Undergoing an annual shutdown brings about certain unique payroll issues, such as the payment of bonuses and the processing of leave and related payments. This is particularly relevant for weekly and fortnightly paid employees.
In most cases, when undergoing annual shutdown, employees are paid out their leave pay and bonuses calculated on varying scales. This is usually determined by the rules and regulations applicable to the sector in which the employer operates.
Payslip End Date
In order to correctly reflect the circumstances of the annual shutdown, the payslip end date can be overridden to take into account the shutdown period. Overriding the payslip end date and spreading out the payment will ensure that the UIF will be calculated correctly and tax liability will be spread out over the entire period. Please see the following article for details on overriding the payslip date:
This can also be done in bulk. Please see the following article for details on bulk inputs:
Payments
The employee’s regular hourly rate / salary will automatically be included and can be edited in the usual way.
Bonuses and related payments can be included as once-off items using either the built-in Annual Bonus item for fixed amounts, or custom items if the amounts are calculated using the employee’s hourly rate or another formula. Please see the following section for more on creating custom items:
Payroll Setup > Company Setup > Custom Items
This process can be further simplified by utilising the bulk input screen to add bonuses when processing a large number of employees. Please see the following article for more information about the bulk input feature:
Leave
Leave taken can be recorded on the leave calendar for the duration of the shutdown period. The leave payout will be calculated based on the employee’s annual leave rate; this is calculated using the hourly rate and the fluctuating rate. More information on leave and leave pay can be found in the following sections:
Payroll Concepts > Pay-Related Calculations > Leave Pay
In order to record the leave taken for the shutdown period, please ensure that the payslip end date takes into account the shutdown period by overriding it as mentioned above.