Q&A from Sage HRMS Timecards webinar

Below is a combined list of questions and answers from this months HRMS Learning Series webinar 'Processing Payroll 101 - Part II: Timecards'.  One item I would like to clarify is paying out accruals in the Timecard.  In our training data, the setup of Vacation and Illness Accruals are not linked to an earning and the rate to be paid must be manually entered when inserting the payout of an accrual in the timecard.  To have the rate/amount automatically populate in the Timecard, in Setup > (Codes) Payroll or Canadian Payroll > Earning/Deduction Codes, use the 'Linked Accrual Earning' field to link this to an earnings rate.

For example, in the screen shot below, VAC accrual is linked to earning code REG.  If an employee is earning $20 per hour regular pay, when paying out 1 hour VAC on the timecard, the amount of $20 will appear.  If 2 hours VAC are entered, the amount is $40 and so on.

Timecards Webinar – Questions and Answers (August 11, 2020 and August 20, 2020)

Can you enter in separate hours using a separate GL code on an ongoing basis? as an example, split hours 40%/60%?

Yes, you can override the G/L and add separate earnings codes.

 

In Timecards, can you override the tax on a bonus to use a flat supplemental tax at this point?

You certainly can. You would click on the Taxes tab and enter any overrides to the employee's normal taxed amount. Just like with Earnings and Deductions, anything entered in that Tax tab of the timecard will override the amounts on the employee's record.

 

In the rate/amt/pert field how do you tell the system that the amount is a rate, amount, or a percentage?

The system looks at the Earnings Code or Deduction code setup to determine if it's a rate, amount, or percentage and the Timecard grabs the information from there.

 

Are timecards only used for exceptions?

Yes. If you have a salary person who works their regular hours with their regular pay, you don't have to create a timesheet at all. Sage HRMS will look at the employee's Pay tab and pay accordingly. Timecards are also how you pay accruals (PTO, Vacation, Sick, etc).

 

For a given Employee and Pay period can you have several timecards?

Sure can! As an example, you can have one timecard for PTO pay and a separate one for a Bonus. As long as each of the Timecards have the same Period End Date (or if one or both are set to be reused) they will both be calculated.

 

Our company only does deductions (dental and health) for 9 months out of the year so we've been having to do a 2nd separate payroll to refund people during the summer months. Are we correct in the way we are handling this?

That is a really good question. What you are doing certainly works but you could also either create a reusable timecard for the summer months for your employees that has all deductions set at zero. That should work for you as well. Another alternative is to have these deductions set up in a unique frequency, and when you calculate payroll, select this frequency when you want the deductions to withhold.

 

By inserting a new timecard to handle a bonus as a separate check, will the tax be calculated as 'supplemental’ earnings?

If the Bonus Earnings code is flagged to be taxed at a supplemental rate, it sure will. For example, if bonus was to be taxed at a supplement rate for USFIT for all employees, in the setup of USFIT (Setup > (Codes) Payroll > Federal/State Tax Codes, select USFIT. On Calc Base tab for Bonus, select ‘Supplemental Withholding’ for the withholding type.

Question Continued: or can I override the taxes fit, soc and Medicare on the bonus check only?

You can override the taxes on any timecard.

 

We have currently migrated to HRMS payroll from Abra Suite and I was told that we would have to run a separate payroll for any bonus checks.

As long as the Bonus Timecard End Date aligns with your current payroll and you plan on using the same check date, you shouldn't. Do you have Timecard software where this would be needed? If employees get a direct deposit for regular pay and a check for bonus, then you would need two separate pay run. An employee can’t have a check and a direct deposit in the same pay run.

 

Can I have someone call me on the Bonus issue? In looking at how our Bonus earning is set up I do not see anywhere where to flag it as "supplemental"?

Sure can. In your handout is the website to access Sage HRMS Support from chat. Send them a chat and you can ask for a call back.

 

How come the hours do not multiply for the vacation?

In Setup of Earnings and Deductions, a code that has a category of Accrual and type of Vacation or Illness will not default the rate/amount in the Timecard unless it has a Linked Accrual Earning in Setup. For example, Accrual ILLNESS can be linked to REGULAR Pay that has the employees default pay rate.

 

Is there a way to upload a file to generate timecards? For example, if we prepared a file with Salaried employees that did not work full hours, could we create a file and upload?

You can absolutely upload a file into Sage HRMS. If you right-click on any of the whitespace on the Timecard page, you will see an import/export option. You can also use the File menu bar and select Import. To develop an import file, you first export a timecard with codes so you will know the fields that need to be populated.

If we need to take back vacation and pay it as regular time, does the vacation hours follow through to the time off tab?

Sure does. There is a step in the Process Payroll map that sends Time Off information back to Time Off.

 

What about the payroll tax deferral effective 9/1/20?

That is a great question. Give our support folks a chat and they can let you know. I'm betting they are on top of it. There are posts on Sage City indicating that Sage is monitoring the memorandum and will post updates as they become available.

Parents
  • I may be missing something, but in my opinion your response to the following is not quite accurate: In Timecards, can you override the tax on a bonus to use a flat supplemental tax at this point? Manually overwriting the tax amount on a timecard only works for employee amounts, so there will be issues with the employer amounts for USSS and USMED that may require fixing through an employee transaction history entry and a gl-je..

  • in reply to angel g

    That is correct Angel.  Only employee portion of taxes can be overridden in a timecard.  Thank you for clarifying this.

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