Checklist: Remember These 6 Points While Processing Payroll
Payroll is probably the most and only mundane task for HR personnel. There is a long trail of never-ending and repetitive tasks that follow every month. There is no space for forgetfulness and even a slight error can cost legal action and penalties. This is why checklists are important. Apart from using payroll software, a checklist can help the payroll staff immensely by reminding them when they have missed out on something.
Even though the checklist can vary, here are a few things that remain the same irrespective of the size of the company. Keep reading to know what they are.
Employee Record- The very first job should be to keep the employee records updated and right. No wrong information should be kept in the record. So, if there are address changes, pay changes, or new hire data or the terminated or F&F one.
Time Keeping-
If you have an attendance management software, timekeeping will become a cakewalk. The attendance should be computed of every employee whether new or old duly. This helps in knowing the overtime and the half days and leaves of the employees.
Wage processing-
The checklist must include things that you need to pay wages. These things primarily are overtime hours, bonuses, incentives, company benefits, severance pay, sick and personal time, auto payments, expense reimbursements, and other things. Wage processing should be done after this only.
Deductions processing-
There are multiple sorts of deductions that impact the paycheck of employees. The checklist should include both kinds of deductions like statutory and voluntary. So, you can design the code for each deduction you make in the payroll software. For instance MED for medical insurance, FED for federal income tax and SS for social security.
When you would have processed the payroll a few times, you will get accustomed to which deductions are affecting which employees. Besides, you should include deductions in the checklist. The same helps in verifying the paychecks before getting printed or verify the payroll for each employee in the payroll software. By using this checklist, you will know if you have made less or extra deductions.
Paycheck or Direct Deposit-
Both of them require a checklist. Print paychecks, make a direct deposit file. Send the file (Bank slip) to the bank where the salary accounts are. You also need to verify later whatever is required
File tax return-
Check the due date for filing tax returns and do the same in the given time frame. If you will skip the due date, you will have to give a late fee which can go in India up to INR 5K. This includes all that you owe and you have paid to the government including the amount withheld from employee’s salary and the amount you have paid as an employer.
We hope this article gave you a walkthrough of how your checklist should be. Now you can work on your checklist and minimise errors in future using the checklist and the payroll software.
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