Introduction to the Payroll Entry Screen
To run a payroll in Patriot Software, you’ll use the Payroll Entry screen on Step 1 to enter hours and money for your employees. The Payroll Entry screen appears when you click “Run a New Payroll” under Payroll > Payroll Tasks > Run a New Payroll.
Here is information that may appear on the Payroll Entry screen, and how to change it to see only what you need.
Pre-filled Payroll Dates
This feature is available for weekly and biweekly pay frequencies at this time. The Pay Period Start Date, Pay Period End Date, and Pay Date will be pre-filled after you run your first payroll, based on your most recent payroll and pay frequency. If you do not want to have these three dates pre-filled, click the “Show Advanced Options” link and change “Pre-fill Payroll Dates” to “No.”
Coming soon! Pay Schedules
We are currently developing pay schedules. Want to be a part of the beta testing? Sign up to have access to the feature, and we’ll email you when it is available for the beta release.
Pay Frequency
This selection will only show if you have more than one pay frequency set up for your employees. You can only run one pay frequency at a time. Simply adjust the dropdown to the pay frequency for the employees you want to pay.
Work Locations
This section will only show if you have more than one work location set up. You can run payroll for more than one work location at a time, as long as the employees all have the same pay frequency selected.
Employee List
The Payroll Entry screen lists all active employees, grouped by Hourly and Salary. If you have Salary Non-Exempt employees, they will appear in their own group.
Hourly and Salary Employees
For hourly employees, you must enter hours worked, since gross pay depends on the hours paid. You’ll enter the hours as a decimal. For example if your employee worked 39 hours and 23 mihnutes for the pay period, you’ll enter 39.38. Check out our handy chart to easily convert minutes to hours. Employees with more than one pay rate will be listed for you to enter hours for each rate.
For salary employees, you don’t need to enter hours worked in most cases, but you may do so for tracking purposes. A few states require entering hours for salaried workers. The number of hours worked won’t affect gross pay. Salaried employees who are earning accrued time off will also need to have hours entered. The “Pay Salary” switch is automatically turned on and their flat dollar salary rate is included in the payroll. To stop a salaried employee’s regular pay, uncheck their “Pay” checkbox. You can still enter other money types to pay if needed. You can also globally turn on or off all salaried employees’ regular pay by changing the “Pay Salary” checkbox setting at the top of the list of salaried employees.
Missing Information
If an employee is missing required information for payroll processing, a warning message appears beside their name. You must fill in any missing info on the employee’s screen before paying that person. You can still run payroll for the rest of your employees.
Why don’t I see all of my employees in the list?
There could be a few reasons for this:
- The employee not in the list may be inactive. To activate an employee, see How Do I Reactivate an Employee?
- The employee not showing in the list may have a different pay frequency. You can only run one pay frequency (weekly or biweekly, or semi-monthly, etc) at a time. To check to see if this is the culprit, go to the to pay frequency and adjust the drop down a different pay frequency.
- The employees are not in the selected work location. You can run payroll for more than one work location at a time, as long as the employees all have the same pay frequency selected.
- Your “employees” are set up as 1099 contractors. See the section below “Paying contractors”
Hours and Money Types
You can set frequently used hour and money types in Settings > Payroll Settings > Hours & Money Types. Each employee’s row will show the frequently used types. To use more types, click the “Show All Hours and Money Types” switch. All active hours and money types will appear. To change the status of a type, go to Payroll > Payroll Settings > Hours & Money Types > Select the type > Edit. Check or uncheck the Active box, and click Save.
Deductions and Contributions
By default, all active deductions and contributions that haven’t met limits will be included in the payroll. You can exclude any or all deductions and contributions in a payroll. For example, you’re running payroll for a second bonus check, and you’ve already collected the proper amount of deductions/contributions. Click “Show Advanced Options,” and select any deductions and/or contributions that you do not want to include in the payroll.
Direct Deposits
To give all employees live paychecks for a payroll run, you can turn off direct deposits for all employees. Change the toggle under Direct Deposit from “Enabled” to Disabled to print or manually create live checks for everyone in the payroll. By default, after the payroll is completed, the direct deposit will be enabled for the next payroll run. For more information, check out our help article “Setting Up Direct Deposit.”
Paying Contractors
If you have added contractors to pay in payroll, you will see a checkbox at the bottom of Payroll Step 1 to include contractors in this payroll run. When you are finished entering your employee hours and money, the next page will show contractors to pay. For more details, see How to Pay 1099 Contractors in Payroll.
Clearing All Payroll Entries
To clear all payroll entries and start over, click the “Clear Entries” link at the bottom of the screen. This will remove anything you have entered, including your pay period and pay date.
Saving Your Payroll Entries
You may save your entries in the Payroll Entry sheet and return to your work later. After you make entries, click “Save Entries” at the bottom of the screen. You can continue to make entries in the Payroll Entry sheet after you Save.
If you have an unfinished payroll, the “Run a New Payroll” link in the Payroll menu will change to “Continue Your Payroll.” You can have one unfinished payroll at a time. When you click “Continue Your Payroll,” you will be taken to the payroll step where you stopped.
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