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PC-PR Version 1.9 Copyright 1990, Jerry Medlin PROGRAM DESCRIPTION PC-PR is a payroll writing program for small and medium size businesses. The program runs on a IBM PC or compatible computer with one disk drive and 128k memory. PC-PR is Shareware. You are free to try the program and are encouraged to give copies to anyone who might use it. Since the federal tax tables are included in the program, you need an updated version of the program each year. The cost for the updated program is $35. The program includes the 1991 Federal Income Tax, Social Security and Medicare tax rates. To receive a copy of the program with 1992 tax tables send $35 to: Jerry Medlin 1461 Sproul Avenue Napa, Ca. 94559 To order using Master Card or Visa, call (707) 255-4475. Your payment will also entitle you to limited telephone assistance and a configuration program to change certain features of the program. To run the payroll program, simply type "PC-PR" at the DOS prompt. If you want to specify a drive and path for your data, add the drive and path description after the program name. i.e. type "PC-PR C:PAYROLL\" to use the directory named PAYROLL on the C drive for data files. If you want the root directory on B drive, type "PC-PR B:" You will be asked to enter a date. This date is used to date all of the payroll checks written. You will also be asked to enter a memo line to print on the payroll checks. Press the Enter key if you do not wish to print a comment or memo line on the payroll checks. A menu is then displayed: Enter or Change Employee Data Enter or Change Payroll Checks Print Employee Listing Print Payroll Check Listing Print Payroll Ledger Print Quarterly Payroll List Federal Liability by Paydate Start a New Quarter or Year Enter or Change Employer Data Export ASCII Data End Processing Use the arrow keys to highlight your selection, then press enter. PC-PR is fast because it works with data in memory. The capacity is limited by available memory. Because memory is shared by the data, with more employees on file, fewer payroll checks can be entered. PC-PR allows a maximum of 1000 employees and 1000 payroll checks per accounting period with 512k of memory. With 256k the capacity is reduced to about 200 employees and 200 checks. Each time the menu is displayed, the number of payroll checks that can be added with the available memory is printed at the bottom of the screen. The number of employees that can be added is obtained by dividing this number by 2, as each employee takes up twice as much memory as a payroll check entry. Since a power interruption will result in loosing all the data currently entered into the program, occasionally save your data back to the disk. This is done by selecting End Processing from the menu. The current data will be saved to the disk. You will be asked "Do you want to end ?". Answer with an "N" and you may resume processing. THE PROCESSING CYCLE Payroll checks may be written on any cycle from daily to annually. After each batch of payroll checks, print the Payroll Check Listing report and the Payroll Ledger report. This will provide a printed "audit trail", so you will know where you got all those numbers on the employee's W-2s. Payroll Checks are printed as the payroll data is entered. When all of the payroll checks for the current payroll have been printed, you may begin printing reports. Reports may be printed in any order, and as often as desired. If you discover an error in any of the reports, correct the problem and reprint the report. At any time, you can stop processing by choosing the End Processing selection from the menu. Data will automatically be saved. When you start the program, you are asked "Do you want to start a new payroll period? (Y/N)". If you answer the question with a "N", the latest payroll checks are loaded and you may add additional entries. If you answer "Y", the current period balances are set to zero and the payroll checks for the previous period are saved for later review. You may then begin entering a new payroll. Important: If you don't print either the Payroll Check Listing or the Payroll Ledger report, you won't be able to start a new period, because you won't be asked "Do you want to start a new payroll period?". ENTER OR CHANGE EMPLOYER DATA Before you do anything with PC-PR you need to enter a screen of employer information. This employer information is only entered once, but can be changed whenever any of the relevant data changes. Select ENTER OR CHANGE EMPLOYER DATA from the main menu. Initially, most of the data is blank. By using the up and down arrows, you can select each field to be changed and, by pressing "C", you may change the information in that field. Space is provided for the employer name (2 lines), employer address (2 lines) and employer federal and state identification numbers. The first line of the employer name is printed on all reports. The remaining name and address information is used only for printing W-2's at the end of the year. The number of paydays per year is required to calculate federal income tax to be withheld and must be a number between 1 and 52. Weekly payroll is 52 paydays per year, semimonthly payroll is 24 paydays per year, biweekly payroll is 26 paydays per year and monthly payroll is 12 paydays per year. If the federal withholding amounts are calculating incorrectly, it is because you have not entered the