Payroll Archives

Using Payroll Time Sheets

Introducing Time Sheets for Labor Tracking

Time Sheets are one way of telling Total Office Manager how to calculate an employee’s pay. In the employee payroll items you can tell Total Office Manager to calculate an employee’s hours via time sheet or not. Enabling time sheets forces the payroll administrator to add the time to the time sheet.

For example, an employee that always works 40 hours and does not need their hours tracked can be setup in Total Office Manager to not use Time Sheet hours. However, this means that they MUST have default hours entered for their pay period (see the Earnings Tab of the Employee Payroll Items).

To fill in time sheets, use the Time sheet menu item in the payroll menu. All time sheets are viewed in one week time frames. The time sheet uses the earning types used by the employee and all customers/jobs entered into Total Office Manager. The earning type is required, the job is not. However, if the users wish to track time against a job, the Job ID information must be selected.

Form Access

From the main menu, click Employees > Time Sheets/Time Tracking.

Tip: You can open this form from many places in the software to save time. Example: If you come from a Work Order, the relative WO information will copy into the Time Sheet.

Step-By-Step

Select Employee and Date Range. In the Employee drop down list, select the active employee you want to use. Only active employees are displayed.
Using the calendar, select a day to view. If the day has any data, that day will be bold and in red.
Enter hours or edit data as needed in the time sheet line area. See “Using the Time Sheet form” below for details.

Using the Time Sheet Form

Use of this form is pretty simple. Please check out the Time Sheet Grid – Daily Data Tab below to see what each column and field means. Once complete, you can print the time sheet.

Use the Week at a Glance tab to see the entire week in summary form. You cannot edit any of the data on this tab.

Button and Field Definitions

Employee Combo: Select the active employee you want to edit. All employees are displayed on this list; even if they are not setup as hourly.

Date Selection: Select the date to view using the calendar. If the day has time sheet information, that day will be bold and colored red.

Drop Down Calendar: In the “Hours” field, there is a calculator that you can use if you find is handy.

Advance One Day On Save: The next day will be automatically selected when you click the Save button. This is a time saving feature.

Print: Print preview a simple time sheet for the select employee and the selected week. The style of the report will depend on what tab you are viewing.

Exit: Saves changes and closes the form.

Time Sheet Grid – Daily Data Tab

Column 1 (Delete): Click the red X to delete the line item and all data on that line including hours, earning type and job type.

Column 2 (Earning Type): Drop down that has all of the active earning types for the currently selected employee. This field is mandatory – you cannot enter timesheet data (hours) without first selecting an earning type.

Column 3 (Cust:Job): Drop down that has all of the active customers/job in Total Office Manager. This field is optional.

Column 4 (WO #): The WO field is used to indicate the work order to which the line item is associated. If the Customer field has been filled in, the WO drop-down list will display work orders for that customer only. If the Customer field has not been filled in, the WO drop-down list will only make available <Lookup> as a selection. Clicking <Lookup> will open the Work Order Lookup list, which can be used to lookup any work order in the system. Double-clicking on a work order will populate both the Customer field and the WO field in the original purchase order.

Alternatively, when working from within a work order, the Complete/Add Time Sheet Entry command will open the time sheet and automatically populate the employee, date, Customer:job, WO #, start time, stop time, and hours (duration).

Column 5 (Service Item): Optional. Select a Service Item type from the list. This associates the labor you will pay the employee with this particular service item. This labor will become that service item’s COGS for this Customer:job. This is very important if you wish to job cost and do it accurately.

Column 6 (Department): Optional. Select a department from the list to associate this labor expense with the department. This is very important if you wish to track expenses by department (recommended).

Column 7 (Start Time): Optional. Enter the “time in” or the starting time for this labor entry. This is handy if you wish to track the actual time employees start and stop on jobs.

Column 8 (Stop Time): Optional. Enter the “time out” or the ending time for this labor entry. This is handy if you wish to track the actual time employees start and stop on jobs.

