Payroll Records

Goldenseal is payroll software that calculates withholding and other payroll taxes. Use Payroll Records to track the wages and deductions for each employee during each pay period.

HINT-- You usually don't need to create Payroll Records directly-- the Goldenseal payroll software creates them automatically when you use the Write Payroll command.

PAYROLL RECORD BASICS
Entering Payroll Records | Simple Payroll Records | Data Fields
Period Totals | Transaction Types | Using Payroll Records

PAYROLL DETAILS
Direct Entry of Payroll Records | Payroll Adjustments | Reimbursements

WEBSITE INFO LINKS
Payroll Software | Payroll Accounting Software

Entering Payroll Records

You'll create most Payroll Records with the Write Payroll command. It automatically creates Payroll Records for the correct pay period, and with a full set of wage, deduction and benefit breakdowns.

To enter a full Payroll Record directly, follow these steps:

Choose Payroll Records from the Costs menu.
Click the New button, or click on an existing item and click the Edit button.
Enter an employee into the Employee field.
Click on the Breakdown popup at the left side of the window, and choose Wages.
Goldenseal will automatically fill in current wages, deductions and benefits.
Click in the Pay column of the Wage breakdown to remove any hours that don't belong in the current pay period.

Click on the Breakdown popup to see employee deductions, employer taxes, category taxes, benefits or vacations. You can switch between the different breakdown types, but don't choose the None breakdown-- that will remove all breakdowns.
HINT-- Payroll Records include more than one breakdown at the same time. They are the only transaction that does that.

Simple Payroll Records

Create a simple Payroll Record to handle unusual conditions that aren't included in the Write Payroll command.

For example to create a simple Payroll Record for an advance, follow these steps:

Choose Payroll Records from the Costs menu.
Click the New button, or click on an existing item and click the Edit button.
Enter details for the record.

Data Fields

Enter the following information for each simple Payroll Record:

Employee-- Choose the Employee account that will get this payroll payment.
Transaction Type-- Choose the type of transaction this payment covers.
Applies To-- If the payment refers to a specific transaction, enter it here.
Amount-- Enter the amount of the payment.

Date-- Today's date is entered automatically. You can change the date if desired.
Record Number-- A purchase number is entered automatically.
Comments-- Enter any comments you have about this work.

Transaction Types

Choose one of the following transaction types for a simple payroll transaction:

Wages-- A direct wage payment without a Labor Hours Record.
Commissions-- A direct commission payment without Sales transactions.
Bonus-- A direct bonus payment.
HINT-- It's usually much better to enter all wages through Labor Hours records. That way they'll be applied to job costs and time billing.

Tips-- A payment of tips collected.
Advance-- An advance payment against future salary. When you pay for this Payroll Record, Goldenseal will increase the total advance amount owed in the Employee account.
Repay Advance-- Repayment of a previous. When you make a deposit for this Payroll Record or subtract it from other payroll, Goldenseal will reduce the total advance amount owed in the Employee account.
Tax Withholding-- A deduction for an individual tax withholding item.
Employer Tax-- An individual employer tax item which you'll need to pay. Goldenseal will add it to the totals, the next time you pay payroll taxes to the tax agency.
Benefit Deduction-- A deduction for a individual benefit item.
Withholding Credit-- Credit for a previous deduction.
Employer Tax Credit-- Credit for a previous employer tax. Goldenseal will reduce the totals, the next time you pay payroll taxes to the tax agency.
Benefit Credit-- A credit for a previous benefit item.

NOTE-- Goldenseal also includes reimbursements as transaction types, but you can't enter them directly in payroll records.

Tax Cutoffs

Goldenseal automatically computes year to date figures for each payroll deduction, and stops deducting those items that cut off at a certain amount.

Period Totals

Click the Period Totals button to see the total wages, deductions and other payroll items for this pay period.

Wage Breakdowns

To see wage breakdowns, click on the Breakdown popup and choose Wages.

Goldenseal lists each Labor Hours record that applies to this pay period.

Click on the Pay column to remove an item from the total. When you close the record, Goldenseal will remove the item.

You can adjust the OT Rate and OT Hours columns, to calculate the correct number of overtime hours for each wage item.

