Payroll: benefit tiers and tax treatment, W-2 from posted totals, the pay group and period, shift premiums and an outside tax engine

A benefit deduction is priced by the coverage tier elected and taken before or after the taxes its tax treatment says (United States companies only); the W-2 reads only posted payroll, with box 12 codes in order; Calculate payroll asks for the pay group and its period; shift premiums are paid as their own lines; and a pay group calculated by an outside tax engine such as Symmetry is never quietly calculated by the built-in one.

Benefit deductions by coverage tier and tax treatment — United States companies only

• The employee’s cost comes from the enrollment’s own cost, else the price of the Coverage tier elected (Employee only, Employee and spouse, Employee and children, Family), else the plan’s Employee cost a period. The payslip says how: “<Family> tier, <212.40> a period; Pre-tax, Section 125 …”. The employer share is its own line.
• HRMS › Reward › Benefits › Benefit Plans: Deduction code — the payroll deduction the employee share is taken under — Tax treatment and W-2 box. Deduction Codes have a Tax treatment too; when set it decides which taxes the deduction comes off, in place of the Reduces boxes.
• HRMS › Reward › Benefits › Benefit Enrollments: choose the Plan first; Coverage tier then lists that plan’s own tiers — Employee and children included where the plan prices it. Coverage (plan without tiers) is only for a plan that has no tiers: employee, employee_spouse, employee_children or family. The list shows the Tier and the Coverage word, kept in step.
• A tier the plan does not price is refused when the enrollment is saved: “This plan does not price the tier "<family>". It prices: <Employee only (EE)>, <Employee and spouse (ES)>.” A tier from another plan: “That coverage tier is not one of this plan's. It prices: …”
• An enrollment saved before that check that names a tier the plan does not price still stops that person at the run, with “<E1007> is enrolled in <Dental PPO> at the coverage tier "<family>", which the plan does not price. Record the tier they elected.”

Left empty, the treatment follows the plan category and the deduction code. W-2 box is only to override, for example <12DD> for stand-alone dental. Group-term life needs the person’s date of birth and a GTL earning code, and says so when either is missing.

The W-2 from posted totals — United States companies only

1. HRMS › Payroll › Tax & Filing › Statutory Forms: choose the Tax year and Draw up a form — W-2, one Employee or Everybody with payroll history in <2026>.
2. Boxes 1 to 6, 10, 12 and 14 come from the year-to-date totals of posted runs only — a run waiting for approval is not counted. Each box shows Calculated against On the form.
3. Box 12 a–d hold the employee’s codes in IRS order; a fifth is listed in 12d “on a second W-2”. Retirement plan (box 13) is ticked for D, E, F, G, S, AA, BB or EE.
4. Approve, Print view and Record as filed; Raise a correction makes the W-2c.

Calculate payroll: pay group and pay period

1. HRMS › Payroll › Pay Processing › Payroll Runs › Calculate payroll. Pay group is required — “Choose the pay group to calculate: this company has <3> (<HOURLY>, <SALARIED>, <MOU-12>).”
2. Pay period: choosing a period of the group’s pay calendar fills Period start, Period end and Pay date. Without a calendar, type them.
3. A period already paid, locked or closed is refused — “run a correction instead of a new payroll into it” — and so is anybody already in a regular run for those dates.

Shift premiums paid

A shift with a Premium earning code and Premium % (HRMS › Time & Leave › Time & Attendance › Shifts) pays every approved hour worked on it as its own line — “Shift premium, <Night>”, “<8> hours … at <1.75> an hour” — salaried people at the hourly equivalent of their salary. For US hourly staff a premium in the regular rate adds “Overtime on shift premium (FLSA regular rate)”.

An outside tax engine per pay group

• Pay Groups › Calculated by: Internal (TRANXACT), External tax (the wages go to a tax engine such as Symmetry, BSI, Vertex or Avalara, set up under HRMS › Payroll › Tax & Filing › Tax & Payroll Engines) or Outsourced. The Tax engine column shows which.
• If the engine cannot be used, nothing is calculated and the built-in engine is never used in its place: “Pay group <US-HOURLY> calculates its taxes through an outside tax engine, and <Symmetry> is switched off. Nothing was calculated …”. Every exchange is on Engine Exchanges.
• People in groups calculated different ways are calculated one group at a time.

Roles: Payroll Administrator calculates and posts; the person who calculated a run cannot approve it.