Column 9 (Hours): Required. The total hours worked for that line. This field will auto calculate if you use the Start and Stop time fields but you can still change it to any number (not recommended).

Column 10 (Topic): Select a topic to briefly describe the payroll entries. In other words, select a topic that best describes the payroll for that day. A topic maybe selected for each day. This information is saved ONLY when you have entered hours for that day. The selections come from the Log Topic List (Company | Lists | Log Topic List).

Column 11 (Odometer/Meter): Enter the odometer reading or operating hours (if any) for a particular job or day. This may be entered for each day. This information is saved ONLY when you have entered hours for that day. Enter the odometer reading and not the number of miles driven. This information is entered into the asset’s history and can be used to calculate operating costs. The information may also be used to create reminders for maintenance or any handy reminder that is driven by miles, hours, or dates. See Asset Manager for more information.

Column 12 (Notes): Enter notes (if needed) to explain the entry. Notes may be entered for each day. This information is saved ONLY when you have entered hours for that day.

Payroll Time Sheet Tips

If you wish to use time-sheet hours when processing payroll, you will need to check the Use Time Sheet Hours check box in payroll items. Click Employees | Employee List | Select the Employee | Click the Payroll Items button | Check the Use Time Sheet Hours Box on the General Tab.
You can still use the Time Sheet feature for salaried employees. This can be helpful if you wish to track time and other information for analytical purposes.
When you complete a WO, you may select the Complete\Add Time Sheet Entry option. This will automatically populate the employee, date, Customer:job, WO #, start time, stop time, and hours (duration).
There are preferences to prevent one user from editing or adding time sheet entries and notes for another user. Please click Edit | Preferences to see all of your options.

Time Sheet FAQ

Q: Will the time sheet form automatically add overtime hours when the employee gets into overtime?

A: No. There are so many variables. For many companies, overtime can be required for many more reasons that just exceeding forty hours in one work week. You will need to add overtime hours manually to an Earning Item created for overtime pay. While entering data in the Time Sheet, you will be able to see how many hours the employee has for the work week. If overtime is warranted, select a Payroll Earning Item created for Overtime Pay. Enter the number of minutes for overtime.

Sales Commission Tracking

Introduction to Sales Commission Methods

Sales and Invoices include a Sales Commission Tracking form where employees are selected to receive a commission. Commissions are calculated by selecting employees on Sales/Invoices and using pre-defined calculation methods. When processing payroll, these employees and their commissions are selected and may be edited or changed prior to the creation of the check.

Step-By-Step

Establish Permissions

Your first need to allow the appropriate user permission to access the commission related forms. From the main menu, click Company | User List/Security.
This action opens the permissions form. Click Next.
Locate the appropriate form and report that your users will need access to. The settings are shown below.
Check the Commission Method, Commission Method List, and Sales Commission Tracking options. These three selections should be sufficient to use this feature. We generally don’t recommend that anyone have permission to delete.

Granting Access to the Assign Commission Method Form

Access to the Assign Commission form is granted when a user has permission to the Assign Commission Method form.

Go to Company > User List/Security. Look in the Customer section for Assign Commissions (near the top).

Security Tip: Access to the Assign Commission form is controlled through security. You should be careful who is allowed to access this form, since it affects payroll. It is recommended that a specific person be assigned the task of assigning and or reviewing commissions, prior to processing payroll.

Creating Commission Methods

Open the Commission Method List. From the main menu click Employees | List | Commission Method List.
Enter a name to describe the commission.
Enter a Value if needed. See “About the Value Field” below for more information.
that makes sense and a value. Continue to add various Sales Commission calculation methods as needed.
Select a Value from the list. You have numerous types of Commission Methods (calculation methods) available to you. Each of them is defined below.
Continue to add various Sales Commission calculation methods as needed.

About the Value Field

Depending on the method selected, the Value is either the percentage to be used or a multiplier.

For example, when using a method that pays a percentage, the Value is that percentage. When using the Labor Minutes (aka: Flat Rate Time) method, the Value is a multiplier. In that case, you would leave the Value field blank (or zero) to use 100% of that amount. Enter .5 to use 50% of the rate, 1.5 to use 150% of that rate, etc.

