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Deduction and Benefit Items (Payroll Tab)

This screen allows you to assign "voluntary", non-statutory Deductions (and their related Benefit items when applicable) to your employees. Typical voluntary deductions and benefits can include dental plan and life insurance premiums, pension contributions, union dues, garnishee orders etc. Conversely, statutory deductions (Income Tax, CPP, and EI premiums) are automatically calculated by the program, and do not need to be assigned here.

Deductions and Benefits that appear on this screen are created in the Current Payroll - Deductions and Current Payroll - Benefits screens.

View step-by-step tutorial

Deductions and Benefits can be assigned to an employee in two ways:

Template - This is the most efficient method and can greatly speed up the process when adding new employees to your payroll. When an employee is assigned a given template, the employee inherits its associated deduction and benefit types. View a step-by-step tutorial on this method
Manually - This method involves adding each deduction or benefit one at a time. This is the required approach if you need to add a temporary item that may run for a limited number of pay periods. View a step-by-step tutorial on this method

Primary vs. Temporary Items - The first time that you assign a deduction or benefit, it is considered to be the Primary item. However, you may encounter instances where the employee may need to have a deduction or benefit amount adjusted for one or more pay periods. In this case, you could leave their primary item unchanged and instead assign a Temporary deduction or benefit of the same type. This temporary item can then be used to adjust or override the amounts for the current or subsequent pay periods. View a step-by-step tutorial on this feature

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 and cells shown in the main table on this screen. If you see a description on this help page for a column that does not appear on your screen, you can add the additional 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.

Hidden Rows - The columns on the right side of the table contain sub-rows that may be hidden from view initially (to provide more screen space). If required, these additional rows can be revealed by selecting the Expand Row icon (the right-facing triangle at the left side of each employee's top row). Expanding the rows provides access to the individual settings for each sub-row.

Rows and sub-rows are color-coded as follows:

Bold Green - Indicates the top (Primary) row of a group of expanded sub-rows. Green rows are always visible even when the row is collapsed. Green rows cannot be deleted if there is another item of the same type (e.g. you cannot delete a Green Earning or Deduction row if a second instance of the same item exists in the list). In such a case, the second earning or deduction must be removed first).
Bold Blue - Indicates rows that have been expanded under the Primary row.
Non-Bold Black Italic - Indicates that "Temporary" items that can be added to, or override its corresponding Primary item. For example, if an employee will be working for a different pay rate for a given period(s), you could assign a Temporary earning with the adjusted rate so that their Primary earning amount would not need to be edited.

Add Ded&Ben

Add Ded&Ben - This button allows you to apply a deduction to the current employee. Clicking the button displays a list of deductions that have been defined in the Deductions screen (accessible via the Current Payroll - Deductions menu command). When you choose an option from this list, a new row appears to the right of the button and contains the deduction's settings.

Note: The content for this cell cannot be edited directly. If you wish to modify the cell's text or value, you must open the appropriate screen that is used to manage its content.

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.

Benefit Amount

Use this cell to specify the amount for the benefit portion of this deduction/benefit item (if the benefit is set up to be calculated as a Fixed Amount as defined in the Benefits screen). This cell can be edited only when the Benefit Override checkbox is active for the row.

Benefit Calculate Test

This cell displays the calculated dollar amount based on the current expression and helps to ensure that the benefit's settings are setup correctly. If the amount shown here does not appear to be correct, you can verify its accuracy by checking the settings for other items that are associated with the benefit (e.g. the settings for the corresponding deduction, the assigned function if the benefit is being calculated using the By Function method, etc.).

Benefit Expression

Use this cell to define the expression that will be used to calculate the benefit's value. It is uneditable and applicable only for benefits that are set to be calculated using the By Function method as defined in the Benefits screen).

Benefit Method

This cell shows the method that will be used to calculate the deduction, based on the settings currently defined in Benefits screen. It is uneditable and will only display a value for benefits whose associated deduction is set to be calculated to use the By Function calculation method (as defined in the Functions screen).

Benefit Override

Available only for benefits that are setup to be calculated by By Function or By Fixed Amount, this checkbox allows you to manually override the settings for the benefit. For example, if you have a benefit that is calculated by a fixed amount but one employee needs a special amount (either temporarily or permanently), you can activate the Override checkbox and then enter the special value into the Benefit Amount cell.

Benefit P Value

Use this cell to enter a Placeholder Value (referred to as a "P Value") that can be used to overrride one of the variables in the associated function (instead of overriding the whole expression). Thus if the expression changes (e.g. you add a new earning), then you do not have to override all of the employees who use this function.

For example, if the P Value for an RRSP Benefit's associated function is set to 4% (representing a typical employer contribution amount), and the employer wishes to increase the contribution to 8%, you would simply enter .08 in the P Value cell. eNETEmployer will then calculate the required 8 percent employer contribution (and you do not have to choose the Override check box and edit the original expression).

Note: This cell is uneditable if there is no function associated with the benefit.

View a step-by-step tutorial on this feature

Code

This uneditable cell displays the shared deduction/benefit's Code (also referred to as the Name of the deduction/benefit) as defined in the Deductions or Benefits screens (depending on where you created the item).

Deduction Amount

Use this cell to specify the amount for the deduction portion of this deduction/benefit item (if the deduction is set up to be calculated as a Fixed Amount as defined in the Benefits screen). This cell can be edited only when the Benefit Override checkbox is active for the row.