correct number for the number of paydays per year. Next you must fill in the information for payroll deductions. There are 6 deductions possible with PC-PR. The first deduction is always federal income tax withholding (FWH). The next deduction is always Social Security and Medicare (FICA) combined as a single deduction (they will be separated at the bottom of the Payroll Ledger for 941 information and on the W- 2's at the end of the year). The remaining four deductions may be renamed for your application. You may also set a limit for each deduction and the percentage to be withheld. Tax will be withheld at the rate you enter until the limit is reached. If you have an unlimited deduction, enter 999999 for the limit. A zero value for the limit and percentage means this deduction must be input by the user. Such is the case with some state income taxes, and for any miscellaneous deductions. A negative value for deduction percent will tell the program to calculate the tax as a percentage of federal withholding. So, if your state income tax is 10 percent of federal income tax, you should enter 10.00- for the deduction percent for that deduction. A negative value for the deduction limit will tell the program to reduce the annual taxable income by that amount per dependent before multiplying it by the percentage. For instance, Illinois state income tax is calculated by reducing the taxable pay by $1000 per dependent on an annual basis and multiplying it times 2.5 percent. So, you would enter -1000 for the deduction limit and 2.50 for the percentage. Several other states have similar withholding plans, including Michigan (2100 per dependent and 4.60 percent) and Indiana (1000 per dependent and 3.40 percent). When you enter a value of 99.99 for the deduction percent the word "State" be displayed for the percentage. That will tell the program to use the state income tax withholding table. The opening screen of PC-PR states which state tax table is supported. If no state is mentioned in the opening screen, the California tax table is included. If the description for a withholding field is blank, you will not be asked to enter a number in that field when you write payroll checks. This avoids the inconvenience of pressing the enter key to skip unused deduction fields when entering payroll checks. Use the space bar to change any field to blank. You may input information for calculating up to 4 employer payroll tax amounts in addition of Social Security and Medicare Insurance. This information is used to print a summary of payroll taxes due for the quarter at the bottom of the payroll ledger report, but has no effect on the calculations for employee's payroll checks. It is especially useful for calculating employer paid payroll taxes such as federal unemployment insurance (FUI). FUI is based on payroll paid up to a certain amount for each employee. Since PC-PR requires a printer capable of printing at least 96 characters across a page, you must let the program know what printer codes are required to set your printer to 10 and 12 characters per inch (cpi). If your printer is already set up to print at least 96 characters or you use switches to set the printer pitch then you can leave this part blank. Otherwise, enter in hexadecimal the code or codes required to change your printer pitch to 10 cpi and 12 cpi. Appendix A at the end of this manual contains the codes for several popular (and not so popular) printers. If your printer is not listed, the information should be available in your printer manual. If you have a fairly new printer, chances are it is Epson compatible. So, before trying to read your printer manual, try 1B50 for 10 CPI and 1B4D for 12 CPI. If the printer codes are correct, the report headings should be printed without any extraneous characters and without wrapping around at the end of the line. Make sure you enter the 0 character as a zero, not a capital letter O. The following is an example of a completed employer data screen for the state of California for the 1991 tax year and using a Prowriter or C-Itoh 8510 printer. Your data will vary depending on state law and the type of printer you are using. Employer Data >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Name 1 JOHN HENRY'S DRILLING Printer Control Codes Name 2 & EXCAVATING INC. Address 1 333 OAT HILL ROAD Address 2 CALISTOGA, CA. 94598 10 Cpi 1B4E Federal ID 94-2678232 12 Cpi 1B45 State ID 250-7432-4 Paydays per year 26 Employee Taxes: Employer Taxes: Deduction Limit Percent P/R Tax Limit Percent FWH None Internal Soc S 53400 6.20 FICA 2 Limits Internal Med 125000 1.45 SDI 31767 1.00 SDI 31767 1.00 SWH 0 State SUI 7000 1.60 Insur 0 0.00 ETT 7000 0.10 Other 0 0.00 FUI 7000 0.80 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Use the arrows to move the pointer then <C> to change or <Esc> to exit. ENTER OR CHANGE EMPLOYEE DATA Employee information is entered and changed using this selection from the menu. Enter the following information for each employee: Employee name - Up to 25 characters are available. Street Address - Up to 25 characters for the street address. City, State & Zip - Up to 25 characters for the city, state & zip code. Sort by - A ten character code used to sort employees in alphabetical order. Employees are sorted each time you leave the ENTER OR CHANGE EMPLOYEE DATA section. In most cases, you will want to enter the employee's last name, followed by as much of