Commission Methods Defined

Sales Commission Method Payroll

Fixed Dollar Amount: This method allows you to pay a set dollar amount commission for each Invoice or Sale created. An example might be $15.00 per transaction.

Percentage of Sub-Total: This method allows you to enter a Sales Commission percentage rate. The Sales Commission will be calculated by multiplying the sub-total (total before tax) by the commission rate (percentage). An example might be 10% of the amount sold.

Percentage of Direct Cost: This calculation will consider the Average Cost of the item(s). If the Average Cost is null, we will use the Estimated Cost. If Average Cost and Estimated Cost are null, the commission will be zero. This method always uses the Cost filed from the Sale/Invoice. Note: If you pay commissions and later change the Sale/Invoice, this amount may be wrong.

Percentage of Retail Labor: This method allows you to enter a Sales Commission percentage rate. The Sales Commission will be calculated by multiplying the Total Retail amount of all Service Type items that are marked Labor Only by the commission rate (percentage). An example might be 15% of the Retail Labor Total.

Adjustable: This method allows you to enter a variable dollar amount of commission for each Invoice or Sale created. If there is never a set dollar amount or it varies greatly, then this commission method could be used.

Percentage of Gross Profit on Materials: This method allows you to calculate commission based off a percentage of the Gross Profit on Materials. This calculation will look at Inventory, Serialized, Non-Inventory, Other Charge and Service type items with an assigned COGS Account and take the Retail Price minus the Item Cost to total the gross profit of materials. (Non-Inventory, Other Charge and Service items must have the checkbox checked within the Item form to allocate both an Income and COGS account. Each one of these items has a labeled checkbox such as, “This item is purchased for and sold to…”).

Note: We did not design the Percentage of Gross Profit on Material Commission Method to consider discounts. It looks at the gross profit of each item, sums it up, and applies the percentage to that number. Here are some reasons we don’t consider discounts.

!. Accounting rules dictate that gross profit only includes costs. Discounts are not considered costs. 2. We cannot be certain what discounts apply to which items and in what proportion. 3. Companies might discount a service ticket due to an issue that is beyond the control of the technician. The tech still gets the commission even though there was a discount added at the discretion of the company.

Percentage of Labor Cost: This method allows you to calculate commission based off a percentage of Total Labor Cost. The Labor Cost is figured by assigned a Labor Cost value to each Item. Only Item Types of Inventory, Serialized, Non-Inventory, Other Charge and Service can have a Labor Cost. (Non-Inventory, Other Charge and Service items must have the special checkbox option checked within the Item to assign a Labor Cost). In order to assign a Labor Cost to items you must enable the Preference within Edit| Preferences| Payroll| Company Preferences tab that says, “Use Labor Cost for Commissions”. To read more about this method please see the help topic called “Piecemeal Pay”.

Item Commission: This commission is calculated by multiplying the Value times the Sales Commission field found on most item types. Leave the Value blank (or zero) to use 100% of that amount. Enter .5 to use 50% of the commission, 1.5 to use 150% of that commission, etc.

Service Agreement: This commission method only applies to Service Agreement items. The Value is a percentage of the Retail Price of the Service Agreement without regard to Sales Tax. Enter 10 to pay a 10% commission on the Retail price of the SA.

Percentage of Total Retail Price: This method calculates a sales commission based on a percentage of the total retail price of the invoice. The Variable option allows you to vary the commission by level. Sales Tax may optionally be considered.

Percentage of Adjusted Retail Price: This method calculates a sales commission based on a percentage of the total retail price of the invoice less the item’s Estimated Costs. The Variable option allows you to vary the commission by Retail Price level. You have the option of including Sales Tax in the retail price.

