How to Pay a Bonus or Commission

Background

Bonuses and commissions can easily be paid to an employee in Patriot. The software already has these “Money types” set up for you.

You can pay a bonus or commission with your normal payroll by adding an amount in the appropriate money type box or separate it from your normal payroll run.

You can also pay the bonus or commission by itself. Simply select the “pay period” dates and paydate of the check. Keep in mind if you have your payroll pay period and pay dates auto-filled for you, you will need to adjust the pay dates again on your next normal payroll run.

You’ll also need to determine whether or not you want to pay the bonus or commission in a regular payroll or if you want to “gross-up” the money. “Grossing up” basically is starting with the “net payroll,” and used you want an employee to receive an exact take-home pay amount. Read our help article, “How to Run a Net to Gross Payroll,” for more information.

Paying a Bonus or Commission in a Regular Payroll

Here’s how to pay additional money such as “Bonus” or “Commission” when you are entering a standard payroll for an employee.

Go to Payroll > Run a New Payroll.
On Step 1: Payroll Entry, all frequently used money types will appear. These can be changed under Settings > Payroll Settings > Hour & Money Types.
If you need to pay additional money that does not appear in your frequently used list, toggle the “Show all Hours and Money Types” switch. Any active Money Types in your Payroll Settings will appear.

Enter hours & Money page screenshot showing the toggle: "Show all hours and money types"

Enter the dollar amount of the additional money type(s).
You can choose to tax money at the IRS supplemental tax rate of 22% by checking the box under the money type. For more information about this tax rate, see How to Tax Supplemental Pay.