the first name as will fit in the remaining characters. For instance, if the employee's name is Jerry Medlin, the employee code would be MEDLINJERR. When a new employee name is entered, the program will make a pretty good guess and enter a sort code for you. If you want to change the sort code, press the escape key. Social Security - Enter the employee social security number without spaces or dashes. Dashes are added later, when the social security number is printed on reports. Status - Marital status can be either M for married or S for single. Allow - The number of allowances claimed by the employee. Enter a number from 0 to 9 or the letter E, if the employee is exempt from federal tax. Entering an S for allowance will tell the program to input federal tax from the keyboard, instead of calculating it. Rate - The employees hourly wage rate. If you wish, you can enter the pay rate for a whole pay period, then enter the hours as 1 when entering payroll check data. Dept - Enter a department number between 0 and 9. This number is used to summarize payroll by department at the end of the Payroll Check Listing. When an employee no longer works for you, enter an "X" for department and the employee will be omitted from payroll and employee listings, but retained for W2 purposes. Pressing the Escape key during entry takes you back to the previous field. Pressing the Escape key at the first entry takes you to the command mode. The command mode allows you to scroll up and down through the employee names, delete employees and change employee information. Pressing the Escape key from command mode takes you back to the menu. If you don't know the employee's address or social security number, you can leave that information blank for now, and fill it in later using the <C> Change option. The <E> Enter New Balances command allows you to enter new quarter and year to date balances for an employee. Be careful! The principal purpose of this selection is to allow you to enter opening balances when you first begin using PC-PR. It will also allow you to enter incorrect balances and foul things up! At times, you may want to find an employee without scrolling through the entire employee list. To do this, use the <G> Go to Employee selection from the command mode. Enter the employee's name, or even the beginning of the name, and the program will take you immediately to that employee. All acceptable commands are printed at the bottom of the screen. ENTER OR CHANGE PAYROLL CHECKS Payroll checks are printed on a common check form from New England Business Services (NEBS). Order the checks pre printed and numbered. You will need to send a voided check with your account number, your company name and address and the beginning check number to: NEBS, 500 Main Street, Groton, MA 01470. You can get pricing and order information by calling NEBS at 1-800- 388-3810. The form number is 9022 and the catalog code number is 95111. With the PRCONFIG program provided to registered users you can print on a variety of check forms. See the description of PRCONFIG at the end of this manual for details. The ENTER OR CHANGE PAYROLL CHECKS selection allows you to enter or change payroll checks. Payroll checks are normally printed as the payroll information is entered. This normally causes no delay with most printers, and results in a shorter overall time for doing a payroll. If you prefer, you can skip printing the checks as they are entered, and print them one at a time using the <P> Print command. Before any payroll checks are entered, you must have entered your employer information into the program as explained in the previous section. The following information must be entered to calculate a payroll check: Date - The date entered at the beginning of the processing period is automatically entered for each payroll check. The only way to change the date is to go back to the date entry at the beginning of the program and enter a new date. Employee Name - You don't have to type in the employees name. Just use the up and down arrows on the number pad to search for the employee you want to pay. When you find the right employee, press the enter key. There is no need to memorize employee numbers. Payroll checks are entered by name only. Check Number - Up to 4 characters for the check number. Alphabetic characters are allowed. Pressing the enter or plus <+> key enters a number equal to the previous check number plus one. Total Hours - The total hours worked by the employee for the pay period. This will be multiplied by the rate entered for the employee to determine regular pay. The total hours should include any overtime hours. O.T. Hours - Overtime hours worked for the pay period. This number will be multiplied by one half the rate entered for the employee to determine the overtime excess pay. Only the overtime EXCESS is paid as overtime, the rest of the overtime is included with the regular pay. So, if a weekly employee worked 42 hours, enter 42 hours for Total Hours and 2 hours for O.T. Hours. Other Income - Enter the dollar amount of any other income to be paid during this pay period. Use this entry for entering total pay for salaried employees, or any extra pay for hourly employees. Non Taxable - If you want to add a non taxable payment to the check (such as an auto allowance or reimbursement for supplies paid for by the employee), you can enter it here. Be sure the amount you are entering is, in