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ZIPPER Payroll (TM) Users Manual (Shareware) SOFTCRAFT 3612 122nd Place SE Everett, WA 98208 (206) 728-8427 FAX (206) 337-1842 CIS 71221,376 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT -- All Rights Reserved DEDICATION: It is with profound gratitude that ZIPPER Payroll is dedicated to Fran McCarthy, Bevin Protas, and Rachael Protas. The love and support unselfishly given to a husband and father made this work possible. Special thanks to Sandee Ellis for Alpha & Beta testing all versions under "live conditions", and to Michael Schulman, CPA, for pension plan design consultation ZIPPER Payroll logo designed by Michael Horswill, Humorous Illustrator Cartoonist, Seattle, WA ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual, Version 2.0, January 1994 Edition, Copyright 1990 - 1994, Softcraft, Everett, WA., All Rights Reserved. User's Manual created by Ed Protas and Sandy D'Entremont. Made in the U.S.A. WARRANTY AND DISCLAIMER: Softcraft makes no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied and assumes no liability for the use or attempted use of this software product and accompanying documentation. In no event shall Softcraft be liable to any party for any incidental or consequential damages whatsoever in connection with or arising from use of the product or any related materials. ALL REGISTERED TRADEMARKS ARE OWNED BY THEIR RESPECTIVE COMPANIES (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT -- All Rights Reserved ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION Page 11 Hardware Requirements Page 14 Installation Page 16 Starting ZIPPER Page 17 ZIPPER Main Menu Page 17 Keyboard Page 18 Menu Bar Page 20 Data Entry Methods Page 21 Pick / Check Menus Page 23 Implementation Page 24 Company Information Page 25 II. EMPLOYEES Page 28 Entering New Employees Page 29 Personnel Management Page 45 Editing Employee Data Page 46 Selecting Employees to Edit Page 46 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 1 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual Changing an Employee's Name Page 49 Year-to-Date Payroll Information Page 50 Employee Benefits (Vacation & Sick Pay) Page 57 Page 2 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual TABLE OF CONTENTS III. PAYROLL Page 68 Beginning Payroll Sequence Page 68 Normal or Special Payroll Page 69 Payroll Frequency Page 70 Entering Payroll Dates Page 71 Creating Payroll Records Page 73 Moving Through Payroll Records Page 73 Entering Earnings Page 74 Entering Deductions Page 79 Computing Payroll Page 81 Editing and Reprocessing Payroll Page 82 Proofing Payroll Records Page 85 Creating Multiple Payroll Groups Page 87 Printing Paychecks Page 88 Printing Checks with Quicken Page 91 Importing Payroll Data into Quicken Page 92 Printing Payroll Vouchers Page 93 Destroying Payroll Records Page 95 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 3 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual What-if Analysis Page 97 Advances Page 88 Printing Advance Checks Page 99 Deducting Advances Page 101 Page 4 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual TABLE OF CONTENTS IV. REPORTS Page 104 Summary Page 105 Selecting Date Ranges for Reports Page 110 Selecting Employees for Reports Page 111 Payroll Reports by Focus Page 112 Sending Reports to the Printer Page 114 Sending Reports to a Text File Page 114 Printing W-2 Forms Page 115 Sorting Laser W-2 Forms Page 117 V. SYSTEM Page 121 Company Information Page 122 Setting Up Multi-State Payroll Page 122 Setting Up Company Departments Page 126 Password Security Page 128 Setting Up Withholding Taxes Page 130 Setting Up Other Payroll Taxes Page 131 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 5 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual State Disability Insurance Page 134 Creating Local Tax Tables Page 141 Installing New Tax Tables Page 149 Setting Up Labor Unions and Dues Page 150 Page 6 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual TABLE OF CONTENTS V. SYSTEM (CONT) Setting Up Pension Plans Page 153 Linking Employees to Pension Plans Page 156 Printer Configuration Page 157 Printer Ports Page 161 Checks & W-2's Page 162 VI. UTILITIES Page 167 Checking Data Pointers Page 167 Compressing (Packing) the Database Page 171 Creating a New Year Page 172 VII. UNDO/REDO Page 176 Change Payroll Dates Page 177 Undo Payroll Records Page 179 Undo Advances Page 183 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 7 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual INDEX (Not included with shareware manual) Page 186 Page 8 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 9 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual Page 10 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual I. INTRODUCTION Until the invention of the zipper, getting in and out of clothing was sometimes a hit-and-miss process. The greater your hurry, the more likely you were to make mistakes. Sure, the clothes got on, but sometimes buttons wound up in the wrong place. Traditionally, the preparation of payroll has been a similar