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Conversion guide: CCH Small Firm Services Client Accounting Suite to Accounting CS
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This article applies to:

  • Product: Accounting CS
  • Subject: Clients,Setup,Payroll checks

Set up payroll items

Use payroll items to define payroll items for your clients and give specifications for their setup, configuration, and behavior. Follow this list for help with setting up a pay, deduction, or employer contribution item.
  1. Select
    Setup
    , then
    Payroll Items
    .
  2. Select the
    Main
     tab.
  3. (Optional) Enter a name in the
    Report description
     field to change the description on reports and checks for this payroll item.
  4. (Deduction items and employer contributions) Select an
    Agent
     from the dropdown for liability tracking purposes.
    note
    Select an agent on the employee record if you can't select an agent on the Main tab.
  5. Calculation options depend on the type of payroll item selected.
  6. Payroll item
    Available calculation type options
    Additional notes
    Deduction
    • Fixed amount
    • Hourly rate - Total hours
    • Percent of after tax pay
    • Percent of gross pay
    • Percent of net pay
    Specify the deduction amount if it's the same for all employees.
    Mark the
    Weighted allocation
     checkbox to distribute a fixed amount of deductions across locations and departments.
    In the
    Special Type
     section of the Main tab of the Payroll Items screen, select the
    Garnishment
     option and select
    Creditor garnishment
     from the dropdown.
    Pay
    • Fixed amount
    • Hourly rate
    • Hourly rate - Total hours
    • Percent of gross pay
    • Percent of sales
    • Salary - Hours sensitive
    • Salary amount
    If the pay amount is the same for all employees, specify the amount, rate, or percentage.
    Employer Contribution
    • Fixed amount
    • Hourly rate - Total hours
    • Percent of after tax pay
    • Percent of deduction
    • Percent of gross pay
    • Percent of net pay
    Specify the contribution amount, rate, or percentage, and the limit for each tier.
    Select
    Graduated
     if you want to enter a tiered amount, rate, or percentage, and a limit for each tier.
    Mark the
    Weighted allocation
     checkbox to distribute a fixed amount of deductions across locations and departments.
    note
    • If you select
      Graduated
      , you can use the table to set up a tiered rate for employer contribution amounts and specify the limit for each tier.
    • The graduated table is based on the Days/Weeks/Months/Years of service the employee has completed. For example, if tier 1 is specified as "from 0 to 3 years", the employee won't move to tier 2 until they complete the 3rd year and reach their 4th year of service.
  7. (Optional) Select a special type for the payroll item to change how it calculates or reports:
    • None
    • Retirement/Cafeteria plan
      : Choosing the Retirement/Cafeteria plan from the dropdown allows the application to automatically determine and maintain the taxability and deduction limits for this specific plan. If an employee has more than one type of IRA plan, the application will automatically apply the appropriate limit across both plans.
    • Garnishment
      : Specify the exact type of plan or garnishment by choosing it from the dropdown (Chapter 13 bankruptcy, Child support; Creditor garnishment; Defaulted student loan; Federal levy; Other).
  8. Choose a distribution option in the
    Auto-pay
     section if you use auto pay.
  9. (Pay) Select a
    Wage Type
    .
  10. (Pay) You can change the multiplier rate for Overtime and Double time, or leave it at 1.500 and 2.000.
    Changing this only affects new employee records.
  11. Under
    Taxability
    , choose a reason for a FUTA exemption if your item should be exempt.
    This information transfers to Line 4 of Form 940.
  12. (Deduction and employee contribution) Under
    Limit
    , select a deduction limit.
    • MTD
      : Sets a limit on the total amount, percent of deduction, or percent of gross pay that can be withheld for this item each month. Once the limit is reached, the application automatically restarts the calculation at the beginning of the next month.
    • Per check
      : Sets a limit on the total amount, percent of deduction, or percent of gross pay that can be withheld for this item for each payroll check. Once the limit is reached, the application automatically restarts the calculation on the next payroll check.
    • Perpetual
      : Sets a limit on the amount that can be withheld for this item. Once the limit is reached the application won't calculate it again unless the limit is changed.
    • YTD
      : Sets a limit on the total amount, percent of deduction, or percent of gross pay that can be withheld for this item for the year. Once the limit is reached, the application automatically restarts the calculation at the start of the next year.
    • For Retirement/Cafeteria plan deductions:
      • If the deduction item is set up with retirement special types 401(k), Roth 401(k), 403(b), Roth 403(b), 457 or Simple 408(p), the