fact, non taxable, because the amount will be added to the net check with no deductions taken. The program will then instantly calculate the payroll deductions that are supposed to be calculated and prompt you to enter the deductions which are not calculated. You will then be presented with four choices: <Enter> or <+> Print this check <C> Change this check <X> Skip Printing <Esc> Cancel this check Normally you will press the enter or plus key and the check will be printed. If you made an error in one of the steps above, or if you want to change one of the deduction amounts, select <C> and you will be given an opportunity to change any of the check information, and then returned to the above four choices. Should you not want to print the check at this time, you can press the X key. The <X> Skip Printing choice is usually used when you want to enter a manually written check into the payroll. Pressing the Escape key will cancel the check. Pressing the Escape key during entry takes you back to the previous field. Pressing the Escape key at first entry position (Name) takes you to the command mode. The command mode allows you to scroll up and down through the entries, delete entries, change entries, and print any checks you left unprinted. From the command mode, press the <T> Total key to see the total of all the payroll checks written so far. Pressing the Escape key from command mode takes you back to the menu. All the available commands are printed at the bottom of the screen and may be chosen by a single keystroke. PRINTING REPORTS When you first enter the PC-PR program, you are asked to enter a report date. This date is used on all reports. If you want to change the report date, press Escape at the Main Menu. PRINT EMPLOYEE LISTING This is a listing of all current information for each employee. Use this sheet as a payroll input sheet for the next pay period, and to check addresses and social security numbers for accuracy. You may also choose to print the list in Mailing Label format. A mailing label for each employee can be printed on standard 3.5" X 15/16" labels. PRINT PAYROLL CHECK LISTING This report lists all of the payroll checks written for the payroll period. At the end of the payroll check listing, the total of all checks is printed followed by a breakdown of payroll by department. Print and retain this report after each payroll for a permanent record. PRINT PAYROLL LEDGER The payroll ledger is an important "audit trail" for the PC-PR program. It lists each employee with his or her payroll balance at the beginning of the payroll period. Each payroll check for the employee is listed followed by the quarter to date and year to date balances for the employee at the end of the payroll period. At the end of the Payroll Ledger report, the quarterly payroll tax liabilities are calculated and printed. These numbers have no effect on payroll, but are there to help you fill out the various state and federal payroll tax forms. The calculations are based on information you entered in the ENTER OR CHANGE EMPLOYER INFORMATION section of the program. Important! If you don't print either the Payroll Ledger Report or the Payroll Check Listing, the program will not ask you if you want to start a new payroll period at the beginning of the program. This is done to assure a payroll audit trail. PRINT QUARTERLY PAYROLL LIST This report prints a list of employee names, social security numbers and quarterly earnings. Years ago, a similar listing called the "941a" was required with the Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return. The 1982 Paper Reduction Act eliminated the requirement for the 941a. (The Paper Reduction Act also required the addition of a "Paper Reduction Act Notice" to every federal form.) Most states still require the 941a form information in a slightly different format, and many even have additional requirements. It is impossible to support the whims of 50 individual states, but this report does print on California's successor to the 941a: the DE-3B form. Also, for those enlightened states that allow you to provide the list in a variety of formats, this report will do nicely. You may also print this report to a file, then load it into your word processor for editing. FEDERAL LIABILITY BY PAYDATE This report will give you the Federal Liability by Paydate information required at the bottom of the Federal Form 941. The letters A,B,C etc. printed on the screen correspond with those on the bottom section of the 941 form. For this report to be correct, you must have completed the quarter using this program. The totals on this report may vary from the total liability by a few pennies, due to round off errors. This reports is calculated from the payroll checks saved for each period. Remember, the number of payroll periods saved defaults to 14. If you are paying weekly and wish to retain more than one quarter, you need to use the PRCONFIG program to increase the number of payroll periods saved a higher number. START A NEW QUARTER OR YEAR At the end of each quarter, before you print the first payroll check for the new quarter, use this selection to set all employee quarter to date balances to zero. At the end of the year, all employee year to date balances should be set to zero. You will be asked to enter a "Q" to zero quarter to date balances or a "Y" to zero year to date balances. Pressing any other key will return you to the menu with no changes