process. Payroll is a task that requires care, accuracy, and a great deal of time. The amount of time involved always depended on the skill and experience of the person doing this work. Due to the number of steps and variables involved, it was easy to make errors, no matter how skilled you were. Often these errors were not apparent until preparation of quarterly returns; then you had to go looking for them. The solution for many businesses has been to hire bookkeeping personnel with skills to handle the task. Hopefully the number of errors and the time involved was reduced, but the cost of preparation increased. Along came the computer, a powerful device that was best suited to the detail and repetition of a complex task like payroll preparation. Then came payroll programs. They got the job done, but unfortunately you needed to think like an accountant to understand and use them properly. The small business owner was still faced with the alternatives of hiring this work out, or spending the time to learn to use the software. This is the primary reason so many computers became very expensive paper weights. With the invention of the zipper (the one on your clothing) everything changed. The process was immediately easier, quicker, more reliable, and less prone to errors. Because the approach was new, it became easier for everyone -- not just those with dexterity. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 11 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual I. INTRODUCTION (CONT) ZIPPER Payroll is just such an improvement; that's why we called it ZIPPER. ZIPPER does all your calculation, finds and uses the right tax table, considers the proper number of exemptions, computes the payroll deductions and tax liabilities, and keeps track of annual totals for all your reports. If you want (why wouldn't you?), ZIPPER will print your payroll checks. ZIPPER also accumulates pension plan benefits, as well as sick pay and vacation pay based on whatever parameters you choose. We designed ZIPPER so it could optionally work with Quicken (TM). The ability to add your payroll to your Quicken check register can be a distinct advantage if you are already a Quicken user. Either way, ZIPPER doesn't care, and works the same regardless of how you write your checks or keep your financial records. You may, of course, even write your checks by hand, in which case ZIPPER will print payroll vouchers to include with the checks. This is the perfect option for a small business. You don't have to buy special payroll checks. If you use R:BASE (TM) (System V, R:BASE for DOS, R:BASE version 3.XX, or Personal R:BASE) your data is accessible for any custom reports and queries you might choose to design. The FileGateway utility included with R:BASE will enable to export your data to a variety of other computer programs. Information about the structure of the R:BASE data files is included in the R:BASE.DOC file. Obviously, you need R:BASE to take advantage of these additional features. If you are in a hurry..... don't be! ZIPPER won't save you time now. But it will save you time and aggravation later. Read the program documentation carefully, especially the section on implementation and setting up the program. A little extra time at the beginning will be well spent. Page 12 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual I. INTRODUCTION (CONT) This documentation is presented in the same sequence as ZIPPER menus. We will identify every step necessary to get ZIPPER Payroll to work for you, and provide instructions for processing payroll, printing reports and W-2's, processing advances, etc. We don't need to train you to be an accountant, or how to use a computer, so the process of getting you up to speed won't be long. After your initial set-up, it is likely that you will need to make little use of the printed documentation. We think you'll find the menus and data entry forms (the user interface) quite natural and easy to use. Starting during mid-year is likely to be the most difficult part of the process, as you are probably "converting" a manual system to a computerized one. You need to enter all existing data (totals) for each employee, for any payroll that you have prepared for the year to date. If you are starting ZIPPER at the beginning of a year, or perhaps setting up ZIPPER for a new company, you will not have any "historical" data to enter. If such is the case, you can skip the section that describes this procedure. ZIPPER also includes personnel management features and can provide budget information as well as track payroll by department. ZIPPER will even print an employees' birthday list. Although ZIPPER was designed for a "small" business, it could be used with a business of any size. The number of employees ZIPPER can handle is limited only by the storage space (the hard disk drive) of your computer. The concept of "small" is up to you. One employee or several thousand, it makes no difference to ZIPPER. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 13 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual I. INTRODUCTION: HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS ZIPPER runs in the MS-DOS / PC-DOS environment. ZIPPER requires MS/PC DOS version 2.0 or later, and will run on the full family of IBM & Compatible PC's. This means a PC, or an XT, or an AT. The installation of ZIPPER program and data files requires a hard disk drive. You should consider 2.0 megabytes of free disk space as an absolute minimum. The use of a printer is optional for program operation, but you will be severely limited without a printer. Printer output is provided to parallel ports LPT1, LPT2, and LPT3, or serial ports COM1, or COM2. Your printer will need to be able to print in the compressed mode, or have a "wide carriage". A "daisy wheel" printer will not work. ZIPPER does support the use of laser printers, including printing checks and W-2 forms. ZIPPER requires approximately 525K of RAM when it loads. If you have less then this amount of memory available, ZIPPER may still load, but it's performance will be reduced. ZIPPER utilizes a 64K memory buffer for processing (sorting, etc). If the full 64K is not available ZIPPER will use your disk drive for this memory space. This will make the program noticeably slower, or it may not run at all. You should be able to run ZIPPER Payroll if you computer has 640K of conventional memory, and you do not have too many TRS's (memory resident programs) or device drivers loaded. IMPORTANT! Modify your CONFIG.SYS file to include the following statements: FILES=25 BUFFERS=30 See your DOS User's Manual regarding your CONFIG.SYS file. Page 14 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual I. INTRODUCTION: HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS (CONT) The configuration shown on the previous page allows ZIPPER to make the most efficient use of your computer by creating a memory area for processing (buffer space), and allowing ZIPPER to have all necessary files open when necessary. Each buffer requires 528 bytes of memory. The DOS default is two buffers, and this is not enough. After you make this modification, be sure to re-boot your computer before you start ZIPPER Payroll. Changes to your CONFIG.SYS file do not take effect until you re-boot. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 15 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual I. INTRODUCTION: INSTALLATION ZIPPER Payroll cannot be run from a floppy disk drive. It must be installed onto your computer's hard disk drive. ZIPPER Payroll includes an installation utility program that will create a directory on your hard disk drive, copy the compressed program and data files to that directory, and then uncompress the files to make them usable. The installation program will optionally modify your CONFIG.SYS file to ensure the number of FILES and BUFFERS (see your DOS User's Manual) is set correctly. The installation utility asks you a few questions and does everything else for you. It's easy! IF A PREVIOUS VERSION OR EVALUATION COPY OF ZIPPER PAYROLL IS ALREADY INSTALLED ON YOUR COMPUTER, DO NOT USE THE INSTALLATION UTILITY. PLEASE REVIEW THE BRIGHTLY COLORED FLYER THAT COMES WITH THIS PROGRAM. Otherwise, simply follow the steps below for a trouble-free installation. 1. Place the ZIPPER Payroll diskette in whichever disk drive you are going to use. If you are installing from a 5-1/4", 360k floppy diskette, insert "Disk 1" (of the two disk set) into the drive. 2. Change to the disk drive by using DOS. 3. Type "INSTALL" (without the quotation marks), and press the [ENTER] key. That's about it. The installation utility will ask you to identify the disk drive and directory where you want ZIPPER Payroll installed. It automatically suggests the following: Figure 1.2 Page 16 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual I. INTRODUCTION: INSTALLATION If the above configuration is OK, just press [ENTER] three times, Press "Y" (to indicate Yes - This Is Correct), and the installation program will do the rest. Otherwise, simply modify the suggested drive and/or directory. STARTING ZIPPER When the installation is complete, you will be located in the directory where ZIPPER Payroll has been installed. To start ZIPPER, simply type "ZIPPER" (without the quotation marks), and press [ENTER]. If the installation utility has modified your CONFIG.SYS file to set the correct number of FILES and BUFFERS, or you have otherwise modified your CONFIG.SYS file directly, you must reboot your computer for these changes to take effect. Please do so before you attempt to use ZIPPER Payroll for the first time. ZIPPER will not run properly, or may not run at all, until this change has been made. ZIPPER MAIN MENU Figure M1 NOTE: The menu selections followed by ". . . " indicate the presence of additional menus. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 17 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual I. INTRODUCTION: KEYBOARD ZIPPER makes consistent use of the keyboard, and you should become familiar with these special keys. The User's Manual refers to these keys by enclosing them in [ ] brackets. When the User's Manual or a data screen indicates [ESC], this means "Press the Escape Key"; [F8] means "Press the F8 Function Key". In general, the following keys perform the following operations. [ENTER] Enters the value displayed in a field, or accepts the selection offered. [ESC] Terminates a data entry session, and sometimes brings up a data entry MENU BAR. [ESC] is generally thought of as the "bail-out" key, and will, under almost all conditions, terminate what your are doing and take you "one step backwards". [TAB] Takes you to the next data field during a data entry session. If you are in the last field it will take you to the first field [SHIFT-TAB] Press down the [SHIFT] key & press [TAB]. Takes you to the previous field during a data entry session. If you are in the first field it will take you to the last field. [UP-ARROW] Same as [TAB] [DOWN-ARROW] Same as [SHIFT-TAB] [PGUP] or [PAGE UP] Takes you to the previous screen, or "page" of a multi-page data entry form. [PGDN] or [PAGE DOWN] Takes you to the next screen, or "page" of a multi-page data entry form. [F2] Blanks the current field of a data entry form. Page 18 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual I. INTRODUCTION: KEYBOARD (CONT) [F5] Resets the current field of a data entry form. If you delete the displayed value with [F2] or [DELETE], or overwrite the displayed value by typing new data you may press [F5] to redisplay the original value. This can only be done before you leave the current field. [F7] Takes you to the previous row in a "multi-row" display (where similar type values are displayed one above the other). [F8] Takes you to the next row in a "multi-row" display. Optionally use [Enter] to move from field to field, or row to row (downward). [INSERT] Inserts a blank space at the current cursor location. [DELETE] Deletes a single character at the current cursor location. IMPORTANT: HELP!!!! [F10] Press the [F10] key from any MENU for HELP. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 19 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual I. INTRODUCTION: MENU BAR The ZIPPER Menu Bar will sometimes be displayed at the end of a data entry session. The menu bar appears at the top of the screen. A copy is shown below. Figure 1.1 QUIT Select Quit to save the entered data and terminate the present data entry session. ADD Adds the data displayed in the data entry form to the payroll database. The data entry form is cleared, and the form is then ready to add another "row" of data. Select Add when you have a number of entries to make. After the last entry is made select Quit. Quit will save your last entry, and return you to the previous menu or mode EDIT AGAIN Returns you to the data entry form so that you may edit the displayed row before ADD(ing) it to the payroll database. DISCARD Removes the data displayed in the data entry form from the screen, and does not enter it in the payroll database. Once the data entry form is cleared, new data may be entered in its place. Page 20 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual I. INTRODUCTION: DATA ENTRY METHODS ENTERING DATES: ZIPPER Payroll uses the date format MM/DD/YY, where MM represents the Month of the year (01 - 12), DD represents the Day of the month (01 - 31), and YY represents the Year (entered as two digits; EXAMPLE - 92). The months and days may be entered as one or two digits where appropriate; one through nine may be entered as 01 or 1 through 09 or 9. ZIPPER will except either format. Years must be entered as two digits (always). The months, days, and year digits MUST be separated by a slash (/). You may not enter a date that is not in that format, and you may not enter a invalid date (like 2/30/91 or 9/31/91). Thus the date January 5, 1991 may be entered as 1/5/91, 01/5/91, 1/05/91, or 01/05/91. When you are preparing payroll, ZIPPER will allow you to enter payroll dates only for the "active year". The concept of the Active Year is important. ZIPPER does your payroll one year at a time. If the active year is 1991, ZIPPER assumes you have made an incorrect date entry if you enter 1990 or 1992 (or any other year). ENTERING DOLLAR VALUES: When you are entering dollar values, ZIPPER does not require that you enter the dollar sign ($), or commas (,). If you are entering a whole dollar amount (like $100.00), you may simply enter 100 (no period required). ZIPPER will automatically format the entry. Below are a few examples of how you might enter dollar amounts, and how ZIPPER will format them for you. REMEMBER, DO NOT ENTER DOLLAR SIGNS ($) OR COMMAS (,). (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 21 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual Entry ZIPPER formats to ---------------------------------------------------------- 1 $1.00 .1 $0.10 1.1 $1.10 100 $100.00 1234 $1,234.00 1234.56 $1,234.56 Page 22 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual I. INTRODUCTION: PICK / CHECK MENUS ZIPPER Payroll uses a series of "Pick / Check" menus. These menus allow you to select individual employees, payroll records, or payroll groups for additional processing. Each of these Pick / Check menus operate in a similar fashion. To make a selection simply press any