The first step to running a payroll is to print a Payroll Pay Period Checklist (or a Field Payroll Pay Period Checklist for your Field Payroll). The checklist will list step by step procedures to complete your payroll. Each step on the checklist indicates a task, with the menu options for that task listed below. There is also a place for you to initial and date each step as it is completed.
Please note that YOU must determine which pay periods go into each month.
The system will ask you to assign a pay period to a particular accounting month and year before you enter the first time card for that pay period. For a pay period that ends in one month but is paid in the next, you have the option of putting it in the month in which it will be earned or the month in which it will be paid. For pay periods that span two months, you may also select the month in which the payroll is to be posted to your General Ledger and Job Cost Ledger. Please discuss this with your accountant if you are not sure which pay periods belong in which month.
Closing a Pay Period involves posting the payroll information to the General Ledger, the Job Cost Ledger and the Employee Files. If you need to reopen a pay period, you need to undo the postings you did at closing. Use these procedures to re-open a closed pay period:
- From the Admin menu, select Payroll > Unpost > Checks from Employees. The system will present you with the date of the most recent posted pay period. Hit Enter or click OK to accept.
- When the system displays a message indicating it has completed unposting, click OK or hit Enter.
- Return to steps 1 and 2 to complete the same process for unposting Equipment from Ledger, Payroll from Ledger (JC) and Payroll from Ledger (GL).
- This pay period is now open – it is as if you had never closed it. When you have completed whatever additional work you needed to do, you must close this payroll again, following the same steps as you did when you first closed it.
Use the following procedure:
- From the File menu, select Payroll > Time Cards. Enter the Pay Period
Date when prompted – hit Enter or click OK to select default date displayed. - Click Add tab on your task bar, or hit Ctrl + A.
- Complete the time card as you would normally. Leave the Union field blank for the time card to have no effect on your union reports. For the Day of the Week, enter B for Bonus or W for weekly.If you will not be charging the bonus to a Job/Phase, then leave those fields blank.
For the Account #, use the General Ledger Account Number which best applies to this taxable amount (Hit F12 for a list). Leave the hours blank and enter the taxable bonus amount in the field marked Taxable Amount. - Click the "Save & Add" button to save the time card when you are finished entering one and want to add more. Otherwise, click Save tab or type Ctrl+S to save.
- When you are finished with time card entry, click Exit tab or type Ctrl+Q to exit.
You may easily reprint payroll checks, however the instructions to do so vary depending on where you are in the process.
If you tried to print payroll checks and they printed incorrectly and you answered NO to the system when it asked you if they printed correctly, then just return to Print Payroll Checks and follow the steps again.
If you tried to print payroll checks and they printed incorrectly, but you answered YES to the system when it asked you if they printed Print_Payroll checks correctly, then you need to first Delete Payroll Checks and Recalculate Payroll Checks, then Print Payroll Checks.
Please note that you can only VOID printed checks. If the check you do not want is a calculated check (a temporary, unprinted check whose number starts with T), you must delete it. See Delete a Payroll Check.
Use this procedure to void a Payroll Check when the Pay Period is open:
- From the File menu, select Payroll > Review/Void Checks. Enter the Pay Period Date when prompted – hit Enter or click OK to select default date displayed.
- Click Binoculars tab on your task bar or type Ctrl + L to bring up a list of the available checks. Highlight the one you want to void and hit Enter or double-click to select it.
- Click the VOID button on the check. The system will respond by asking you to confirm that you want the check voided. Click "Yes" or hit Enter to continue and the check will be voided.
- The system will also ask you if you want to create a new, printable check.
- If you want to reissue the payroll check in the exact same amount as the one you just voided, click "Yes."
- If you will not be reissuing the payroll check or you will be reissuing one in a different amount, click "No."
To print the reissued check, see Reprint Payroll Checks.
To reissue the check in a different amount, you may delete or change some of the time cards and/or change the employee's deductions, recalculate the check and print it. See Recalculate a Payroll Check.
To not reissue any check at all, you must delete the all of the time cards associated with that employee: See Delete a Timecard.
Before starting, please refer to Deductions, Add-on's & Fringes for general information about deduction features. Use this procedure to set up a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP):
- From the Admin menu, select Payroll > Deductions/Add-on's/Fringes.