made. The program will attempt to remind you when it is time to start a new quarter or year, by looking at the system date in your computer. Even if you forget to start a new quarter or year at the proper time, this option will work as long as you haven't started a second payroll period for the new quarter or year. EMPLOYEE HISTORY REPORT The program retains payroll checks from the last 14 payroll periods on your data disk. The employee history report allows you to review those checks for any or all employees. This report is sometimes helpful in filling out state or local reports requesting the number of payroll periods worked. EXPORT ASCII DATA This selection prints the employee data to a file named EMP.PRN and the payroll check data to a file named PRC.PRN. These files can then be read into many spreadsheet and database programs, allowing you to use the data for other purposes. The files PRC.PRN and EMP.PRN are created as soon as you select this option from the menu. You can load the resulting data into LOTUS 123 using the import/numbers option. The Export ASCII Data option is provided only as a convenience for those advanced users who need the data for other purposes. Otherwise, you need not use this option. SAVE DATA AND END When processing is completed you must exit the program using this selection. If you just want to save the current data to the disk without ending, you may answer "N" to the question "Do you want to end processing?" and return to the menu. PROGRAM LIMITATIONS I have tried to write a simple payroll writing program which complies with the multitude of state and federal laws regarding payroll. As a result, the program works for most payroll situations, but not for all. If you have different payroll periods for different employees, you must remember to change the "Paydays per Year" under "Enter or Change Employer Data" each time the payroll period changes. In addition, the following situations will require amounts to be manually entered or changed before the check is printed: State Income Tax Withholding - At present, the program supports most states plus all states with an income tax that is 1) a fixed percentage of gross pay, 2) a percentage of federal taxes, 3) a fixed percentage of gross pay after a flat deduction or 4) zero. If your state is not supported, it only takes a few seconds per check to enter the state withholding manually. Family employees - If you are a sole proprietorship and you pay your children, you must manually change the FICA deduction to zero after it is calculated. Remember, the tax due calculations at the end of the Payroll Journal will include the family employee. This amount must be subtracted before calculation of the tax due. Earned Income Credit - I have never known an employee to claim this credit. If you have one, you must manually calculate the amount and enter it in the federal withholding field, and keep a separate manual record of the amount. Additional withholding amount - If an employee wants an additional amount added to his or her federal withholding, you must enter it manually. USING THE CONFIGURATION AND W-2 PRINTING PROGRAM The configuration program (PRCONFIG.EXE) is provided to all registered users. It allows you to change certain features of PC-PR and to print W-2's at the end of the year. The PRCONFIG.EXE program and the main program (PC-PR.EXE) should be on the same disk drive and subdirectory when you configure your copy of PC-PR. Run the program by typing PRCONFIG at the DOS prompt. To configure PC-PR, select the first menu choice. Then, use the up and down arrows to move the pointer and then press <C> to change an item. You can change the following information: Display Colors - If you have a color adapter and monitor, you can change the colors for screen borders, program prompts, data, and background. Allowable colors are from 0 to 15 (except for background color which can only be from 0 to 7). The display will be instantly updated as you enter the new colors. Laser Printer? - You will also be able to change the way PC-PR starts a new page. Usually, PC-PR starts a new page by counting lines until the page total equals 66 lines (or 42 lines for checks). If you enter a "Y" for the laser printer question, PC-PR will start a new page by issuing a form feed command. This works on most other printers too, but requires that you set the top of form before you start printing. Disk Drive and Path - Enter a drive and path designation for PC-PR data. If you want the program to read data from the B drive, enter B:. User Changeable Input Field Name - Normally, this field is just called "Non Taxable" and the amount is added to the net pay with no deductions calculated. But if you want to get more specific by calling it "Auto Allowance" or "Expense Reimb" you may do so. User Changable Status - You may also change how the User Changable field is treated to cover situations where income or deductions are handled differently for different taxes. For example, a 401K retirement deduction which is subject to Social Security (FICA) taxes, but not Federal Income Tax. The following choices are allowed: E Expense reimbursement - This is the default value. The amount is added to net pay with no deductions taken and does not appear on the W-2. 