Labor Minutes (aka: Flat Rate Time): Calculates Commission by multiplying the Labor Minutes of each item on the invoice by the employee’s Default Earning Item (located in Employee Payroll Items). Leave the Value field blank (or zero) to use 100% of that amount. Enter .5 to use 50% of the rate, 1.5 to use 150% of that rate, etc. This method is popular in the automotive industry where mechanics are often paid using “book time”.

Establish Defaults

Open the Employee’s Payroll Items form.
On the General tab select a Default Commission Method and Default Commission Earning Item. These are default values that will be auto-selected. They can be changed at anytime here or while paying commissions.

We highly recommend that you create a dedicated “Sales Commission” Payroll Earning Item for this purpose. You can call this Earning Item anything you wish, but for tracking and reporting purposes, you will want to have a dedicated Earning Item for this process.

Assigning Commissions

Create Invoices and Sales as usual.
From the Menu button (while in the Sales or Invoice) click the Assign Commission option. A form will open like the one shown below.
Select the Employee. The Assign Commissions will default to the selection made in the Employee Payroll Items. You can change it if needed. For security reasons, the commission amount cannot be changed at this point. Only a user with appropriate payroll-related security permission will be able to change the commission amount and that is done while processing Payroll.
- You can assign the same Employee more than once. You might do this if you wish to pay them a commission that involves two or more Commission Methods.
- The Paid column indicates whether or not the commission has been added to a Payroll Check.
- You cannot access the Commission Method form from the Invoice\Sales list. The invoice must be opened.

Paying Commissions

Paying commissions is part of regular Payroll. From the Process Pay Group select an Employee and click the Add Commissions button.

Select the various commissions that you wish to pay. You may change the Commission Method, Earning Item, or Commission dollar amount as needed.
- Note: Once a commission is paid, it will no longer appear on this list. This is true even if you pay only a portion of the commission.
- You will be able to see if the invoice has been paid. This way, you can delay paying a commission until the invoice is paid.
Proceed with processing Payroll as you normally would. The commissions will appear on your paychecks and be detailed in all of the various Pay-stubs and Payroll reports.

Reports

We have included a report that is located under Reports | Payroll | Sales Commission Tracking.

Important Notes

This report displays the commission amount that was originally entered using the Assign Commission form. The actual amount paid to your Employee could be different because you can overwrite this amount when you actually create the Paycheck.
The Paid and Check Number columns only appear once the Paycheck has actually been created.
If you need more history, use other reports related to the Payroll Earnings Item that you are using to track commissions. From the main menu click Reports | Payroll to view the various Payroll reports.

Tips

Commissions can be calculated on an item by item basis. Use the Item Commission Method and enter a value in each item. Use the Value field on the Commission Method to multiplier the commission up or down (optional).
Sales and Use Tax is never considered in commission calculations. There is an exception for certain methods. In those cases, you will see a check box called Include Sales Tax in Retail Price. That box is not checked by default.

W-2 Processing

Introduction

Each year the Federal government requires that the employer send a W-2 Form to each employee that received wages for the previous year. Total Office Manager allows you generate W-2 Forms quickly and easily. It also gives you the ability to add any special items that Total Office Manager does not automatically include.

Who must file Form W-2?

Employers must file Form W-2 for wages paid to each employee from whom income, social security, or Medicare tax was withheld or income tax would have been withheld if the employee had claimed no more than one withholding allowance or had not claimed exemption from withholding on Form W-4.

Also, every employer engaged in a trade or business who pays remuneration for services performed by an employee, including non-cash payments, must furnish a Form W-2 to each employee even if the employee is related to the employer.

Please note that if you are required to file 250 or more W-2 forms, you must file them electronically unless you got a waiver from the IRS.

Form Access

From the main menu, click Employee | W2 and W3 (Wage and Tax Statement).

Step-By-Step

Select a year from the drop down menu and click Calculate to create new W2 forms. You will be prompted for an optional control number. The Control Number field appears on the IRS W2 form. Total Office Manager does not require this number. Most businesses will not need to enter a control number. It does not matter if you enter one or not.
Select a year from the menu and click View to see the W2 forms. If there is no data for the year selected, it is automatically generated. The W2 window then opens.
The user can then edit any field (with a white background) on the form. When finished, they can choose ‘Recalculate’ from the W2 Processing form (shown above).

