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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.

View step-by-step tutorial

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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 (included on all screens)

The following command buttons appear on all screens. Choose a button to view detailed description of each command. 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). You can also view the Button Descriptions help page to see the detailed descriptions of all program button on a single help page.

Save New Delete Reload Tools Help

Save - Clicking this button saves all pending table changes to the program database. If a row is currently being edited, the changes will be saved and the row's checkmark () will remain so that you can continue making further edits.

New - This button allows you insert a new row (item) in the current table. Clicking the button adds the new row at the top of the table and activates Edit Mode so you can enter the data required for each cell. Note: If this button includes a drop-down list immediately to its right, you must first select an item from the list so that the new row will be based on the chosen list item.

Delete - Clicking this button removes the current row from the table. If you have multiple rows selected, all of the rows will be removed. When you click the button, you are prompted to make sure you want to delete the item(s) as the action cannot be undone.

Important Considerations - While most program screens allow you to delete a row easily, some screens contain items that require special consideration before deleting:

Employees - When you delete an employee from the Payroll tab's Employee - Setup Employee screen, the employee will no longer be visible on any screen in the Payroll tab other than the Employee - Status Parameters screen (the latter screen is required so that the employee can undeleted if necessary). If you delete an employee from the Employee Database, the employee is irretrievable. Refer to the Deleting Employees tutorial for more information.

Linked Items - Care should be taken when deleting an item(s) as they may be associated with other items in your database. If you attempt to delete an item and receive the following message: "Cannot delete <item> because it is linked to the following item:", it means that the item is associated (linked) with another item in the program. The item cannot be deleted until you remove the link/association between the two items. Refer to the Deleting Linked Items help page for more information.

Sub Rows - Some screens contain sub-rows that will appear under the main row that you are deleting. If you see an Expand icon () at the leftmost side of the row, you may wish to expand the main row to ensure that you are deleting the proper items. Note: If you are presented with an error message stating that "the first item should be deleted last", it indicates that you must delete all of the sub rows first before you can delete the main row. For screens that offer a Trash icon () to the left of the main row, you can choose the icon to remove the row and all of it's sub-rows in one action.

Reload - Clicking this button refreshes the browser page and replaces the data in the current screen with the last saved copy from the database. This is useful if you have made a number of changes to a row and wish to discard them all in one operation. Note: Remember that eNETEmployer saves the changes to a row each time a new row is selected. Thus, if you edit three rows in succession and then select the Reload button, only the third row will be restored.

Tools - Clicking the button displays a drop-down menu with special data functions that are available for the current screen. Depending on the which screen you are viewing, the options may include any of all of the following:

Audit - This option opens the History window that displays a list of changes that have been made to the current row. Changes are shown in colored text. Note: Audit History is a developing feature and subject to updates as new functionality is added.

Backup - This option creates a backup file that contains your complete company database (from all program modules, including Payroll, HR, Recruitment, etc.) - including all of the necessary information required to restore your data to the last program state when the backup was created. Depending on your browser settings, the backup file will either be stored in your Downloads folder or you may be presented with a window that will prompt you where to save the file. Click here to view a detailed description of the Backup command.

Export - This option saves the current table's data to a semicolon-separated file that can be opened in a spreadsheet program. The export function is carried out immediately upon choosing the command. Depending on your browser settings, the file will either be stored in your Downloads folder or you may be presented with a window that will prompt you where to save the file. Refer to the Export a File for Proper Formatting note above for more information on the export feature.

Import - This option allows you to import data from a character-separated (comma or semi-colon) spreadsheet file. Choosing the option opens a popup window where you can specify the file to be imported.

Messages - This option displays the Messages Log window that contains a running log of program messages that appear above the table. This log will be active for the login session, and will be cleared when you log out or the program, or if the system times out. The popup window contains thee command buttons:

Print - This button opens the Print window so that you can print a copy of the current table. A preview of the table will appear in a preview window before printing so that you can adjust the print settings as needed.

Copy - This button copies the full contents of the Messages Log window to your computer's virtual clipboard. If you wish to copy only a portion of the text shown, select the desired text, and then press <Ctrl>+<C> on your keyboard.

More - This button scrolls the window so that you can view messages that appear outside of the current view. You can also use the scroll bars at the left of the window to scroll through the window.

Print - This option opens the Print window so that you can print a copy of the current table. A preview of the table will appear in a preview window before printing so that you can adjust the print settings as needed.

Report - Available on the Payroll tab's Payroll Processing - Calculations screen only, this option generates an interim Payroll Register report so that you can review the details of the current pay sequence.

Help - Clicking this button displays a list of the various tutorials and online help tools that are provided for the current screen. The Online Help option provides a detailed description of each column and item on the current screen. The Step-by-Step option provides a tutorial for the current screen where you can follow along with the lesson one step at a time.

Table Columns

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