- Type Ctrl + A or click Add tab to create a new deduction. A blank form will display on the screen. Enter the Deduction ID, Description and Short Description.
- Enter the Type, Frequency and Rate. These three fields are default fields. When you actually put this deduction on an employee, these are the choices that will be displayed when you add the deduction. You should set these items to what you expect most employees to choose. However, if an employee's choice for his/her SEP deferral is different than the default, you may make changes to that deduction as you add it to that individual employee.
- Enter the GL Acct ID where this deduction will be charged each pay period when the payroll is recorded on the General Ledger.
- Refer to the IRS Instructions and enter the W-2 Box Number and W-2 Code for a SEP in the fields provided.
- At the bottom of the form are check boxes which control the calculation of withholding taxes and the presentation of wage information related to the deduction on Form W-2. For a SEP Plan, you should check the following boxes:
- Exclude from Federal Withholding Wages
- Exclude from State Withholding Wages
- W-2 Deferred Compensation
When you are finished, type Ctrl + S or click Save tab to save. To exit, type Ctrl + Q or click Exit tab. For each employee who is deferring under the SEP Plan, you must make the SEP deduction one of their deductions. See Employee Deductions for specific procedures on how to do this. The SEP deduction you just created will appear on the list of available GL Ledger Account IDs.
- From the Admin menu, select Payroll > Deductions/Add-ons/Fringes.
- Type Ctrl + A or click Add tab to create a new deduction. A blank form will display on the screen. Enter the Deduction ID, Description, and Short Description.
- Enter the Type, Frequency and Rate. These three fields are default fields. When you actually put this deduction on an employee, these are the choices that will be displayed when you add the deduction. You should set these items to what you expect most employees to choose. However, if an employee's choice for his/her 401(k) deferral is different than the default, you may make changes to that deduction as you add it to that individual employee.
- Enter the GL Acct ID where this deduction will be charged each pay period when the payroll is recorded on the General Ledger.
- Refer to the IRS Instructions and enter the W-2 Box Number and W-2 Code for a 401(k) in the fields provided.
- At the bottom of the form are check boxes which control the calculation of withholding taxes and the presentation of wage information related to the deduction on Form W-2. For a Section 401(k) Plan, you should check the following boxes:
- Exclude from Federal Withholding Wages
- Exclude from State Withholding Wages
- W-2 Deferred Compensation Section401(k) Deduction
- When you are finished, type Ctrl + S or click Save tab to save. To exit, type Ctrl+Q or click the Exit tab.
- For each employee who is deferring under the 401(k) Plan, you must make the401(k) deduction one of their deductions. See Employee Deductions for specific procedures on how to do this. The 401(k) deduction you just created will appear on the list of available deductions when you hit F12.
- Check your Federal Tax Table to make sure you have the proper 401(k) limit for the current tax year. From the Admin menu, select Payroll > Tax Tables > Federal.This information should be available from your Plan Sponsor, your accountant, and the Federal Government.
- Determine your monthly contribution by printing the monthly Section 401K Deduction Report. From the Reports menu, select Payroll > Monthly > 401K Deduction. Enter the desired beginning and ending pay period dates or accept the ones offered.You may select a range of employees or leave blank to select all employees.The Match-able percent and Company percent displayed are taken from the Payroll Control File – you may accept these or type in other amounts. You may sort the report by Social Security Number, Employee Name or Employee ID. Select Ascending or Descending order and the Destination of your report (Printer, Screen or File). Click OK or hit Enter to run the report.
- From the Admin menu, select Payroll > Deductions/Add-ons/Fringes.
- Type Ctrl + A or click Add tab to create a new deduction. A blank form will display on the screen. Enter the Deduction ID, Description and Short Description.
- Enter the Type, Frequency and Rate. These three fields are default fields. When you actually put this deduction on an employee, these are the choices that will be displayed when you add the deduction. You should set these items to what you expect most employees to choose. However, if an employee's choice for his/her 125 deferral is different than the default, you may make changes to that deduction as you add it to that individual employee.
- Enter the GL Acct ID where this deduction will be charged each pay period when the payroll is recorded on the General Ledger.
- If this Section 125 deduction is for Dependent Care, refer to the IRS Instructions and enter the corresponding W-2 Box Number and W-2 Code in the fields provided. For other Section 125 deductions, leave the W-2 Box and Code blank.