Tips

W2 processing (and W2) is very important and accuracy is essential. Please see your accountant if you need specific help for your business.

Payroll Paystub (from Paycheck)

Introduction

A pay stub (also known as a paycheck stub, pay slip, or voucher) is the document that itemizes how much employees are paid. You will receive a pay stub for each pay period. It shows your total earnings for the pay period, deductions from the total, and your net pay after deductions.

Form Access

When you print paychecks, you have options to include a paystub. The information on the paystub may be limited by the check type you select. These paystubs only allow a certain number of line items.
Fully detailed pay stubs are accessed through the Employees > Write/Review Paychecks list. Highly one or more paychecks, click Reports > Print Review Paystubs. These are fully detailed reports that may include multiple pages.

Report Options

The full paystub does not have print options.

When you print a paycheck, you have options. In the Print Options form, please see Print Options > Voucher Options.

Tips

If an inactive payroll item has history it will print on the paycheck stub if the check date is in the same year as the adjustment. This is true even if you make some type of adjustment that brings a number to zero. We include that payroll item because it has history, for that period, for that employee. Example: You create a Time Off Adjustment that takes time off available to zero.

Importing Timesheets

Introducing the Import Timesheet Feature

Timesheets are a vital part of tracking for payroll and job costing. In Total Office Manager, this information is typically captured through use of the work order stopwatch feature in Aptora Mobile II, from work orders in the desktop, or from manual entry in the timesheets. Sometimes, outside sources are needed to track employees’ time. When this happens, there may be a need to capture this information and import it into Total Office Manager. The timesheet import will help with this process.

To import timesheets, please ensure the following security permissions (Company | User/List Security) are in place for the user performing the import:

Company | User List/Security for Utility | Import: General
Payroll | PR New Timesheet (Employee).

Timesheet Import File Formatting

Field Name	Data Format	Notes
Employee	Text	This is the Employee Name field. This field must match the exact name of an existing employee record. If duplicates exist, it will map to the most recent record it finds. This is a required field.
Date	MM/DD/YYYY	This is the date of the timesheet entry. This is a required field.
Earning Item	Text	This is the employee earning to associate with the timesheet entry. If this entry is missing, the default earning item for the employee is used. If no default is present, the entry will not import.
Customer:Job	Number	This field is the Customer:Job ID. If no exact match is found, the field is left blank. You will find this ID on the Customer:Job List.
Service Item	Text	This is the Invoice Item which is associated with the timesheet entry. If this entry is missing, the default service item for the employee is used. If no default is present, the entry field is left blank.
Start Time	hh:mm AM/PM	This is the start time of the timesheet entry. This field is not required.
Stop Time	hh:mm AM/PM	This is the stop time of the timesheet entry. This field is not required.
Hours	Text	This is the total hours for the timesheet line entry. This is a required field.
Department	Text	This field is the department field. This field must match the exact name of an existing Department Alias. If no exact match is found, the field is left blank.
Topic	Text	This field is the topic field. This field must match the exact name of an existing Topic Type. If no exact match is found, the field is left blank.
Odometer	Number	This is the reading of the odometer for the vehicle. It may contain up to 6 numeric digits. This field is not required.
Notes	Text	This field has no character max. This field is not required.
WO#	Text	This field is the work order field. This field must match the exact work order number of an existing work order. If no exact match is found, the field is left blank. If only a WO# is entered, the Customer:Job will populate with the customer found on the work order. If duplicates exist for the WO#, it will map to the most recent record it finds.
Reimbursable	Yes/No	This field is a Yes/No field. A Yes entry will check the Reimb box on the line entry when a customer is present. No or a blank entry will leave the box unchecked. This field is not required.
Vehicle	Number	This field is the vehicle field. This field must match the exact Asset Number of an existing asset in the Asset Manager. If no exact match is found, the field is left blank.