Deduction Calculate Test

This cell displays the calculated dollar amount based on the current expression and helps to ensure that the deduction's settings are setup correctly. If the amount shown here does not appear to be correct, you can verify its accuracy by checking the settings for other items that are associated with the deduction (e.g. the settings for the corresponding benefit, the assigned function if the deduction is being calculated using the By Function method, etc.).

Deduction Expression

Use this cell to define the expression that will be used to calculate the deduction's value. It is uneditable and applicable only for deductions that are set to be calculated using the By Function method as defined in the Deductions screen).

Deduction Method

This cell displays the method that will be used to calculate the deduction's value (as defined in the Deductions screen). It is uneditable and displayed for reference only.

Deduction Override

Available only for deductions that are setup to be calculated by By Function or By Fixed Amount, this checkbox allows you to manually override the settings for the deduction. For example, if you have a deduction that is calculated by a fixed amount but one employee needs a special amount (either temporarily or permanently), you can activate the Override checkbox and then enter the special value into the Deduction Amount cell.

Deduction P Value

For example, if the P Value for an RRSP Deduction's associated function is set to 4% (representing a typical employee contribution amount), and the employee wished to increase the contribution to 8%, you would simply enter .08 in the P Value cell. eNETEmployer will then calculate the required 8 percent contribution to the employee (and you do not have to choose the Override check box and edit the original expression).

Note: This cell is uneditable if there is no function associated with the benefit.

View a step-by-step tutorial on this feature

Distribution

Use this cell to specify the default distribution code (sometimes referred to as the "home department") to which this employee's work time will be charged/expensed. The items in the drop-down list can be viewed or edited from the Distributions page.

View the Distributions help page to learn more about this feature
View a step-by-step tutorial on this feature

Splitting Earnings Across Distributions - If you wish to split an employee's earnings across multiple distributions, you would do so by adding a temporary earning of the same type, removing the check from its Permanent column (if you want to retain the new earning for all subsequent pay runs), and then use the Distribution column to assign the different distribution.

Note: The content for this cell cannot be edited directly. If you wish to modify the cell's text or value, you must open the appropriate screen that is used to manage its content.

Division

This cell displays the company division to which this employee is assigned. The items in the drop-down list can be viewed or edited from the Employer tab's Company - Divisions page.

View the Divisions help page to learn more about this feature
View a step-by-step tutorial on this feature

Employee No.

This cell displays the unique number that identifies the employee in this payroll. Alphanumeric characters (letters and numbers) may be used. e.g. 001, or MGM001.

Note: The content for this cell cannot be edited directly. If you wish to modify the cell's text or value, you must open the appropriate screen that is used to manage its content.

Given Name

Use this cell to enter the employee's first name (also referred to "given name" or "personal name"). For example, John Smith's given name is "John". The cell supports special characters - e.g. María-Jose or Günther.

Note: The content for this cell cannot be edited directly. If you wish to modify the cell's text or value, you must open the appropriate screen that is used to manage its content.

Overriding

Selecting this checkbox allows you to apply the current deduction for a subsequent pay run (or runs) while simultaneously disabling all other deduction items of the same Code. For example, if you have an RRSP deduction of $100 per period and wish to increase it by $50 for the next pay run only, you would add a second RRSP deduction type and enter $150 as its amount and then check the Overriding checkbox. The Temporary checkbox is activated automatically when you create a second RRSP deduction, therefore this deduction will now clear itself after the next pay run.

Using the above example, if you wanted to change the deduction amount for a series of pay runs, you would simply leave the Overriding checkbox active for as many pay runs as needed and remove the check from the Temporary column. This would leave the second deduction in force for all subsequent pay runs until you remove it.

This checkbox cannot be activated for more than one deduction of the same type (i.e. you cannot create RRSP deductions and have two overridden).

Note: If you working with overrides and need to unclose your pay, it is suggested that you use the Restore command to return to a previous state (as opposed to using the Un-Close command). Restoring a pay is the suggested approach when working with any "temporary" item.

Surname

Use this cell to enter the employee's surname (also referred to "family name or "last name"). For example, John Smith's surname would be entered as Smith. You can also enter surname prefixes for employee names that require one. For example, John Van Houton's surname would be entered as Van Houten. The cell also supports special characters - e.g. O'Leary or Elkjærd.

Note: The content for this cell cannot be edited directly. If you wish to modify the cell's text or value, you must open the appropriate screen that is used to manage its content.

Temporary

Available for secondary deductions and benefits only, place a check in this box if the secondary deduction/benefit should be used for the current pay period only, and then deleted after the pay run is closed. There are two common reasons to use the Temporary option:

Overriding an ongoing/regular deduction or benefit - For example, if you have an ongoing "Social Fund" employee deduction and wish to increase the amount for the current period only, you can add a secondary Social Fund deduction so that each employee's ongoing regular deduction does not need to be modified. In this case, you would place a check in both the "Temporary" box and the "Overriding" box. The Temporary check mark means that the deduction will be deleted after the pay run is closed. The Overriding check mark means that only the secondary deduction will be used to to draw funds from the employee (i.e. their normal deduction will be unused).
Adding a secondary deduction or benefit in addition to their ongoing/regular deduction/benefit - For example, if you have an ongoing "Phone Allowance" employee benefit and wish to increase the amount for the current period only, you can add a secondary Phone Allowance benefit to account for this one-time increase. In this case, you would place a check in the "Temporary" box so that the secondary benefit would be deleted after the pay run is closed.

In either case above, if you remove the check from the Temporary box, the deduction or benefit will continue to be processed for each subsequent pay until either the check mark is added again, or until you delete the secondary deduction/benefit.

See Also