        Do not apply catch-up limit
         checkbox is available. Mark this checkbox to specify that the retirement plan catch-up contribution limit increase should not be applied to the selected deduction item for any employees, regardless of their age.
      • If the deduction item is set up with retirement special types 401(k), 403(b), 457, or Simple 408(p), the 
        Subtract cafeteria 125 deduction before calculating checkbox
        is available. When this checkbox is marked and the item is set up to calculate based on a percent of gross pay, the application will subtract any Section 125 special type deduction items from the employee's gross pay before calculating the deduction item.
    • For Garnishments:
      • The
        Maximum % of disposable income
         field defaults to the appropriate percentage per garnishment rules for all types. This field is grayed out for all garnishment types except Other, for which you can specify a different limit.
      • For Other type garnishments, you can choose to specify a limit of the lesser of: the maximum percent of the employee's disposable income or the amount by which the employee's disposable income exceeds thirty times the federal or state minimum wage.
    • For employer contributions:
      • If you mark the
        Subject to Health Savings Account limit
         checkbox, the application includes the amounts that are associated with this item along with the amounts associated with any deduction item that is set up with a special type of Health Savings Account (HSA), when honoring the HSA limits for an employee. This is needed to track the employer contribution amounts to the HSA plan, because the pre-tax limit consists of both employee and employer contributions.
        note
        • If the employer stops contributing to the HSA policy mid-year, and any contributions have been made during the year, you will need to keep the contribution item active for the employees (with the contribution amount changed to $0.00) for the remainder of the year, so that the application can accurately observe the limit.
        • If the employee will be 55 or older by the end of the year (based on the date entered in the
          Birth date
           field in the
          Personal
           tab of the
          Employees
           screen) Accounting CS honors the additional $1,000.00 HSA contribution limit increase for the employee.
      • If you mark the
        Subtract cafeteria 125 deduction before calculating
         checkbox, and the employee contribution item is set up to calculate based on a percent of gross pay, the application will subtract any Section 125 special type deduction items from the employee's gross pay before calculating the employer contribution.
    note
    • If you choose a Special Type for deduction item that isn't
      None
      , the application sets the limit appropriate for the selected type, and you can't change it. If multiple deduction items are subject to the same limit, the application divides the limit equally among those items.
    • If you have multiple deduction items that are subject to the same limit (usually because they have the same special type), the application considers both items together when calculating deduction amounts. For example, if you have two items subject to an 18,000 limit, the application will stop deducting each item at 9,000.
  13. Mark checkboxes under
    W-2 Additional Boxes
    .
  14. Select the default
    General Ledger
     liability and expense account numbers for your payroll item.
    note
    If this payroll item has already been activated for employees, changing the default GL account number for that payroll item here will not automatically change the GL account number currently being used for those employees.  Any changes to a pay item must still be modified at the employee level, individually or via the Edit multiple employees feature.
  15. Under
    Miscellaneous
    , choose Health Savings Account (HSA) or health insurance options.
    Mark the
    Require direct deposit allocation
     checkbox if you want to require it employees who use this payroll item.
  16. Mark any
    Exclusions
     that apply.
  17. Select the
    Tax Exemptions
     tab and choose any exemptions that apply.
  18. Select the
    Special Timing
     tab if you need to customize the frequency and dates for your payroll item.
tip
You can use the
Payroll Items Sort Order
 screen to specify the order in which payroll items should be displayed:
  • in the
    Enter Transactions
     screen
  • in the
    Detail
     tab of the
    Enter Batch Payroll Checks
     screen
  • for clients using remote payroll entry
    note
    This screen changes the order for time sheets that will be uploaded to the client's portal via remote payroll, but won't affect an existing time sheet that's already in the client's portal.
  • on payroll checks
To access the screen, select
Setup
Payroll Items
Sort Order
.
Use the up and down arrows to move payroll items up and down the sort order list for each of the 3 tabs (Pay, Deductions, and Employer Contributions).

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