letter (alphanumeric) key. When you do, a check mark will appear next to the item you have selected. You may remove the check mark by pressing the space bar. This will "unselect" the previously made selection. You move down the displayed list by pressing [ENTER] or [F8]. To move back up the list press [F7]. If there are more items in the list than will fit in the form, the list will "scroll" as you move up or down. Figure 1.3 In almost all cases, employees will be listed in alphabetical order. Dated lists will usually appear with the most recent record first (at the top). Press [ESC] after you have selected all the items (records) you want. In some cases, however, ZIPPER will limit you to making only one selection at a time. You will be advised when this occurs. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 23 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual I. INTRODUCTION: IMPLEMENTATION FIRST THINGS FIRST: The list below shows the IMPLEMENTATION tasks required to get you going on ZIPPER. These items are listed in the order they need to be done. Each item is followed by a page number reference to the location in this manual where that particular feature is explained. Start with Task #1, and return to this section as you complete each task and refer to the next task. TASK # DESCRIPTION (PAGE) ----------------------------------------------------------- 1 Program installation Page 16 2 Enter company information Page 122 3 Enter departments (optional) Page 126 4 Enter labor union information (optional) Page 150 5 Select password protection (optional) Page 128 6 Configure printer / control codes Page 157 7 Configure for Quicken (optional) Page 91 8 Other payroll taxes Page 130 FICA - Social Security Page 131 FICA - Medicare Page 131 FUTA - Federal Unemployment Tax Page 131 SUTA - State Unemployment Tax Page 131 User Defined Payroll Tax (optional) Page 133 9 State Disability Insurance codes Page 134 10 Create city / local tax tables Page 123 11 Pension Plans (optional) Page 153 12 Enter employee benefits / rates Page 57 13 Enter employee data Page 29 14 Enter year-to-date data Page 50 (if beginning during year) Page 24 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual I. INTRODUCTION: COMPANY INFORMATION The first time you use ZIPPER it will know that it has not as yet been configured for any state. The first data entry screen will ask you about your company (Name, Address, ... etc.), to include the state where your company exists. The data entry field for the "State" allows only two characters, and must contain a valid two letter state abbreviation (CA, NY, VT, WA, ... etc.) Once you have completed this entry, ZIPPER will then configure itself for the state in which you are located. At this point ZIPPER is loading the proper tax tables (for your state) from the tax table database (ZIPxxTX2.RBF) into your ZIPPER payroll database. All of the withholding (income) tax tables, and the methodology for computing state withholding have now been loaded for your state. The Federal tax tables are also loaded. You should enter your Federal and State Tax Identification Number at this time. It is not mandatory to enter this number, but if you want ZIPPER to print W-2 Forms at the end of the year, it should be entered. If you don't have this number handy, you may enter it at a later date through the COMPANY INFORMATION feature. Figure 1.4 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 25 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual Page 26 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 27 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: Option (1) off the MAIN MENU brings up the EMPLOYEE MENU. The EMPLOYEE MENU provides six options: Figure M2 NOTE: The menu selections followed by ". . . " indicate the presence of additional menus. Page 28 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES Creating a new employee record is the basis for processing payroll. Each employee record provides the information necessary to properly calculate payroll, withholding, and tax liability. Creating a new employee record creates a Year-to- Date (YTD) record for that employee as well. You can not prepare payroll for an employee until you have entered this employee into your payroll database. ZIPPER Uses three data entry screens (or pages) for each employee. Entering the last item on each screen will take you to the first item on the following entry screen. Entering the last item on the last screen returns you to the top of the first screen. You may also use the [PAGE UP] or [PAGE DOWN] key to move to any screen at any time. Use [ENTER], [TAB] or [DOWN-ARROW] to move to the next item, [SHIFT TAB], or [UP- ARROW] to move to the previous item. After you have entered all items for this employee press [ESC] to bring up the ZIPPER Menu Bar shown below. Figure 2.1 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 29 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES (CONT) If you wish to abort entering a new employee, press [ESC] or select Discard. Selecting Discard deletes the entered record, but allows you to continue data