee%, Employer%, $Limit, Credit%

The employer rate, limit, and maximum credit allowed by federal statute.  The limit is in terms of maximum gross pay amount, not the total FUTA expense.

SUTA ?Employer%, $Limit

The employer rate and limit.  The limit is in terms of maximum gross pay amount, not total SUTA expense.

SDI ?Employer%, $Limit

The employer rate and the limit for state disability insurance.  The limit is in terms of the maximum gross pay amount, not the total SDI expense.

STANDARD DEDUCTIONS ?GL ACCTS & VENDORS SCREEN

Liability Accts

All the fields below require assignment of a liability account in order to accumulate the amounts until they are paid to the designated institution (federal/state government, a bank, etc).  These accounts reflect the portion of the payment deducted from the employee salary.  If you have set up departments in your chart of accounts, you can override this particular account assignment with a department assignment in the employee's individual record using PR-A  Enter Employees.

FIT - Federal Income Tax

FICA [SS] - Social Security Portion

FICA [Md] - Medicare Portion

FUTA - Federal Unemployment

SIT - State Income Tax

SUTA - State Unemployment

SDI - State Disability Insurance

Work Comp - Workman's Compensation

Spcl Ded - Special Deduction (see below)

Misc Ded - Miscellaneous Deduction (see below)

The Miscellaneous and Special deductions are on-the-fly deductions that can be entered during PR-B  Enter Pay Info.  They are used for special situations not covered by the standard and user-defined deductions.

EC Expense Accts

Those categories that have some portion of the deduction paid by the employer should have an account number entered here to record the employer's expense.  FICA, FUTA, SUTA, SDI, and Workman's Comp all require expense account assignments.

Vendors

You will use the Vendor field to indicate which institution is to receive the funds from the accounts.  For example, FICA might be the bank you use as a depository for federal income tax funds (initially set up under AP-A, Enter Vendors), and SUTA might be a specific state agency that handles unemployment tax.  This allows a transfer of payroll totals to standard payees through PR-H  Transfer Liabilities to AP.  When the cursor is positioned in the vendor field, click on the lookup icon or button (or press F2) to select from the vendors you have already set up in AP-A  Enter Vendors.

$Outstanding

The numbers in this column reflect the total amount that has not yet been transferred through PR-H  Transfer Liabilities to AP.  This is a figure calculated against the liability accounts only.

General Program Operation

The opening screen displays a list of existing payroll divisions.  To set up a new division, click on the Add button, which will take you to the main screen.  From there you enter values for all the fields on the screen.  Besides the main screen there are three additional screens to complete: User-Defined Deductions, Standard Deductions ?Rates, and Standard Deductions ?GL Accounts & Vendors.

Entering User-Defined Deductions

To set up a user-defined deduction, from the main screen click on the User Deds button.  You will be presented with a list of existing user-defined deductions.  To add a new user-defined deduction, highlight one of the blank deduction lines (they are numbered from 1-15) and click on it or press <Enter>.  This will take you to an entry screen where you can complete all the fields related to this deduction.  When finished, click on the Back to List button.  You can then enter or edit another deduction, or you can click on the Main Screen button to return to the main screen.

Entering Standard Deduction Rates

To enter standard deduction rates, from the main screen click on the Std Deds [Rates] button.  This will take you to an entry screen where you can enter the various rates.  When finished, click on the Main Screen button to return to the main screen.

Entering Standard Deduction GL Accounts & Vendors

To enter standard deduction GL accounts and vendors, from the main screen click on the Std Deds [GL/Vndr] button.  This will take you to an entry screen where you can enter the GL accounts and vendor designations for the various standard deductions.  When you are finished making your entries, click on the Main Screen button to return to the main screen.

When all four screens are completed, click on the Save button (or press F10) and the division record will be saved and you will be returned to the opening screen.  From the opening screen you can either create another division or click on the Exit button (or press <Esc>) to return to the Accounting Defaults menu.

Editing an Existing Division

To edit an existing division, from the opening screen user your mouse or arrow keys to highlight the division to be changed, then click on it or press <Enter>, or click on the Edit button.  This will take you to the main screen.  User your mouse or <Enter> key to advance to whichever fields are to be changed, on the main screen or any of the other three screens.  When completed, click the Save button (or press F10) and your changes will be saved.

Duplicating a Division

If you are creating multiple divisions that differ in one or two fields only, you can copy all the information from one division to another.  On the opening screen, highlight the division you wish to copy.  Click on the Duplicate a Divisions button.  You will then be prompted for the new division code.  Enter the code and you will be returned to the opening screen where you will see the new division added to the list.  Highlight the new division, click on the Edit button, then edit the division record for any changes that are needed.  

Deleting a Division

You can only delete a division of no employees are assigned to it.  On the opening screen, highlight the division you wish to delete.  Click the Delete button.  You will be asked to verify if you want to delete the division.  If you click Yes, the division will be deleted and you will be returned to the opening screen where the division will no longer be displayed in the list of divisions.