- At the bottom of the form are check boxes which control the calculation of withholding taxes and the presentation of wage information related to the deduction on Form W-2. For a Section 125 Plan, you should check the following boxes:
- Exclude from Federal Withholding Wages
- Exclude from State Withholding Wages
- W-2 Dependent Care Deduction (dependent care deductions only)
- Section 125 Deduction Exclude from Social Security Wages
- Exclude from Medicare Withholding Wages
- You may need to create several deductions if your plan has more than one option (medical insurance, reimbursed medical expenses, dependent care, etc…). Repeat step 2 as needed. When you are finished, type Ctrl + S or click Save tab to save. To exit, type Ctrl + Q or click Exit tab.
- For each employee participating in the Section 125 Plan, you must make sure the Section 125 Plan deductions they have selected are part of their deductions. See Employee Deductions for specific procedures on how to do this. The Section 125 Plan deductions you just created will appear on the list of available deductions when you hit F12.
Use the following procedure:
- From the Reports menu, select Payroll > Weekly > Certified. Certified.
- Accept the period end date offered or type in the desired date. You may also click on the calendar to the right of the date field and select a different date and click OK when you are finished.
- Enter the desired beginning and ending Job IDs – if you leave these fields blank, all certified jobs will be selected.
- Select Ascending or Descending order and the Destination of your report (Printer, Screen or File).
- Click OK or hit Enter to run the report.
Use the following procedure to un-post PR from the wrong month and re-post it to a different month.
- Go to Admin > Payroll> Un-post and un-post each of the following:
- Checks from Employees
- Equipment from Ledger
- Payroll from Ledger (JC)
- Payroll from Ledger (GL)
- Go to Admin > Payroll> Timecard Header. Click Binoculars tab on the task bar or type Ctrl + L to bring up the week that was posted in the wrong month. Change the accounting month to be the correct accounting month.
- Go to File >Payroll> Post and repost each of the following:
- Payroll to Ledger (GL)
- Payroll to Ledger (JC)
- Equipment to Ledger
- Checks to Employees
Use this procedure to change information on an existing union:
- From the Admin menu select Payroll > Unions/Pay Rate Table>Unions/Pay Rate Table.
- Type Ctrl + L or click Binoculars tab to display a list of available unions.
- Highlight the one you want to change and select it.
- Enter updated information (Add-Ons, Deductions, Fringes or Rates) and make changes as needed. Please note that when you change union pay rates, the rates will NOT be changed on time cards whose corresponding payroll check has been calculated.
- When you are finished entering, click Save tab or type Ctrl + S to save.
At the end of your workers' compensation year, there are no special close-out steps or checklists to follow. Simply print the Workers' Comp Report to get a summary of wages classified by workers' comp code for the requested period.
Follow these procedures to run the report:
- From the Reports menu, select Payroll > Monthly > Worker's Comp.
- Accept the beginning and ending pay period ending dates offered, or enter the dates you require.
- Accept the beginning and ending insurance dates offered, or enter different dates. The insurance dates you enter will appear in the title of the report and will govern what items are included in the year-to-date amounts on the report.
- Enter the beginning and ending Workers' Comp Codes or leave blank to include all codes on the report.
- Select Ascending or Descending order and the Destination of your report
(Printer, Screen or File). - Click OK or hit Enter to run the report.
The end of your workers' compensation year usually means that you have new workers' Comp rates to enter into the system. Use the following procedures to enter those new rates into the system.
- From the Admin menu, select Payroll > Worker's Comp Codes. What will appear on the screen is the first item in a list of existing workers' comp codes.
- Click Binoculars tab on your task bar or type Ctrl + L to bring up a list of the available codes.
- Move to the one you want and select it.
- Enter the new rate in the percent field and then type Ctrl + S or click Save tab to save. Return to step 2 until all needed changes are made.
- When complete, type Ctrl + Q or click Exit tab to exit.
If your Form 941 adjustment amount is more than a few cents due to rounding, there are several reasons why this may have occurred.
- You made changes to an employee's quarterly totals in the employee file for auto usage or third party sick pay.
- You had a FICA adjustment reported on your Form 941 in one quarter, but you recorded it on the system in the following quarter.
- You have not closed one or more pay periods in the quarter.
