These are some common, frequently asked questions regarding payroll. If you have another question you don't see the answer to please email [email protected]
What does it mean when you claim a tip on a ticket?
Claiming a tip means that the employee is reporting and recording the tip as income. Employees may claim a tip on an open ticket. Two types of tips exist:
Direct tip: This is a tip that is given directly to the employee. The tip amount does not appear on the client's receipt. The tip amount is reported in payroll (for reference), but is not included in the payroll total. Payroll taxes for the tip amount are calculated and applied to payroll.
Withheld tip: The tip is withheld (not given to the employee) until the tip is settled. A withheld tip may be settled by using the Settling feature, i.e. settle the tip at the end of the employee's shift, or the tip can be settled by calculating payroll. The withheld tip appears on the client's receipt. A withheld tip may be used when the client is paying by check or credit card. Payroll taxes are applied to the withheld tip.
What does it mean when you settle a tip?
To settle a tip means that if your business took the tip money from the client, put it in the cash drawer, and then at a later time you give the employee the money for the tip, i.e. a customer may pay by check or credit card, and include the employee's tip on the check or credit card. Your business settles the tip when your business gives the employee the money for the tip.
What Impact Does Backbar Have?
Backbar is the amount in products used to support a service, i.e. if a Haircut costs $50, but $10 of Conditioner is used to while performing the service, the backbar is $10.
Single Commission Payroll System: A standard backbar amount can be defined and exceptions created as needed per employee. This backbar amount is subtracted from the service price when determining employee commission.
Dual Commission Payroll System: A standard backbar amount can be defined and exceptions created as needed per employee. This backbar amount is subtracted from the service price when determining employee commission. This backbar amount is subtracted only when a service is used and not when purchased.
Where Can I Get My State Tax Tables?
Update option??
Federal tax tables are built into the software, but state tax tables are not. Some states have a percentage tax and some states have a tax table. You need to check with an accountant for your state tax information and to get a copy of the state tax table. You can also search the Internet for a copy of your state tax table.
Click the arrow below for more instructions on creating tax tables.
Creating Tax Tables.
Creating Tax Tables.
Payroll tables may be used to customize commissions, pay, and deductions. Tables involve any payroll option that doesn't work based on a straight percentage, i.e. a deduction that gets incrementally larger with a higher gross pay, or hourly pay that increases with the amount of hours worked in a week (overtime). Payroll tables can be reached by selecting Edit Payroll Tables from the Accounting pull-down menu.
Adding or Editing a Payroll Table
Adding or Editing a Payroll Table
Click the Add button, or select the table to edit and click the Edit button.
The Modify Table screen will appear.
Type in the appropriate name of the table, i.e. Products Commission Table.
On the Modify Table screen, check the Use incremental step box if needed. Use incremental steps when the amount received or deducted is cumulative for each row in the table. For example, if a commission amount from $0 to $100 is $10 and commission from $101 to $200 is $20, then when an employee sells $150, the incremental step commission amount would be $10 plus $20, which equals $30. If a straight table amount was used, the employee would only receive $20 in commission.
Select the table Type from the following table options:
Deduction: this can be a tax deduction, employee retirement deduction, or a custom deduction. Because your software makes payroll calculations based on federal tax payroll deduction information, it is extremely important that your tax tables be correct and up-to-date. Verify that these tables are correct and applicable to your business. This information may be edited or added should tax laws change
Income: Product commission: this can be an employee's amount of commission based on products sold
Income: Service commission: this can be an employee's amount of commission based on services sold
Income: Hourly pay: this can be an employee's hourly pay based on a table of hours worked vs. income. A table may be used to enter in overtime amounts for hourly pay
On the Modify Table screen, use the Edit, Add Row, Insert Row, and Delete Row buttons to manipulate the rows within the table.
Click the Add Row button.
The Edit Row screen will appear.
Enter the appropriate amounts in the Range start and Range end fields.
Select if the amount of income or deduction is one of the following parameters:
Exact currency amount: is the deduction or income a straight numerical amount
% of gross pay: deduction percentage of gross income
% of products sold: income percentage based on total value of products sold
% of services sold - Backbar: income percentage based on total value of services sold
Click Save and Add Another.
Repeat Steps 6-11 until all the table entries are complete.
Click Save to return to the Modify Table screen.
After the payroll table is complete, click OK to return to the Payroll Tables screen.
Use the Test button to enter an amount and have the table return the value. Always test new tables to ensure that they deliver the desired results.
Repeat Steps 1-15 for each table that you would like to add.
Click the Close button when finished.
Deleting a Payroll Table
Deleting a Payroll Table
Select the table to delete.
Click the Delete button.
The Are You Sure? screen will appear.
Verify your selection and click Yes to permanently delete the table from the database.
Click the Close button to exit.
Configuring an Overtime Pay Table
Configuring an Overtime Pay Table
Your software allows you to set up an incremental hourly pay table configured to the amount of hours an employee works, i.e. calculate overtime for hours worked over 40 in a week. This example assumes that the employee is paid overtime wages based on weekly hours worked. If you pay your employees overtime based on their daily hours worked or pay period hours worked, you would set up the table accordingly. Also, if employees earn double-time for hours worked over 80, an extra row would have to be added to accommodate that.
Make sure that the hours the employee works is based on time clock settings.
Select Payroll Configuration from the Accounting pull-down menu.
Double-click in the box underneath the desired employee and in the same row as Hours Worked.
The Hours Worked screen will appear.
Select Hours based on time clock entries.
Click OK.
Click OK to return to the main screen.
Select Edit Payroll Tables from the Accounting pull-down menu.
The Payroll Tables screen will appear.
Click the Add button.
The Modify Table screen will appear.