Step-by-Step to Importing Timesheets

Navigate to File | Company Utilities | Import.
Select the file which contains your timesheet entries.
On the Import Wizard screen, select your Timesheets spreadsheet and click Next >.
Select the your data worksheet.
If not checked, check the box which indicates your column headers are in the first row.
Field headings will be mapped for those fields that are available to import if the header names match what is in Total Office Manager. If the headers do not match, you may map these in the grid below.
Click Next >.
Not needed to Check the box next to Clip Strings to Length.
Click Next >.
Check the box acknowledging importing of your data.
Click Next >.
Click the Import button.
Once the import is complete, save the log and review the imported data.

Once the timesheet import process is complete, any errors will be shown in the Import Log. Please review this log and make any necessary adjustments.

Resources

Timesheet Import Template Download

Worker’s Compensation on Timesheets

Using Timesheets to Track Worker’s Compensation

Total Office Manager offers a Worker’s Compensation Tracking feature. This feature allows you to assign a Worker’s Compensation Code to your Employees’ timesheets to track those wages by earning item or Employee. To use this feature, you will need to enable the Preference under the Payroll options in the main preferences section. Once enabled, you can then setup your Worker’s Compensation to work in your company database.

Worker's Compensation Preference — Company Preference

Usage and Form Access

Setup the Worker’s Compensation Codes (Employees | Lists | Worker’s Compensation Code List).

Sample Code List
Edit the Employee Payroll Items Codes (Employees | Employee List | right click and choose Employee Payroll Items).

Employee Payroll Items File Path
Assign the appropriate Compensation Code to the Employee as the Default. This will ensure that a code is assigned to all Time Sheet entries.

Default Worker’s Comp Code
Enter your Employee’s Time Sheet Hours Codes (Employees | Timesheets/Time Tracking).

Sample Weekly Time Sheet

Note: Once an Earning Type is selected, the Employee’s default WC Code is auto-populated on the Time Sheet line entries. You can change this selection if need be in the drop down.
After processing your payroll, you can then run reports that will show you information that is tied to Workers’ Compensation. There are two options for viewing reports – Worker’s Compensation by Earning Items and Worker’s Compensation by Employee. These reports can be viewed by going to Reports | Payroll | Worker’s Compensation. Examples are provided below.

Report Options – Worker’s Compensation By Earning Items Report

Worker's Compensation by Earning Item Options — Options by Earning Item

Date Range – Select a predefined date range (i.e. Last Week, This Week, Last Month, This Month).
From/To – Manually set the date range for the report.
Worker’s Compensation Code – Choose to view all Codes are select a single code to be displayed.
Earning Item – Choose to view all Earning Items or select a single item to be displayed.
Include Inactive – This option will display all Worker’s Compensation Codes, active and inactive.
Include all Timesheet Entries – This option will display all timesheet entries for the date range selected whether or not there is a Worker’s Compensation Code assigned.
Cancel – The Cancel button closes the window.
Preview – The Preview button will show an on-screen display of the report, from which a hard-copy can be printed. The preview screen is also capable exporting the report in a PDF format for email use. A text search function in the preview screen can be used to locate a particular string of text.
Close Window on Preview – Ticking this checkbox will have the options window automatically close when the Preview button is clicked.

Example

Below is an example report (which may have been cropped and shrunk to conserve space).

Worker's Compensation By Earning Items PDF — Compensation By Earning Items PDF

Report Options- Worker’s Compensation By Employee Report

Worker's Compensation by Employee Options — Options by Employee

Date Range – Select a predefined date range (i.e. Last Week, This Week, Last Month, This Month).
From/To – Manually set the date range for the report.
Worker’s Compensation Code – Choose to view all Codes are select a single code to be displayed.
Employee – Choose to view all Employees or select a single Employee to be displayed.
Include Inactive – This option will display all Worker’s Compensation Codes, active and inactive.
Include all Timesheet Entries – This option will display all timesheet entries for the date range selected whether or not there is a Worker’s Compensation Code assigned.
Include SSN and DOB – This option will display each Employee’s SSN and DOB on the report
Cancel – The Cancel button closes the window.
Preview – The Preview button will show an on-screen display of the report, from which a hard-copy can be printed. The preview screen is also capable exporting the report in a PDF format for email use. A text search function in the preview screen can be used to locate a particular string of text.
Close Window on Preview – Ticking this checkbox will have the options window automatically close when the Preview button is clicked.

