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Why are there negative earnings lines when I enter in leave taken?

What does the system show a negative line in my pay run, when I enter in leave?

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Why are there negative earnings lines when I enter in leave taken?

When it comes to entering leave taken, it is important to understand how the payroll system behaves while on the default settings. When one wants to configure Leave Categories, please follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the main Employees screen
2. Select Payroll Settings
3. Select Leave Categories
4. Select the type of leave you wish to configure and pay particular attention to the section Payment Setup

Below are all the payment set up options and what they mean.

Basic: When an employee does not use timesheets, the employee's leave balance will be reduced, earnings are not impacted. When an employee is using timesheets to submit all time worked, an earnings line will be created and the leave balance will be reduced. To check or assign the employee's timesheet setting, go to the employee's 'Pay Run Defaults' page. The timesheets option
is near the top of the page.

Don't pay for the leave taken: When an employee does not use timesheets, an earnings line with negative hours will be added to reduce the earnings for the employee. When an employee is using timesheets to submit all time worked, no earnings line will be created.

Report the earnings for the leave taken against another pay category: When wanting to report payments for leave taken in a separate pay category (for reporting/journaling purposes), select this option. The earnings related to the leave taken will be assigned against the specified pay category instead of the employee's primary pay category. When this alternative is selected, the option will be given to use the rate of pay from the employee's primary pay category.

Custom: For advanced users only, this option allows the user to deduct hours from an arbitrary pay category and transfer them to another arbitrary pay category when leave is taken.
For Basis option. Please make sure the earning line is created in the pay run if “Use timesheets” option is selected or make sure to manually create the earning in the pay run, so employee(s) would get paid.

The default setting for payment setup is the Report the earnings for the leave taken against another pay category

For the setting Report the earnings for the leave taken against another pay category, a negative line of the employee's primary earnings category will be created in the pay run once leave taken is recorded. This is to offset the amount of leave being taken, in a separate line.

Therefore, when leave taken is entered in, one should see two earnings lines of the employee's primary pay category, one positive, and one negative, in addition to an earnings line for the type of leave taken. Finally, the pay run should show a line beneath the Leave Taken section, showing which type of leave was taken.

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Why are there negative earnings lines when I enter in leave taken?

When it comes to entering leave taken, it is important to understand how the payroll system behaves while on the default settings. When one wants to configure Leave Categories, please follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the main Employees screen
2. Select Payroll Settings
3. Select Leave Categories
4. Select the type of leave you wish to configure and pay particular attention to the section Payment Setup

Below are all the payment set up options and what they mean.

Basic: When an employee does not use timesheets, the employee's leave balance will be reduced, earnings are not impacted. When an employee is using timesheets to submit all time worked, an earnings line will be created and the leave balance will be reduced. To check or assign the employee's timesheet setting, go to the employee's 'Pay Run Defaults' page. The timesheets option
is near the top of the page.

Don't pay for the leave taken: When an employee does not use timesheets, an earnings line with negative hours will be added to reduce the earnings for the employee. When an employee is using timesheets to submit all time worked, no earnings line will be created.

Report the earnings for the leave taken against another pay category: When wanting to report payments for leave taken in a separate pay category (for reporting/journaling purposes), select this option. The earnings related to the leave taken will be assigned against the specified pay category instead of the employee's primary pay category. When this alternative is selected, the option will be given to use the rate of pay from the employee's primary pay category.

Custom: For advanced users only, this option allows the user to deduct hours from an arbitrary pay category and transfer them to another arbitrary pay category when leave is taken.
For Basis option. Please make sure the earning line is created in the pay run if “Use timesheets” option is selected or make sure to manually create the earning in the pay run, so employee(s) would get paid.

The default setting for payment setup is the Report the earnings for the leave taken against another pay category

For the setting Report the earnings for the leave taken against another pay category, a negative line of the employee's primary earnings category will be created in the pay run once leave taken is recorded. This is to offset the amount of leave being taken, in a separate line.

Therefore, when leave taken is entered in, one should see two earnings lines of the employee's primary pay category, one positive, and one negative, in addition to an earnings line for the type of leave taken. Finally, the pay run should show a line beneath the Leave Taken section, showing which type of leave was taken.

Why are there negative earnings lines when I enter in leave taken?

Hi Ken

Can you please explain where/how to configure the following (your answer quoted below). In our case we have staff who are on timesheets, and when leave is recorded or taken, the leave hours are reduced from their (I think) primary pay category. But we want to specify (possibly for each staff member) which Pay category is the leave hours should be deducted from (when the Leave earning line is added to their payrun). How/where do we do this?

Report the earnings for the leave taken against another pay category: When wanting to report payments for leave taken in a separate pay category (for reporting/journaling purposes), select this option. The earnings related to the leave taken will be assigned against the specified pay category instead of the employee's primary pay category. When this alternative is selected, the option will be given to use the rate of pay from the employee's primary pay category.

Custom: For advanced users only, this option allows the user to deduct hours from an arbitrary pay category and transfer them to another arbitrary pay category when leave is taken.
For Basis option. Please make sure the earning line is created in the pay run if “Use timesheets” option is selected or make sure to manually create the earning in the pay run, so employee(s) would get paid.

The default setting for payment setup is the Report the earnings for the leave taken against another pay category

Why are there negative earnings lines when I enter in leave taken?

Hi Alec,

Thanks for posting in the Community!

You're on the right track with setting up your leave category in your QuickBooks Online Payroll file. You can check and try the Custom payment set up in your leave category settings and can select the Deduct hours from and the Transfer hours to a specific category. Here's how to check it:

Click on the Payroll Settings.
Click on Leave Categories.
Select the Annual leave category.
Click on Custom for Payment set up.

This option allows the user to deduct hours from an arbitrary pay category and transfer them to another arbitrary pay category when leave is taken.

Once done, go back to your pay run and recalculate the annual leave taken.

If you need further information about the set up, I recommend contacting our Customer Care Team to further help check your payroll settings in a secure form.

Post again in the Community if you have further concerns about your QuickBooks Online file.

Why are there negative earnings lines when I enter in leave taken?

Thank you. So this can only be done for all staff and cannot be different per staff person or staff position/type?

Why are there negative earnings lines when I enter in leave taken?

I have tried a different method - going into an individual employee, and changing their Primary Pay Category.

I'd expect Leave would then be deducted from this Primary Pay Category. But when "Taking Leave" in a payrun, the leave taken hrs (annual leave taken) are deducted from a pay category other than the primary pay category. This cannot be correct? how do I fix this?

Why are there negative earnings lines when I enter in leave taken?

Hi alect,

Yes, the payment setup on a leave category will be applied to all employees. For us to check the setup of your leave category, I would suggest to please contact our Support team.

Here's how to contact support:

Log in to QBO company.
Click on the Help icon.
Click on Contact us and choose a way on how you would like to contact either via call or chat.

Drop by again in the Community if you have further concerns. I am here to help you.