Enter the appropriate name of the table, i.e. Income: Hourly Pay (Including Overtime).
Select Income: Hourly pay in the Type section.
Select which type of hourly pay table this is from the pull-down list:
Base on pay period hours: the total number of hours worked in the pay period will be used to obtain the table value.
Base on weekly hours: the total number of hours per week (7 days) will be used to obtain the table value. If more than one week is included in the payroll time range, the time range will be broken into week (7 day) segments.
Base on daily hours: the total number of hours worked per day will be used to obtain the table value. If more than one day is included in the payroll time range, the time range will be broken into day segments.
Click the Add Row button.
The Edit Row screen will appear.
Enter the appropriate pay for the appropriate number of hours, i.e. for 0 to 40 hours of work, enter in $10.
Click Save and Add Another.
Enter the appropriate overtime pay for the appropriate number of hours, i.e. for 41 to 80 hours of work, enter $15 if they receive time-and-a-half.
Click Save.
Click the Use incremental step box at the bottom left corner. When payroll is run, your employee will be paid $10 for every hour worked during the first 40 hours and then $15 for every hour worked over 40.
Click OK to return to the Payroll Tables screen.
Click Close to exit.
Importing Payroll Tables
Importing Payroll Tables
You can import your own payroll deduction tables in several ways. The information you are importing needs to be in a text file (.txt) or a database deduction file (.ddf) format. A .ddf file can be generated using the Export Payroll Table function. Text files can be either comma or tab separated variable files. These files should contain two columns. The first column should be the To value (or the end range), and the second column should be the Amount.
Sample Text File 1:
100, 5
500, 7.5
1000, 11
2000, 14.5
Would result in the following deduction table:
You can also import amounts based on percentages rather than dollar amounts. To do this, simply include percent signs at the end of each amount in the text file.
Sample Text File 2:
100, 5%
500, 7.5%
1000, 11%
2000, 14.5%
Would result in the following deduction table:
Click the Import button.
Click OK.
Select the type of file(s) you wish to import from the following options:
Import a single table from a text file: import one text file from a location on your computer
Import multiple tables from an entire directory of text files: import multiple tables from a file directory on your computer
Click OK.
Select the file(s) from your hard drive or another location.
Click Open.
The file(s) will be imported into your software and be shown on the Payroll Tables screen under its original file name.
Select the table you just imported and click the Edit button to view or modify the information. By default, tables will import as deductions.
You can click on the table you just imported and click the Edit button to view the information, or you can click Test and then enter a sample gross pay amount to see how the calculations from the table will work.
Updating Federal Tax Tables
Updating Federal Tax Tables
If you have Internet access, you can update the federal tax tables for the United States and Canada directly. Federal table updates typically come out around February of each year.
Select Update/Install/Remove Tax Tables from the Accounting pull-down menu.
The Tax Table Installation and Update screen will appear.
Click on the Check for Updates button and follow the instructions.
Click on the appropriate tax table and click Install.
Click Close when finished.
How Much Should I Configure for Social Security, Medicare, City, Local or Other Deductions or Taxes?
You should check with an accountant and then configure payroll accordingly.
What is a Booth Renter Deduction?
Some businesses only have booth renters and no employees. Each month, the booth renters pay the business rent for using space inside the business.
What if I Calculate the Incorrect Payroll Date? How Do I Fix it?
If payroll has been run for an incorrect date range, the payroll calculations after and including the incorrect payroll need to be recalculated. See the Calculating Payroll and Recalculating an Incorrect Payroll Report portions of the article HERE for the proper steps.
What is a Payroll Adjustment?
A payroll adjustment is any currency amount that you wish to give or take away from an employee. A positive amount indicates that you are giving funds to the employee. A negative amount, which will appear in parenthesis, indicates funds being subtracted from the employee's payroll. This feature is useful if, for example, an employee unexpectedly worked some extra hours over the weekend during the last pay period after payroll had already been run. You can pay the employee the difference during the next pay period with a payroll adjustment.
Why Don't All of My Employees Appear When I Run a Payroll Report?
Your employees may not appear for either of the following reasons:
You have no closed tickets for the range of dates that you selected to run payroll for. Some important payroll calculations are taken from closed tickets.
You have "No" selected under the Include field on the Payroll Configuration screen.
How Can I Test My Payroll Configuration and Settings?
Select Calculate New Payroll from the Accounting pull-down menu.
Click the button next to practice. Run test payroll and do not save results.
I Added an Employee Bonus for a Product/Service. Why are the Bonuses Not Showing on My Payroll Calculations?
In order for a bonus to be given to the employee, the employee must be set up to receive commission. For a product to have a bonus, the employee should have product commission enabled, and likewise for services. If the employee should receive a bonus only for some products/services, but will receive either no bonuses, different bonuses, and/or no commission for other products/services, then the product/service commission should be enabled and set at a straight percentage of 0%. This will keep the commission enabled, but not give anything to employees unless a bonus amount is entered for individual products or services.
Which Amounts are Commission Based On?
Commission amounts are calculated by taking information from closed tickets and applying the settings you have chosen to the total sales amounts for each employee. These amounts will be obtained differently depending on the commission system being used:
Single Commission System: Commission is given to employees when services are performed or products are sold. From individual closed tickets, the commission amount is based on the price of the service, subtracting any discounts and backbar, and multiplying by the number in the Quantity Used column.
Dual Commission System: commission is given to employees when services are purchased and when services are performed. From individual closed tickets, the commission when purchased amount (CWP) is based on the price of the service, subtracting any discounts, and multiplying by the number in the Quantity Purchased column. The commission when used amount (CWU) is based on the price of the service, subtracting any discounts and backbar, and multiplying by the number in the Quantity Used column.