NOTE-- Unlike other records, a Payroll Record includes several types of breakdowns all at the same time. Payroll is complicated!

Commission Breakdowns

Commission breakdowns show all sales, project billing and rental transactions that earn a commission for this employee. To see commissions for the current pay period, click on the Breakdown popup and choose Commissions.

Click on the Pay column to remove an item from the total. When you close the record, Goldenseal will remove the item.

Deduction Breakdowns

To see a breakdown of employee withholding, click on the Breakdown popup and choose Deductions.

Goldenseal itemizes each payroll Tax Item that is withheld from the employee.

To remove a tax item so it's not deducted this period, turn off the checkmark in the Pay column.

To adjust the withholding amount, type a different number into the Amount column.

HINT-- To control whether it is possible to change deduction amounts, choose Preferences from the Options menu, and choose Expenses from the submenu. Turn the Allow Payroll Deduction Changes checkbox on or off.

Employer Tax Breakdowns

To see a breakdown of employer taxes, click on the Breakdown popup and choose Employer Taxes.

The employer tax breakdown looks exactly the same as the deduction breakdown, but it shows items that the employer pays rather than the employee.

Category Tax Breakdowns

To see a breakdown of category taxes, click on the Breakdown popup and choose Category Taxes.

Category taxes are based on the category of work-- they get a rate from a category system. They are only used in a few states (usually for worker's comp or disability insurance).

To remove a tax item so it's not deducted this period, turn off the checkmark in the Pay column.

To adjust the withholding amount, type a different number into the Deduction or Employer columns.

Benefit Breakdowns

To see a breakdown of benefit payments and deductions, click on the Breakdown popup and choose Benefits.

The breakdown shows all benefits.

To remove a benefit item so it's not used this period, turn off the checkmark in the Pay column.

To adjust the benefit amount, type a different number into the Benefit, Deduction or Employer columns.

Vacation Breakdowns

To see a breakdown of vacation accrued and used, click on the Breakdown popup and choose Benefits.

To remove a vacation item so it's not used this period, turn off the checkmark in the Pay column.

Employee Reimbursements

When an employee makes a purchase with their own money and you reimburse them for the purchase, follow these steps to enter the purchase:

Enter a Material Purchases transaction, just as if you'd bought the item directly.
In the Payment Method field of the purchase, enter Employee Reimburse.
In the Details field of the purchase, enter the name of the employee making the payment.
When you save the purchase, Goldenseal will automatically create a Payroll Record for the money that you owe to the employee.

To pay the reimbursement, follow these steps:

Create a Checking Transaction or Cash Transaction.
Enter Bank Check or Payment into the Type field at the top of the window.
Enter Employee the Payee Type, and the employee into the Pay To field.
Enter Payroll into the breakdown popup at the left side of the window.
You'll see a Payroll breakdown that includes the reimbursement, along with any other payroll items due to this employee.
Check the items you want to pay now.

Direct Entry of Payroll Records

To directly create a payroll record for wages, follow these steps:

Choose Payroll Records from the Costs menu.
Click the New button.
Enter an employee into the Employee field.
Choose Wages from the Breakdown popup menu.
Goldenseal will automatically fill in all available hours for this employee. You may need to remove some items from the breakdown, if they are not included in this pay period.
Goldenseal automatically calculates deductions, employer taxes and other payroll items.

HINT-- If you need control over the pay period or the wage rates that are included, use the Write Payroll command.

Payroll Adjustments

Use payroll records to handle bonuses, deduction adjustments, vacation changes, sick day changes, and miscellaneous tax payments that you can't handle with the Payroll command.

To enter a payroll adjustment, follow these steps:

Choose Payroll Records from the Costs menu.
Click the New button.
Enter an employee into the Employee field.
Enter the type of adjustment that you are making.
If the adjustment applies to a specific tax item, benefit item or vacation item, enter it into the Applies To field.

Using Payroll Records

Use Payroll Records to look up wage or deduction amounts for past pay period. Each Payroll Record contains all the details of each pay period, for each employee.

Goldenseal automatically tracks payroll deductions and employer taxes that are due to each tax agency, so you can pay them easily with the Pay Bills command.