Example

Below is an example report (which may have been cropped and shrunk to conserve space).

Process Payroll Pay Group

Introducing the Payroll Process Pay Group

Use the Process Pay Group form to easily run payroll for a specific pay group. You can create groups for sales people, technicians, hourly, salaried, and so forth.

Form Access

From the main menu, click Employees > Process Pay Group (see illustration).

Step-by-Step

Choose a Pay Group from the drop-down list
Choose the Bank Account you wish to draw the funds from.
Set the Period Begin Date and the Period End Date
Set the Pay Date
Tick the Pay checkbox for each employee being processed
Click the Create Paychecks button

Field & Button Definitions

Pay Group – This lists all of the active pay groups. When a pay group is selected, the Employee grid below is populated. The Account ID combo box is tied to the pay group and changes according to the pay group selected. Each pay group may have its own Account.
Period Begin/End Date – This is the date that the period is going to begin/end on.
Pay Date – This is the date that the paycheck will be written for.
Bank Account – The bank account to use for processing this particular pay group.
Pay – Tick this checkbox for each employee being processed
Employee – Name of the employee
Time Sheet – Yes/No field indicating that an employee uses timesheet data or not. This field is not editable.
Pay Frequency – The pay frequency of the employee. This field is not editable.
Last Paid – The date of the last paycheck for this employee. This field is not editable.
Employee Details Grid – Displays employee, type, payroll item, hours, and amount information for the pay group. Annual salaries are NOT shown. Data in white fields can be adjusted as necessary. Data in dimmed fields (grayed-out fields) are not editable.
Select All – Ticks the Pay checkbox for every employee in the pay group
Deselect All – Clears the Pay checkbox for every employee in the pay group.
Timesheets – Opens the Weekly Time Sheet form. Same as going to the main menu and clicking Employees > Timesheets/Time Tracking.
Refresh – Refreshes the information on the form after any adjustments are made.

Unemployment Tax Rates

Introduction

This topic will cover setting up and editing your company’s federal and state unemployment tax rates.

Form Access

From the main menu, click Employees | Unemployment Tax Rates.

Field Definitions

Federal –	The rate for the United States Federal Government. Check with your accountant to be sure.
State –	The rate for the state your company resides in.
Date Range –	You may be required to enter a different tax rate depending on the quarter. Please be sure to seek help from your accountant if you have any concerns.

Usage

Use this form to enter state and federal tax rates for unemployment. This is a tax your company may have to pay to cover federal and/or state unemployment benefits. Note: If you do not use Total Office Manager’s payroll, you do not need to concern yourself with this topic.

Step-By-Step

Open the form as noted above.
Enter your state unemployment tax rate.
Enter your federal unemployment tax rate.
Click the OK button to save your changes and close the form.

Tips

Please be sure to seek help from your accountant if you have any concerns about this form.

Process Direct Deposit

Introduction

This topic will cover the topic of creating (processing) and exporting your direct deposit file.

Usage

Use this form to create a file that contains checking and banking information for the purpose of direct deposit.

IMPORTANT: Direct Deposit is something that you must sign-up for with your bank. You must then setup direct deposit in Total Office Manager.

Form Access

This form is accessed through the Direct Deposit Processing form.

