Set up deduction and contribution cycles

Use Deduction and Contribution Cycles to select which employee deductions and employer contributions you want applied to a particular pay period in a month.

You must set up deductions and contributions cycles if:

  • Your payroll has permanent employee deductions and/or employer contributions in addition to statutory deductions (that is. CPP/QPP, EI/QPIP and Tax).
  • You need to take select deductions and/or contributions on one pay every month and a different combination on another pay.

If you have no deductions and contributions for your payroll other than statutory deductions, you do not need to complete this procedure.

You can create up to five cycles. The number of cycles you set up for your payroll varies depending on your payroll frequency and whether or not you want to make different deductions and/or contributions at different times of the month. Use the Deductions & Contributions Cycle page to set up the pattern to be used for your payrolls. Plan your cycles carefully.

When you select a checkbox for one of the five cycles on the Deductions & Contributions Cycle page.Closed From the Company menu, select Cycles > Deductions & Contributions Cycle. that deduction or contribution is applied when that particular pay cycle is selected on creation of a new run. Choosing a cycle is an efficient way to semi-automate deductions and contributions so that you do not need to select them each pay.

For example, if the second pay period of the month requires a different set of deductions and/or contributions than the first pay period, set up Cycle 2 on the Deductions & Contributions Cycle page.Closed From the Company menu, select Cycles > Deductions & Contributions Cycle. Then, on the second pay period of the month, select Cycle 2 for the Cycle 2 deductions and/or contributions to be processed. The same applies for Cycle 3, and so on.

Tip: Distribute the deductions and contributions evenly across the payrolls. That way, net earnings are similar from one payroll to the next.

If you pay... Then you could use...
Monthly Cycle 1
Semi-monthly Cycles 1 and 2
Biweekly Cycles 1, 2 and 3
Weekly Cycles 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

For weekly and biweekly payrolls, twice a year there is an extra payday in the month. On these runs you will not want deductions and contributions requested so you would select cycle 3 or 5 respectively.

If, however, you always deduct the same deductions and/or contributions on every pay period, you could just set up Cycle 1 on the Deductions & Contributions Cycle page.Closed From the Company menu, select Cycles > Deductions & Contributions Cycle. and select it every time you create a pay period.

For simpler set-ups, a set of cycles is not required if:

  1. You have no deductions and contributions for your payroll (other than statutory deductions).
  2. You take the same deductions and/or contributions on each payroll. In this case, you can:
    • activate all your contributions and deductions on Cycle 1, and
    • always select Cycle 1 when you set up a new pay period.
  3. You are willing to manually enter one-time deductions and contributions each pay.

Prerequisites

Your Customer Support Team must set up your deductions and contributions before you can use this page.

Tip: If a deduction or contribution is not listed on the page, and you know that it has been added, click Refresh in your browser page. If it still does not appear, contact your Customer Support Team.

Tasks

  1. Navigate to the Deductions & Contributions Cycle page.Closed From the Company menu, select Cycles > Deductions & Contributions Cycle.

  2. Choose the cycle for which you want to apply various deductions and contributions as appropriate for your payroll frequency.

    Weekly payrolls have four pays every month with a fifth pay twice a year. You should create five cycles.

    1. Use Cycles 1, 2, 3, and 4 as the first four pays of the month.
    2. Use Cycle 5 ONLY when a month has five pays.
    3. Assign the deductions or contributions necessary for each cycle.

    Biweekly payrolls have two pays every month with a third pay twice a year. You should create three cycles.

    1. Use Cycles 1 and 2 as the first two pays of the month.
    2. Use Cycle 3 ONLY when a month has three pays.
    3. Assign the deductions or contributions necessary for each cycle.

    Semi-monthly payrolls always have two pays every month. You should create two cycles.

    1. Use Cycle 1 for the first pay.
    2. Use Cycle 2 for the last pay of the month.
    3. Assign the deductions or contributions necessary for each cycle.
  3. In the cycle column, select the checkbox next to the deduction or contribution.

The checkbox with a check mark indicates that the deduction or contribution is activated for that cycle.

To amend the cycle instructions one-time, see Make a temporary change to a deduction or contribution cycle.

To amend the cycle setup instructions on a permanent basis:

  1. Navigate to the Deductions & Contributions Cycle page.Closed From the Company menu, select Cycles > Deductions & Contributions Cycle.
  2. Select or clear the checkbox for the deduction or contribution, as applicable.
  3. Click Save.

Next Steps

Although you define the cycles on the Deduction & Contributions Cycle page, you apply a cycle to a payroll by selecting the cycle on the Edit Pay Period page. This is usually done when you create a new pay period.

  • After defining your cycles, click Pay Period then click Create New Run and select the run type to apply your cycles to a payroll.

Because each employee may have different values for deductions and contributions, enter the specific amounts for each employee on the Deductions & Contributions page.Closed From the Payroll menu, select Regular Payment > Deductions & Contributions.

See also

Deductions & Contributions Cycle Page - Field Information

Displays the descriptions of the employee deductions currently set up. Contact your Customer Support Team to add a new deduction or change the setup of an existing deduction.

Displays the descriptions of the employer contributions currently set up. Contact your Customer Support Team to add a new contribution or change the setup of an existing contribution.

To activate a deduction and contribution for a cycle, select the check box in the column corresponding to the cycles in which it should be included.

To have the cycle activated for a particular payroll, the cycle must also be selected on the Edit Pay Period page.Closed From the Pay Period page, click the Pay Period Number. If it is selected, all deductions and contributions associated with that cycle are taken on that payroll.

Note: The information entered for cycles 1 through 5 is permanent and does not change until you edit the cycle.

Note: You can define custom descriptions for your cycles on the Deductions & Contributions Cycle Setup page.Closed From the Company menu, select Cycles > Deductions & Contributions Cycle Setup.

If you need to make a temporary change to the deductions and contributions taken for a particular pay, use this column to set up a temporary cycle. You must also select This Pay Only on the Edit Pay Period page.Closed From the Pay Period page, click the Pay Period Number.

Note: It is important to review the This Pay Only column before you select the cycle on the Edit Pay Period page.Closed From the Pay Period page, click the Pay Period Number. to ensure that all required deductions and contributions have been updated correctly for this cycle.