Bonus Payments

Bonus Payments

Bonus - Christmas 

If you’re wanting to pay out a Christmas bonus this year, it’s very important to be aware of how this should be processed. These are  usually discretionary or irregular payments, which means they are not part of Holiday Pay Liable Earnings and the annual leave rates are not affected. This is very different from a Regular (non-discretionary) bonus or payment that is part of an employee's regular remuneration package. Please review Employment New Zealand website to make sure you are using the correct pay element.
They are taxed as a Lump Sum and or Extra Pay and are subject to standard legislative Paye, Student Loan and KiwiSaver deductions.
It is much easier to enter a gross amount and have the tax calculated instead of deciding on a set amount going into an employee's take home pay or in cash and working back. 
For more information here IR Lump Sum or Extra Pay
For more information here Employment New Zealand - go to What 'discretionary payments' means section

Timesheet Entry

  1. Payroll > Enter > Enter Timesheets
  2. Select the Employee's Name
  3. Enter 1 the Green Qty box.
  4. Select > BON - Bonus (Irregular) from the drop down menu
  5. Enter the Amount (Gross) of the payment in Rate box
  6. +Add
  7. You can add Notes by clicking on this entry
  8. Save OR
  9. Use the Private Payslip Message OR
  10. Edit Global Payslip Message to display the same message to all employees (remove this message after this pay has been Closed).

Timesheet Entry 



Payslip Message


Upload multiple entries to Open payroll

Download the Timesheet Spreadsheet

  1. You must have a pay Open for this page to be available to you, but you can prepare your spreadsheet in advance of the pay you intend to pay it. The people listed will be those that are in the open pay.
  2. Payroll > Enter > Upload
  3. Download Timesheet Spreadsheet
  4. Open the file
  5. Save the file somewhere appropriate - you can rename the file if you want.

The Spreadsheet Template

  1. The id and names of all active people from the open pay will be displayed.
  2. Row 1 has the Pay Element Codes.
  3. Row 2 has sample information 
  4. Remove any people not to be included 
  5. Save

Add your information 

  1. In the column 'other' type over 'other' with your bonus code OR BON (irregular or discretionary bonus code) or BON2 (irregular or non discretionary
  2. In the column now named 'BON' etc - change the number format to Currency
  3. Add the Gross (before tax) amount of your bonus 
  4. In the column 'quantity' add the number 1
  5. In the column 'costCentre' (if required) enter an appropriate cost centre code to override the Person's cost centre and this must  set up in your Setup > Costing/GL > Cost Centres.
  6. In the column 'notes' (if required) enter in an appropriate note to the actual bonus line on the payslip
  7. Remove any columns that are not required 
  8. Save 

Completed Spreadsheet 


Uploading to the Payroll you want to pay the bonus

  1. You must have a pay Open for this page to be available.
  2. Its a good idea to test your upload with one person if you have a lot of entries- save a copy and delete all but one employee and upload first.
  3. Payroll > Enter > Upload
  4. Select > Choose File 
  5. Find your saved spreadsheet
  6. Select Upload File
  7. You will see a success message if there were no errors.
  8. Review your timesheets
  9. If you have done a test - delete this from the Person's timesheet using the Rubbish Bin and then upload your file
  10. Use Payroll > Check > Payroll Control to review 
  11. Select > Extra Pay (Liable) to display a list of all Bonus payments in the open pay.

Timesheet View


Errors

Cost Centre not found

You have an incorrect Cost Centre 
  1. Correct the Cost Centre
  2. Save
Cost Centre is not set up 
  1. Add the Cost Centre to Setup > Costing/GL > Cost centres
  2. pload your file again

Employee not found in payroll

This employee does not have a timesheet in the open pay
  1. Payroll > Enter > +Add Timesheet
  2. Select the Person - scroll down
  3. Add Selected to bring them into the open pay
  4. Add the Bonus manually to their timesheet

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