From the main menu, click Banking | Direct Deposit | Transaction List | Direct Deposit List | Process Checks

Field Definitions

Bank	This is a list of your banks as setup in Total Office Manager’s chart of accounts. This is the bank where the money is drawn from.
Effective Entry Date	This field refers to the date that you want to use for the direct deposit transactions. In other words, if you have created several checks, this date will be used on those checks (not the date the checks were created).
Entry Description	This field is optional. You may enter a very short description of the direct deposit. An example might be “Payroll”. By direct deposit rules (not ours), you are only allowed 10 characters.
Button Definitions
Process	Click this button to produce the direct deposit file (AKA: ACH file). The file is stored in your Total Office Manager database. You still need to export it.
Export File	Click this button to export the file to your computer. This is the file that is sent to your bank.
View File	Click this button to view the file you created. Most users will not need to view the file unless you are troubleshooting problems.

Step-By-Step

The first step is to create payroll and/or checks that need to be deposited. The rest of this topic assumes you have done this.
Open the form as noted above.
Using the Bank selection box, select the bank that you wish to draw the funds from (where the money will come from).
In the Effective Entry Date field, enter a date for the transactions to be recording on (your choice for the date of the transaction).
In the Entry Description field, enter a very short description of the transaction.
Click the Process button when you are ready to produce your direct deposit.
Click the Export file to actually create the file you will send to your bank.

Direct Deposit Transaction List

Introduction

This topic will cover the topic of processing transactions that have been marked for direct deposit.

Usage

Use this form to create a file that contains checking and banking information for the purpose of direct deposit. This form contains a list of all transactions that have been marked for direct deposit. These items can be selected and used to create a direct deposit.

IMPORTANT: Direct Deposit is something that you must sign-up for with your bank. You must then setup direct deposit in Total Office Manager.

Form Access

From the main menu, click Banking | Direct Deposit | Transaction List

Field Definitions

Sl	Shorthand for select. Check this box to select the corresponding transaction for direct deposit processing.
Batch #	This number is created by Total Office Manager. It is used to track the direct deposit transaction.
Status	Indicates whether or not the direct deposit transaction has be “Processed”. Processed means the transaction has been finalized and prepared for transmission.
Date	Date of the transaction. This is not necessarily the creation date but the date you entered when you wrote the check.
Number	This field will display “Direct Deposit” until the transaction is processed. Total Office Manager will then assign a number starting with “DD”. You cannot edit this number.
Pay To	Who you wrote the check to.
Amount	The total amount of the transaction.
Account	Your bank account; the account the money is drawing from.
Date	The date the transaction was processed through Total Office Manager’s direct deposit. This field will not be populated until after the transaction is processed.
Bank #	The account number of the bank the money is going to. This field will not be populated until after the transaction is processed.
Button Definitions
Process Checks	Processes all selected (the Sl field is checked) checks in the list.
Reverse	This option will reverse prior direct deposit transactions. Example: You wrote a vendor or payroll check and you wish you had not. Maybe your vendor said that you don’t have to pay them. Since you can’t ask them to send the check back, you can make the check, in affect, disappear. This process send the check back through the system with reversing entries and numbers. The check is effectively cancelled or reversed.
Delete	This option delete the direct deposit check. You can’t delete a direct deposit transaction once it has been processed. Once it has been processed, you must reverse it.
Select All	Simply selects all of the transactions in the list.
Unselect All	This just de-selects all of the transactions in the list.
Edit Check	Opens the selected direct deposit check for editing. You cannot edit a transactions once it has been processed.
View ACH File	Opens prior ACH Files so that you can see their contents. Most users will never really need to do this. The files can then be exported but they cannot be edited. An ACH File is the text file that is sent to your bank. It contains your direct deposit information.
Export List	Exports the transactions in the list to a plain text file. This is not the same thing as processing the direct deposit. This is NOT the file you send to your bank.

Step-By-Step

The first step is to create payroll and\or checks that need to be deposited. The rest of this topic assumes you have done this.
Open the form as noted in Form Access.
Using the Bank selection box, select the bank that you wish to draw the funds from (where the money will come from).
In the Effective Entry Date field, enter a date for the transactions to be recording on (your choice for the date of the transaction).
In the Entry Description field, enter a very short description of the transaction.
Click the Process button when you are ready to produce your direct deposit.
Click the Export file to actually create the file you will send to your bank.

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