New pay code, plus adjust for prior quarter amounts

ekileen · ‎August 17, 2020

My company implemented a "hazard pay" bump for our front line employees back in March.

I've been processing this manually, by adjusting pay rates as I do payroll. I should have created a new pay code in the beginning, but didn't.

I will be creating a separate Hazard Pay code today and use it on future payrolls.

Are there entries I can make on the back end to move the additional pay dollars from prior months from the regular Hourly pay code, to the Hazard Pay code?
It would be great if employees could actually see YTD hazard vs regular hourly on their next statements.

MadelynC · ‎August 19, 2020

Let me provide another option, @ekileen.

You’ll need to create 2 items, one addition for the hazard pay and one for deduction used to offset. This way, the employee’s gross pay won’t increase.

Just ensure both items are set to compensate for tax tracking type and calculate based on the quantity. So when you run to your next payroll, you can just add the items in the earnings, then enter the rate and total hours under the quantity column.

Before performing any steps, please back up your company file so we can restore it in case unexpected circumstances happen. And then follow the steps below:

Go to Employees, then select Employee Center.
Double-click on the employee's name.
Select the Payroll Info tab.
Click on the blank area below Item Name column.
You can enter "Hazard pay" in the field.
Follow the onscreen instruction to set up successfully.
Select OK to save.

In order to have separate lines on their pay statement and to show on the Profit & Loss, you’ll want to create a new account to track hazard pay.

You can read this article to help track of your employee expenses: Customize payroll and employee reports.

Fill me in if you have further questions, I'll be around if you need any help. Have a great day.

View solution in original post

KlentB · ‎August 17, 2020

I can help you with that, ekileen.

You'll want to merge the additional pay payroll item into the regular hourly pay payroll item. This way, you'll be able to accurately track the YTD amount of the hazard pay in your reports. I'll show you how:

Select Lists from the top menu bar.
Go to Payroll Item List.
Double-click the additional pay item. Once done, the Edit Item dialog displays.
Enter the exact item name you're using on the regular hourly pay. You can also use the Windows copy and paste command to avoid typing lengthy names or long numbers.
Click OK, then select Yes to confirm the changes (see below).

However, if the two payroll items are using different accounts, you'll have to move the amounts via journal entry. I'd recommend seeking advice from your accountant in performing this process.

I also encourage reading this article to help track where your company stands in terms of employee expenses: Customize payroll and employee reports.

I'm just a post away if you have any other concerns or follow-up questions. Have a pleasant day ahead.

ekileen · ‎August 18, 2020

Not sure if this is the right way to go .... I don't want to merge items, I want to separate them.

Currently there are pay codes for Hourly and OT.
An employee with an official hourly rate of $15, I have simply been manually changing that rate to $18 as I do payroll.
Now I'd like to create a separate code for this Hazard Pay so there will be two separate lines on pay statements. That will also allow for a separate line item on the P&L for tracking hazard pay.

I'm wondering if there is a way to move the YTD dollars out of "Hourly" and into "Hazard" pay codes on pay statements?

JessT · ‎August 18, 2020

Hi there, ekileen!

As an employee, it is better to see the value of YTD for my hazard pay than just looking at a pay item that combines my regular and hazard pays. To apply this setup to your employees' previous paychecks, you can redo them. This will let you specify pay items and their corresponding amounts. This step will not change the deductions and contribution amounts provided the hazard pay item has the same setup as the regular pay item.

To start, please back up your file and download the paystubs to keep the original copy of your transactions. By the way, if your employees were paid via direct deposit, I suggest not taking this step to avoid system sync issues.

For transparency, you can share the updated paystubs with your employees. That'll do it.

You can always go back to this thread if you have questions along the way. We're just around to help.

ekileen · ‎August 19, 2020

That's a lot of re-doing. We are talking about 4 companies, with about 20 employees each, biweekly payrolls for March-August.

Gross pay, taxes, withholdings - nothing is being changed at the bottom line.

I was hoping to move YTD dollars from one pay code to another, with an adjusting entry or journal, at the employee level.

Is that not an option somehow, with the QB Desktop Payroll?

MadelynC · ‎August 19, 2020

Let me provide another option, @ekileen.

You’ll need to create 2 items, one addition for the hazard pay and one for deduction used to offset. This way, the employee’s gross pay won’t increase.

Just ensure both items are set to compensate for tax tracking type and calculate based on the quantity. So when you run to your next payroll, you can just add the items in the earnings, then enter the rate and total hours under the quantity column.

Before performing any steps, please back up your company file so we can restore it in case unexpected circumstances happen. And then follow the steps below:

Go to Employees, then select Employee Center.
Double-click on the employee's name.
Select the Payroll Info tab.
Click on the blank area below Item Name column.
You can enter "Hazard pay" in the field.
Follow the onscreen instruction to set up successfully.
Select OK to save.

In order to have separate lines on their pay statement and to show on the Profit & Loss, you’ll want to create a new account to track hazard pay.

You can read this article to help track of your employee expenses: Customize payroll and employee reports.

Fill me in if you have further questions, I'll be around if you need any help. Have a great day.

ekileen · ‎August 27, 2020

Thank you! This was very helpful.

I created a new Pay Code, plus an Addition and Deduction for the YTD information. That allowed me to enter the YTD information on tomorrow's paychecks.

The YTD figures are both posted to the same GL so the net effect is zero.

Now the employees can see their "regular" pay and their "hazard" pay spelled out on the paystub.
Payroll Summary reports have separate lines for these figures as well.

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New pay code, plus adjust for prior quarter amounts