Benefits (Payroll Tab)

This screen is optional - If your payroll does not have any benefits that are paid on behalf of the employee (Pension, Group Benefits, etc.), you can skip this screen.

This screen allows you to work with company benefits - payments made by the company on the employee's behalf. Benefits can be calculated as a factor of a deduction or as a percentage of an earning type. They can also be entered as a fixed amount on a per-pay-period basis. For example, if the company has a pension plan where 5% of earnings are deducted from the employee and the company matches or contributes 5% to the plan, the company contribution is referred to as a benefit.

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Automatic Deductions and Benefits - In many situations, both the deduction and benefit are related. Therefore when you create a benefit in the Current Payroll - Benefits screen, a corresponding deduction is also created in the Current Payroll - Deductions screen (and vice versa). You have the option of utilizing the benefit only, the deduction only, or both. eNETEmployer will allocate these costs to all the areas/departments in which the employee works.

Further, certain types of deductions are associated with benefit programs such as health plans, life insurance plans, and other benefit plans. These are typically referred to as "benefit deductions". Other deductions that are not generally associated with benefits (union dues, parking fees, savings bonds, etc.), are referred to as "general deductions".

Payroll benefits are commonly used in cases such as:

Where the benefit is taxable and will therefore affect the net pay.
Where you must include the company portion when reporting or make payments to the supplier of the service.
Where the benefit may appear on a T4 or T4A.

Remember, eNETEmployer automatically creates a matching deduction each time a benefit is created (and vice versa). Therefore you have the choice of including the matching deduction in your calculations (because the deduction is not included by default).

Common Buttons

Visit the Button Descriptions help page to view detailed descriptions of each button that appears on your screen (whether in the Button Bar at the top of the table, or in the table itself). Note: If a button is unavailable (i.e. its text appears in Gray), either the command is not applicable to the current screen, or its function has already been applied (e.g. you clicked the New button for an item that can only be added one time).

The following section of this help page describes the various columns that can appear in the main table on this screen. If you see a column description below that does not appear on your screen, you can add the column to your view by using the Customize option under the Views button (located at the left side of the screen just above the table). Refer to the Customize View help page for more help on this feature.

Alt. Name

Use this cell to enter an alternate name for the benefit that can be useful when used in conjunction with the program's Language feature. The alternate name can be set to a different language so that employees' pay stubs will display their preferred language. Refer to the employee's Status Parameters screen to learn more about individual employee Language settings.

Appear on Pay Statement

Use this cell to specify whether the benefit amounts are to appear on each employee's pay statement. Editing the cell will display a checkbox where you can specify the two available options: Yes (the amounts will appear on pay statements) or No (the amounts will not appear on pay statements).

As Benefit

Use this cell to specify whether the benefit will be calculated in the current payroll. This is useful in cases where the program has created a matching benefit item, but you do not wish it to be used in any calculations (matching benefits are created automatically when you create a deduction - see the Automatic Benefits note above). Editing the cell will display a checkbox where you can specify the two available options: Yes (the item is active in the payroll) or No (the item in not active in the payroll).

Audit

This button allows you to view a list of changes that have been made to the current item. Choosing the button opens the Audit History window where item changes are shown in colored text. Note: Audit History is a developing feature and subject to updates as new functionality is added.

Calculate Benefits

Use this cell to specify the method that will be used when the benefit is calculated. Editing the cell displays a menu where you can choose the various calculation methods that may be assigned.

Individually - The benefit amount will be calculated for each individual employee based on the amount defined in the Employee - Deductions & Benefits screen.
By Fixed Amount - The benefit will use a fixed amount calculation. This amount is defined in the Fixed Amount cell.
By Function - The benefit amount will be calculated using the specified function shown in the Calculate Function cell.

Calculate Function

Use this cell to specify the function that will be used when the Calculate Benefits option is set to the By Function method. Editing the cell displays a menu where you can choose from a list of available functions. Note: Items appearing in this list are created using the Payroll tabs's Current Payroll - Functions screen.

View a step-by-step tutorial on this feature

Carry Forward Year End Balance

Use this cell to specify whether the benefit's year-end balance should be carried forward to the subsequent year. Editing the cell will display a checkbox where you can specify the two available options: Yes (the benefit's year-end balance will be carried forward) or No (the benefit's year-end balance will not be carried forward). If this option is set to No, the year-end balances will be set to zero automatically upon the first calculation of the next year.

View an overview of the year-end process

Do Not Journalize Benefit

Use this cell to specify whether the benefit will appear on the journal entry. Editing the cell will display a checkbox where you can specify the two available options: Yes (include the benefit on the Journal Entry) or No (exclude the benefit from the Journal Entry). The benefit is included on the journal entry by default.

Enable

Use this cell to specify whether the benefit is active in the current payroll. Editing the cell will display a checkbox where you can specify the two available options: Yes (the item is active in the payroll) or No (the item in not active in the payroll).

Fixed Amount

Use this cell to specify the amount that will be used when the benefit is to be calculated as a fixed amount (i.e. the By Fixed Amount option is chosen in the Calculate Benefits cell).

Name

Use this cell to enter the name of the deduction. The name shown here will appear on various screens and reports throughout the program.

Short Alt. Name

Use this cell to enter the short version for the alternate benefit name (shown in the Alt. Name column). The short name will be used when space restrictions are limited for displaying or printing.

Short Name

Use this cell to enter an abbreviated name for the benefit. This short name will be used when space restrictions are limited for screen display or printing (e.g. the employee pay stub).

Subject to

Use this cell to specify the tax category or other item(s) to which the benefit may be subject. This is necessary for benefits that affect the employee statutory deduction calculations. Editing the cell displays a drop-down menu where you can choose various options that may be assigned via its corresponding checkbox. The menu also includes a search box at the top where you can type in a word(s) and have matching items displayed quickly in the list.

CPP/QPP - CPP and QPP will be calculated on this benefit. Note: QPP will only be calculated if the employee to whom this benefit is assigned works in Quebec (i.e. their assigned tax province is Quebec).
EI - Indicates whether Employment Insurance (EI) will be calculated on this benefit.
Prov. Health - Indicates whether the benefit will be subject to Provincial Health calculations. Note: This option appears only if you have added one or more Provincial Health records in the Current Payroll - Prov. Health screen.
QTax - Indicates whether Quebec tax will be calculated on this benefit. This applies to employees who work in Quebec only (i.e. their assigned tax province is Quebec).
Tax - Indicates whether Income tax will be calculated on this benefit.
WCB - Indicates whether Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) assessments will be calculated on this benefit. Each province has specific requirements as to which earnings and benefits are subject to the WCB assessment. Generally, any amount that would appear in Box 14 of the T4 would be included. Some provinces require that a monthly report be prepared and submitted with each monthly payment.

T4 Box Benefits

This cell allows you to specify the T4 or T4A box to which this benefit will be assigned.

Exclude from T4 - The default option for unassigned benefits is Exclude from T4. This means that the benefit will not appear on the T4 or T4A form.
<Various T4 and T4A Boxes> - Editing the cell displays a drop-down menu where you can choose the box to which the benefit will be assigned.

See Also