entry. If you select Discard, and then press [ENTER], you may now enter another employee by selecting Edit again. Pressing [ESC] deletes the current entry AND terminates the data entry session. Select Quit to save the entered data and terminate the present data entry session. Select Add to save the entered data and enter another employee. Selecting Add clears the present data from the form and brings up the first screen (page) of the NEW EMPLOYEE data entry form. Figure 2.2 Page 30 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES (CONT) Most of the employee data items (fields) are self-explanatory. Those that require some explanation are listed below. Be careful when entering a new employee; all payroll calculations are based on the data you enter for each employee. Incorrect data may cause calculation errors in your payroll and/or your tax liability. EMPLOYEE NAME: ZIPPER builds an internal code based on the employees name (Last Name, First Name, and MI). Using an employee's name for this purpose allows you to find employees by their name. You are not required to create "employee numbers". We have designed the internal ID code to be unique, but there is always the possibility that a duplicate ID code could be created. You will know this condition exists when you try to enter a new employee and ZIPPER informs your that an error has occurred with the message: - ERROR- Employee ID Code already in use - rule violation. This message will be displayed at the top of the screen when you attempt to add this new employee to the payroll database. By explaining how ZIPPER creates this internal ID code, then you should be able to get around this rule in a way that is acceptable to you, your employee, and ZIPPER. The basis for the ID code is displayed below using the upper portion of the new employee data entry screen. The example employee name to be entered is: Jane R. Smith. Figure 2.7 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 31 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES (CONT) ZIPPER builds the internal ID code by joining the first four letters of the Last Name (Smit), the first three letters of the first name (Jan), and the Middle Initial (R). If you already had an employee who's name was Jana R. Smitten, the internal ID code SmitJanR would already be in use. ZIPPER will not allow you to create a duplication of this internal code, and give you the warning described above. In order to get around this condition, you will need to "change" this employee's name. You may want to discuss this condition with your employee. A simple solution would be to leave out the middle initial for this employee. DATE OF BIRTH: This item is optional, but ZIPPER does provide a birthday list that you may wish to use. The employee's age is not disclosed, only the month and day of the year are listed. DEPARTMENT: ZIPPER allows use of a four (4) character alpha-numeric code to group employees by department. Use of this field is optional, and would be used if you intend to use the management and budget reports. In order to properly use this information you must have previously entered the four character code and a department name that corresponds to that code. See COMPANY DEPARTMENTS. If you have previously entered this department information, you may print a listing of departments and codes. This will make the entry of this item easier and less subject to error. JOB TITLE: Provides an optional description of the job held by this employee. This information is used in the management and budget reports, and appears on some of data entry forms. DATE HIRED: Enter the date of hire for this employee. Page 32 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES (CONT) TYPE OF COMPENSATION: Enter (S)-Salary or (H)-Hourly. Entering anything else will cause an error, and ZIPPER will not allow you to save this record until this error is corrected. STATUS: You will not see this field when entering a new employee. This field is automatically entered for you when a new employee record is first created. This indicates the employment and/or payroll status of the employee. Payroll is prepared only for (A)-Active status employees. This entry should be changed for any employee that is terminated, layed-off, etc. Valid entries are: (A)ctive, (I)nactive, or (T)erminated. When you enter a new employee the status field is set to (A)ctive". PAY PERIODS PER YEAR: This indicates the frequency that this employee is paid. Valid entries are the numbers 12, 24, 26, or 52 [ (12)- Monthly, (24)-Semimonthly, (26)- Biweekly, or (52)-Weekly ]. Entering anything else will cause an error, and ZIPPER will not allow you to save this record until this error is corrected. The number of pay periods is the number of times per year that an employee is paid. Thus, if an employee is paid once per month, you would enter (12) for this employee. If the employee is paid twice a month, say the 1st and the 15th, enter (24). SALARY PER PAY PERIOD: Enter the amount of regular salary to be paid to this employee each time they are paid. An entry should be made only if the employee is paid a salary. This field