Entering basic employee information

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Basic employee information such as identification, contact information, payroll schedules, and location/department information is entered on the Main tab of the Employees screen.

To enter basic employee information, follow these steps.

  1. Choose Setup > Employees and click the Main tab.
  2. In the Identification section, enter the employee's ID, first, middle, and last name, a suffix (if applicable), and their SSN.

    Notes

    • If you intend to use ASCII format time clock entry for the client (for live payroll processing only), the Employee ID must be limited to four numeric characters.
    • When you attempt to save the employee record, the application checks that the Social Security number you have entered for the employee is using a valid format. You cannot save the record until you enter an SSN using a valid format.
    • You can verify that employee social security numbers and names entered in the application match those on file with the Social Security Administration (SSA). See the Verifying social security numbers topic for more information.
  3. If necessary, modify the employee type in the Type field. The default for all new employees is based on the Employer type selected in the Payroll Taxes tab of the Client screen, but you can select Standard, Agricultural, Household, or Independent Contractor. Your choice in this field determines the agent for which federal liabilities will be created for this employee and the forms on which to include them.

    Note: When you change the employee type and save the employee, the application displays a prompt asking if you want to update existing check records to the new type for this employee. If you click No at the prompt, this new employee type is applied only for future checks. If you click Yes at the prompt, the new employee type is applied to all existing and future payroll checks for this employee. This prompt does not appear if you are changing from or to an Independent Contractor employee type or if you are changing the employee type using the Edit Multiple Employees wizard.

  4. In the Addresses section, enter the street address and the ZIP code or city and state for the employee in the Lookup field and then click the lookup location search button button. For accurate taxability for the employee, the application uses the Address verification feature to enter the city and state or ZIP code. You can enter three addresses - Business, Home, or Other - by clicking the Selection button to select one of the options.

    Notes

    • Specify an address as the mailing address by marking the Mailing address checkbox. This is the address that will be used on employee tax forms. (The checkbox is marked for the Home address by default).
    • If this address is the one that should be used for determining taxes applicable to the employee, mark the Resident address checkbox. (The checkbox is marked for the Home address by default).
  5. In the Phone and fax numbers section, enter the phone and fax number information for the employee.

    Note: You can enter multiple phone numbers for the employee by clicking the Selection button.

  6. In the Email and web addresses section, enter the employee's email address and website URL, if appropriate.

    Note: Once information has been entered, clicking the Email button will open your default email client with this address in the To: line and clicking the Website button will automatically open the specified website using your default browser.

  7. In the Payroll schedules section, select the primary and, if applicable, alternate payroll schedules for this employee. The drop-down lists are populated from the list of payroll schedules set up on the Payroll Information tab of the Clients screen.
  8. In the Locations and Departments section, select the location and department combinations (there may be one or multiple) in which the employee works and specify which is the primary location/department combination.   

    Notes

    • The application calculates unemployment and insurance taxes for the state associated with the employee's primary location based on wages earned in any state, unless the Do not combine state unemployment checkbox is marked in the Payroll Taxes tab of the Setup > Clients screen.
    • To remove a location/department combination from the grid, click the button to the left of the row to highlight it, and then press the DELETE key on your keyboard.
  9. If you want to specify a distribution percent for each location/department, mark the Enable auto pay distribution by % checkbox and enter the percentage amounts in the % column of the grid.

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