If none of the above items appear to be the cause of your adjustment, you need to contact Job Cost Inc.'s customer support department and discuss the problem with a qualified professional.
To report Illinois State Unemployment Insurance using magnetic media, complete the following steps:
- From the Reports menu, select Payroll > Quarterly > State Unemployment.
- Indicate your choices for year, quarter, range of employees, upper and lower percents and limits. If you do not indicate a range of employees, all employees will be included on the report. Please note that if the unemployment state is set to Employers in your Payroll controls, you must accept the default state for this report.
- To run both a paper report and a magnetic media file, select Both. For the magnetic media file only, select Text.
- If you do not have a document control number, accept the system default of 1. To enter another default number, the Text option must be selected. The report can be sorted by Employee Name, Employee ID or Social Security Number.
- Select the destination for the report (Printer, Screen or File) and click OK to run. If Text or Both was selected, the system will create a DOS file named "L----.YYQ", where "----" is the state unemployment insurance account number stored in the SUT Account # field on page 2 of the state's tax table. YY represents the last 2 digits of the year and Q is the quarter.
- The system creates this file in the directory specified in the Miscellaneous Company Controls file. You must copy this file onto the diskette you will send to the state of Illinois, following Illinois' documentation instructions.
To report W-2s on Magnetic Media for the Social Security Administration, complete the following steps:
- From the Reports menu, select Payroll > Year End > W2 Magnetic Media.
- At the report dialog screen, indicate the Year (of the Employee File), the Social Security limit, the Tax Year and whether or not you are re submitting. If you are submitting a file, you will also need to enter your TLCN number. If you have completed your year end closing steps, the Year and the Tax Year will be the same. If you have not yet backed up and zeroed out the Employee File, then the
Year (of the Employee File) should be "Current". - Click OK to run the report. The system will create a DOS file named W2REPORT in the directory specified in the Miscellaneous Company Controls file. You must copy this file onto the diskette you will send to the Federal Government, following the IRS/SSA guidelines. If you wish to keep a copy of the file on your system, it's a good idea to rename the file to W2REPORT.YY where YY represents the last 2 digits of the year for which you made the file.
For Payroll, the end of the calendar year means W-2 reporting in addition to the regular quarterly payroll tax returns. To make the process more manageable, the first thing you should do is print the Calendar Year End Checklist. The checklist will list step by step procedures along with the appropriate menu selections for Payroll (and Accounts Payable, too).
Also for Payroll, you will complete the payroll section of the checklist AFTER your final pay period of the calendar year (and AFTER you have completed the monthly and quarterly sections of your pay period checklist). Remember that the government requires you to report earnings based on the CHECK DATE, so your last payroll for the year is the one with the last PAY DATE in that year.
For reporting items such as Officer Group Life Insurance, Auto Usage, 3rd Party Sick Pay, and S-Corp and if these are to appear on W-2's, contact Job Cost, Inc. for instructions.
The first thing you need to do at the end of the fiscal year is print a Fiscal Year End Checklist. The checklist will list step by step year end procedures for each module, including Payroll. You should follow the steps for Payroll AFTER your final pay period of the fiscal year.
The Payroll module in Visual ContrAcct has two levels of security. The first level allows you to divide your payroll into Field Payroll and Confidential Payroll. The second level of security is by user – the system allows you to restrict access to the Payroll and Payroll Field modules to specified users.
Employees who are designated "Confidential" are in the Confidential Payroll. Employees without this designation are in the Field Payroll. The Confidential designation is on the first page of the Employee screen near the top. You may change an employee's designation at any time during the year simply by checking or removing the check from the box.
The menus for Payroll and Field Payroll are similar, but not identical. Users with access to the Field Payroll may enter and change field employees; enter and change time cards for field employees; and calculate, review and print payroll checks for field employees. Users with access to Payroll may do all of those functions for ALL employees, plus the payroll close-out and posting functions as well as the various reports.
A Payroll user MUST do all of the periodic close-outs for Payroll. Security levels for Payroll and Field Payroll are established in the Miscellaneous Controls File in Admin. If you have security rights to this menu, you may establish which users can have access to which module. You may designate which users have access to Field Payroll, which users have access to Payroll and which users are denied access to either Payroll menu. In this way, only specifically designated users have access to Payroll.