Standard Pay Item Edit
Menu: View ~ Payees~ Payee Details
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This form is displayed when you add a new standard pay item or select an existing standard pay item for change in the Payee Standard Pay Items screen.
You can have any number of standard pay items for each employee, and you can have the same pay item more than once.
When you select a normal pay in the create pay process, each employee's pay will be created by merging their standard pay items, as entered on this screen, with the 'repeating' pay items carried forward from their last normal pay.
Pay Item
Select the pay item which will be used to pay this standard pay item. Note that you can have the same pay item more than once.
Cost Code
If you wish to include the payment in a different cost centre's total to the employee's normal one, you can select that cost code here. If you leave the cost code as (not set), the payment will be included in the total for the cost code selected on the Pay Item set up screen for this payment, and if that was left as (not set) then it will default to that on the employee's Payee, Pay Details screen.
Units
Units have to be entered for pay items like ordinary pay or overtime (the units entered will be the hours worked), or other payments such as meal allowance (the units will be the number of times the meal allowance is to be paid) or car mileage (the units will be the number of miles or kilometres claimed).
Cash
For most payments the cash will be calculated by the system, and you can just accept the result. However, some payments cannot be calculated by the system, or you may wish to change a system calculation, in which case the cash you enter will be the amount paid for the item.
Start Date and Stop Date
You can restrict the period during which the standard pay item is added to the employee's pay by entering start and stop dates. If you leave the start and stop dates blank, the standard pay item will be added to every normal pay for the employee. If you enter start and stop dates, the standard pay item will be added to the employee's pay if the start and stop dates span the current pay period. i.e. the start date is before the end of the current pay period and the stop date is after the end of the last pay period.
Note that if the pay item has a basis set to weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly in the Pay Item Edit form, the standard pay item will be added for each week, fortnight, month, quarter or year that falls within the pay period. For example, if the pay item has a basis of weekly, and the employee pay period is monthly, a pay item is created for each week that starts within the pay period. Each week's pay item starts on the same day of the week as the standard pay item start date.
Bank Details
The bank account details need only be entered if this pay item is a deduction is to be deposited in the account of a third party. If a number of employees have the same deduction deposited to the same account, the account can be entered on the Pay Item set up screen. You would only enter the details here if they were unique to this employee.
The whole account number is entered in the one text box. The bank account number is validated in the New Zealand version, but not in other versions.
The reference information is printed on the funds transfer schedule. You might enter 'Wages' or 'Salary' if the deduction is being deposited to an employee's account to ensure that the bank clears it quickly. If the deduction is being deposited to a third party you would enter that organisation's reference, such as a member or policy number.
If you leave the reference blank, all deposits for the same account will be accumulated into a single deposit transaction.
See direct credits for more information.
Reducing Balance
If the pay item has been flagged in the Pay Item set up screen as a reducing balance deduction, then you can enter a total remaining balance to be deducted in the Calculation Deduction screen.
The amount you enter here will be reduced by the cash amount each pay period until it is zero. In the final pay period the deduction will be reduced to the remaining balance if necessary.
In the following pay period, the deduction cash amount will be set to zero, and the deduction will not be taken again.
If the remaining balance in the employee standard pay item is zero, no deduction will be made.
Deduction Limit
By entering a protected earnings amount for a standard pay deduction, you can limit the deduction so the employee always receives net pay of at least the protected earnings amount. Where the gross pay less the deductions processed at a higher priority, and this deduction is less than the protected earnings limit, the deduction is reduced until the net pay is equal to the protected earnings amount.
For example if protected earnings amount is 500 and this deduction is 100, and other deductions have a higher priority than this deduction:
| Gross Pay | Other Deductions | This Deduction |
| 1,000 | 500 | 0 |
| 1,000 | 450 | 50 |
| 1,000 | 350 | 100 |
If you tick the % checkbox, the protected earnings will be calculated as a percentage of the earnings less any higher priority deductions, using the protected earnings amount as the percentage rate. For example, if the gross pay is 500, and high priority deductions such as tax are 200, and the protected earnings rate is 60%, the protected earnings amount will be 500 - 200 x .6 (180).