4 401K retirement plan - The amount is excluded when calculating federal and state withholding taxes and deducted as deduction number 6. The amount will also be excluded from boxes 10 and 25 on the W-2 form. Use the W-2 setup discussed below to put deduction number 6 and write "401K Plan" in box 17 of the W-2. C Cafeteria Plan - The amount is subtracted from gross wages and does not appear on the W-2. T Tips - The amount is added to gross pay and deducted as deduction number 6. Use the W-2 setup discussed below to put deduction number six in block 13 on the W-2. O Other Income - You may use the user changeable field as simply another "Other Income" field for things like vacation pay. The amount is added to gross pay and subject to all deductions. Payroll Periods to Save - The PC-PR program saves previous checks on your data disk for later review with the Employee History Report option. Normally, the payroll checks for the previous 14 payroll periods are saved. You may modify this number to be anywhere from zero to 99 payroll periods. Remember, the more data you save, the more room you need on the data disk and the more time it will take to review an employee's history. Top or Bottom Stub Check - PC-PR normally prints on a check form with the stub on the bottom. Enter a "T" for top stub or a "B" for bottom stub. Check Number Printed on Check? - Print the check number on the body of the check as a control number. Enter "Y" or "N". Long Laser Check? - If you have a laser printer you can choose the new 11 inch long laser checks. You will not be asked this question unless you answer "Y" for laser printer. When you have finished making your changes, press the escape key to return to the main menu. When you exit the program, you will then be asked if you want to save the changes. If you answer with a Y, both the configuration program and PC-PR are changed until you run the configuration program again. CHECKS SUPPORTED Normally, PC-PR prints on NEBS check form 9022 which is a bottom stub check. By combining the Top/Bottom choice with the Yes/No choice for "Check Number Printed on Check", you can choose from a variety of different check styles. Use this chart to configure the PC-AR program for the proper check. NEBS Form Number Stub Location Num on Check? Long Check? ============================================================= 9020 Top Yes * 9022 Bottom No * 9024 Top No * 9027 Top No No 9215 Bottom Yes * 9039 Top No Yes * Not normally used on laser printer "Number on Check" means that the program prints the check number on the body of the check as a control number. You should always order checks with the check number preprinted on the check. To order by telephone, call 1-800-388-3810 and tell them the catalog code is 95111. PRINTING W-2'S Before printing W-2's, check the standard setup for W-2's by selecting the second menu choice in the PRCONFIG program. You can select which deductions you want printed in the different blocks of the W-2 form. For instance, if you use the third deduction for state withholding, change the number after block 24 from 4 to 3. You should also enter the correct state and locality for state and local taxes. If any of the blocks along the top of the W-2 form require checking, it will have to be done manually. So, if an employee has a deferred compensation or pension plan or is deceased, be sure to go back and manually X out the proper block after you print the W-2. W-2's will print on standard, one-wide W-2 forms, but since most printers are not capable of printing 6 copies, you might want to order W-2 forms in "twin sets". New England Business Service (NEBS) offers W-2 forms in 3 part employee and 3 part employer forms which you print separately. The form number is 9859 and the catalog code number is 95111. If you use a laser printer, the program will print on NEBS six part W-2 for laser printers. The form number is 12432 and the catalog code number is 95111. Be sure you choose laser printer operation under the payroll configuration. To order W-2's by telephone, call 1-800-388-3810 and tell them the catalog code is 95111. CREATE DISK FILE For 1990, PRCONFIG will create a disk file named W2REPORT to file with the Social Security department instead of the pink copy A of form W-2. This "Magnetic Media" filing is now required for all employers with more than 250 employees. The SS Administration doesn't make it easy though. Even if you are required to file on magnetic media, you must request permission to do so. (Just in case you forget who is really in charge.) One of the requirements is that the city, state and zip be separated. This program will do that IF you have entered employer and employee addresses in normal city, state and zip order with the state entered as the standard two character abbreviation and separated by a space or a comma from the zip code. Due to the strict requirements placed on magnetic media submissions by the Social Security Administration and the wide variations in possible data entered, I do not guarantee that your data will be accepted. DATA FILES Data files are created automatically by PC-PR. If you wish to back up data files only, copy these files to another disk using the DOS copy or BACKUP command. PC-PR.EMP Employee data files with balances. PC-PR.PRC Current period payroll checks. PR1.PRC, PR2.PRC, PR3.PRC, etc. contain the previous period payroll checks. PR1.PRC is the most recent. HELPFUL HINTS When inputting information, the plus <+> key has the same effect as the enter key. Numerical information is entered "calculator style". The decimal point is placed