Pay Types Overview
eNETEmployer allows you to process different types of pay runs based on the reason for the run. This includes Normal runs (where all employees are paid part of your regular ongoing cycle), and Additional, Extra and Reversal runs (where employees are paid outside of your regular payroll schedule).
The "Special" Status - If you wish to run an Additional, Extra, or Reversal (Special) pay type, you must set that status for all applicable employees to the Special type. This is to ensure that salaried employees (and any other employees who are paid automatically) will be excluded from the special run. The Special status can be set via the Employee - Status Parameters screen. Note: Employees who are marked as Special will be automatically set back to the Active status when the special pay run is closed. |
eNETEmployer Pay Types
Normal - This is the default method and is the most common used pay type. This method processes all active employees in the payroll using their assigned earning, deduction and accumulator settings.
- When to use this pay type:
- When you want to pay your employees as part of your "regular" ongoing cycle only. All other special/off-cycle runs must be designated as one of the other pay types: Additional, Extra, Reversal (Special), or Reversal (All).
- Semi-monthly payrolls will have a total of 24 Normal pay periods for the year, Bi-weekly payrolls will have 26 (or 27, depending on the year), and Monthly payrolls will have 12 periods.
Additional - This pay type is used to calculate a special pay run for employees where the pay amounts need to be combined with other pay runs in the same period (in order to correctly calculate taxes). Note: Employees must be set to the Special status in order to be included in this pay run (see The "Special" Status note above).
- When to use this pay type:
- To correct missed payments or other corrections on your most recent normal payroll run.
- To pay out bonuses or commissions that need to be taxed as part of the most recent normal pay run.
- To produce an employee's final payment and ROE before the next pay run (if they have not yet worked any hours in the current period). If the terminated employee has already worked some hours into your next normal pay calculation, you should use an Extra pay type instead (see below).
- For employees who were onboarded after the normal payroll cutoff, but who need to be paid for the portion of the pay period for which they worked.
Extra - This pay type is used to calculate a special pay run where its taxes will be included as part of the next Normal pay run. Note: Employees must be set to the Special status in order to be included in this pay run (see The "Special" Status note above).
- When to use this pay type:
- To produce an employee's final payment and ROE between normal pay runs. For example, you would use an Extra pay when paying an employee who is being terminated, but has already worked some hours into your next normal pay run.
- To pay a wage advance before the next normal pay run.
- To pay out bonuses or commissions that need to be taxed as part of the next normal pay run.
Reversal (Special) - This pay type is used to cancel the effects of a previous pay run for one or more specific employees. Note: Employees must be set to the Special status in order to be included in this pay run (see The "Special" Status note above). Also, see the Reversal (All) pay type below if you wish to perform this action for all employees at once.
- When to use this pay type:
- To correct payment errors (underpaid or overpaid an employee, paid the wrong employee, etc.) For example, if an employee was overpaid, you would reverse the pay for the specific employee, and then run an Additional pay in order to issue the correct payment amount and to correct the necessary withholdings and year-to-date balances.
- To adjust incorrect amounts. For example, if you assigned an item to the wrong T4 box - the amount of the cheque would be the same, but you must reverse the pay so that the T4 entries would be correct.
Reversal (All) - This pay type is used to cancel the effects of a previous pay run for all employees in the previous pay run. Note: Unlike the Reversal (Special) pay type above, you do not need to set any employee's status to Special since all employees in the run will be reversed.
- When to use this pay type:
- To correct payment errors involving all employees. For example, if all of the employees were overpaid, you would reverse the pay for all of the employees, and then run an Additional pay in order to issue the correct payment amounts and to correct the necessary withholdings and year-to-date balances.
- To adjust incorrect amounts or any other errors. For example, if you assigned an item to the wrong T4 box - the amount of the cheque would be the same, but you must reverse the pay so that the T4 entries would be correct.
Common Scenarios
The following list offers common payroll situations and the correct pay type that should be used for each.
- Advance Earnings - If you need to pay an employee a portion of their wages before the next normal period, you would use an Extra pay type. Click Here for a tutorial on how to setup the advance earning and its related deduction.
- Missed Payments - If you missed an employee payment on your regular cycle, you would create an Additional pay type to pay the missed wages. Click Here for a tutorial on how to setup an Additional pay type.
- Bonus Payments - If you want to pay one or more employees a bonus outside of your regular pay cycle, you would create either an Additional or Extra pay type. Click Here for a tutorial on how to setup a wage bonus using an Additional pay type.
- Reverse or Void a Payroll - If you need to reverse a payroll for one or more employees, you can use the Reversal (Special), or Reversal (All) pay type.
- Payment Overrides - If you need to adjust a wage for one or more specific periods, you would still use a Normal pay type, but you would simply make the adjustment at the employee level using a Temporary earning.
See Also