automatically. Using the minus <-> key after the number enters the number as a negative. This makes using the numeric key pad even easier. The escape key is always used to go back to the previous operation. From anywhere in the program, if you continue to press the escape key, you will eventually return to the opening date question. The first 9 times you start a new payroll period, more disk space is required for historical files. If you have a large business and you are using floppy disks for data storage, you can run out of disk space. Check available disk space with the DOS DIR command occasionally. If you void a payroll check before starting a new payroll period, you may delete the check from the payroll checks. To delete a check, press the delete key, when the check is displayed on the screen. If you void a check after a new payroll period has started, you must enter the check as a negative payroll check, so the amounts will then be reversed from the employee's payroll totals. Negative numbers are entered by first entering the amount, then pressing the minus <-> sign. Federal withholding amounts are calculated using the percentage method detailed at the front of the Circular E withholding booklet. Because this method is more accurate than using the tables, a small difference from the amounts in the tables will occur if the wages fall near the top or bottom of a wage bracket. A difference of a few dollars is expected and is not a problem. If the federal withholding is not calculating correctly, check to see that the correct number of payroll periods has been entered in the Enter or Change Employer Data section. SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE TAXES The IRS requires Medicare and Social Security taxes to be stated separately on the annual W-2 forms and on the quarterly 941 forms, but still allows them to be a single deduction on the payroll check. PC-PR combines the taxes as a single deduction (FICA) for payroll check writing, and separates them at the end of the payroll ledger for 941 purposes and calculates separate amounts for the annual W-2's. The rate for Social Security is 6.20% with a limit of 53,400 and the Medicare rate is 1.45% with a limit of 125,000. In PC-PR, Social Security and Medicare are combined and locked in as the FICA deduction with a rate of 7.65%. Each time a check is written, PC-PR calculates the FICA based on the year to date earnings and compares it to the year to date amount already withheld. The current FICA deduction is then set at the amount necessary to make the year to date deduction correct. This method eliminates round off errors for the year and also corrects any prior errors. If you have been separating the Social Security and Medicare taxes for the first part of the year, you will need to make some corrections. In PC-PR, these taxes are combined as the FICA deduction. First, go to ENTER OR CHANGE EMPLOYER data and eliminate any deduction information you have entered for Medicare and Social Security. (These limits and percentages are already included in the program.) The next time you calculate payroll checks, the FICA amount will include the year to date amount previously deducted for Medicare, and give you too large a number. To adjust for this, you need to enter the year to date amount previously withheld for Medicare, as a negative (-) number. Enter this negative number in the field used for your old Medicare deduction. To enter a negative number, enter the number and then press the minus <-> key. If you have been using the correct amounts for the first part of the year, the net amount of FICA (Medicare and Social Security) should be 7.65% for most employees. Due to misleading information in the IRS's Employer Tax Guide, many employers have been withholding only the 6.2% Social Security amount and not the additional 1.45% Medicare tax. If you are one of these employers, PC-PR will withhold the additional amount necessary to make up for prior under withholding from the first check. SPECIAL WARNING: Garbage In - Garbage Out. Although I have made every effort to eliminate the most common operator errors, it is still possible to enter complete nonsense into this program, and get incorrect payroll from the program. Just because it is a computer doesn't make it automatically correct. Look at the checks and printouts, and make sure the numbers are reasonable. If you enter an incorrect check, be sure and void it. It is your responsibility to see that your employees and the government get correct information. APPENDIX A - PRINTER CODES Be sure to enter the 0 character as a zero, not a capital O. For most new printers use the EPSON commands 1B50 and 1B4D. Printer 10CPI 12CPI ===================================================== AXIOM 1B1F0C 1B53 BROTHER 1 1B50 1B45 BROTHER 15 1B1F0D 1B1F0B CITOH 8510 1B4E 1B45 DMP 2100 1B12 1B1D DMP 420 & 500 1B12 1B17 DMP OTHER 1B0F 1B0E EPSON JX 14121B501B7201 14121B4DA2 EPSON LQ 1500 1B50 1B4D EPSON MX 12 0F GEMINI 1B4201 1B4202 HP LASER JET 1B266B313248 1B266B313048 IBM COLOR 12 1B3A IBM GRAPHICS 12 0F NEC 3510 1B5D4C 1B5D4A NEC 3515 & 7715 1B1F0D 1B1F0B NEC 3550 1B53 1B49 NEC PINWRITER P3 1B3F30 1B3F33 NEC PN 237 1B48 1B45 OKIDATA 2410 1B36 1B41 OKIDATA OTHERS 1E 1C PANASONIC 1B50 1B4D PRISM 1D02 1E02 PRO PRINTER 12 1B3A PRO WRITER 1B4E 1B45 QUME 1B453132 1B453130 TALLY 1B5B3477 1B5B3577 THINK JET 1B266B3353 1B266B3053 TI 855 1B79 1B99 TOSHIBA 1B1F0D 1B1F0B