should be left blank for employees who are paid hourly. Examples: If an employee is paid $1,530.00 per month, and paid semimonthly (the number of pay periods is 24), then the Salary per Pay Period is $765.00 [ ($1,500.00 X 12) divided by 24 ]. AND, If an employee is paid $18,640.00 per year, and paid weekly (the number of pay (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 33 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual periods is 52) then the Salary per Pay Period is $358.46 ($18,640.00 / 52) Page 34 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES (CONT) HOURLY RATES: ZIPPER allows three different hourly rates of compensation for each employee. REGULAR pay would be used for the normal rate of pay. OVERTIME1 and OVERTIME2 are provided for different scales of pay. Their use is optional. If you do not pay overtime, then these fields should be left blank. Alternately, you may have employees that perform different jobs, and are paid a different rate for each job. You might use the Overtime categories for this purpose. The overtime rates are not based on the regular pay rate. You must enter a specific rate of pay for each employee who is paid hourly. All hourly rate fields should be left blank for employees who are paid by salary. ZIPPER prepares payroll in groups. If you have employees in your company that are paid at different times (weekly, and biweekly), then these two groups must be created separately. Figure 2.3 TAX TABLES: These fields indicates which tax table(s) will be used to calculate withholding taxes. There are fields (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 35 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual for Federal Tax Tables, State Tax Tables, and City (or Local) Tax Tables. Page 36 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES (CONT) FEDERAL TAX TABLES: Enter (1) if Single, or (2) if Married. ZIPPER knows there are only two Federal Tax Tables. If you enter a number larger than two, ZIPPER will assume that you have made an error. ZIPPER will not stop you from making this entry, but will instead use Table 2, the "Married" Tax Table, when payroll is processed for this employee. STATE TAX TABLES: Enter the number of the appropriate tax table to use for this employee. If there is no income tax (withholding) in your state, leave this field blank. You may enter any single digit number (0 - 9). ZIPPER knows if your state has a withholding tax, and how many tax tables your state uses. If you enter a table number that does not exist in your state ZIPPER will know that you have made an error, but does not know which is the correct table for this employee. In such cases, ZIPPER will make its own determination. For example, ZIPPER knows there are five (5) tax tables for New Jersey (Rate A through E). ZIPPER uses tables 1 through 5 respectively. If you enter a number larger than five, ZIPPER will assume an error condition. ZIPPER will not stop you from making this entry, but will instead use last table that exists, in this case table number 5. If there is a personal income tax in your state, and your state provides a number of tax tables to calculate this withholding, enter the number of the tax table you want to use for this employee. Depending on the number of tax tables used in your state, enter (1) if the employee files as Single, (2) if the employee files as Married, or enter 3 through 9 if that number of tables is used by your state. If there is only one tax table for your state, enter (1) for each employee. Please review the (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 37 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual README.DOC file for special conditions regarding some states. Page 38 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES (CONT) STATE TAX TABLES: (cont) If your state computes State Withholding as a percentage of Federal Withholding, (Arizona, North Dakota, & Vermont) leave this field blank. Arizona employers please review the README.DOC file for special conditions. CITY TAX TABLES: If there is no City or Local Withholding in your area, leave this field blank. If there is a City / Local Withholding, you may create up to six tax tables to compute this tax. See CREATING LOCAL TAX TABLES. After creating the necessary tax tables, you need to indicate which table to use for this (each) employee. If you enter a number larger than six (6) ZIPPER will not compute city / local withholding for this employee. If you enter a table number that does not exist (you have not created it), ZIPPER will not compute city / local withholding for this employee. PERSONAL EXEMPTIONS: Personal exemptions are provided for Federal Withholding, and in some states where income tax exists. Carefully review the income (withholding) tax booklet provided by your state. BE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PERSONAL EXEMPTIONS AND ADDITIONAL EXEMPTIONS (ZIPPER CALLS THESE "STATE EXTRA DEDUCTIONS" ) IF YOUR STATE PROVIDES BOTH. FEDERAL PERSONAL EXEMPTIONS: Enter the number of deductions the employee claims for Federal Withholding Tax purposes (Form W-4). You may enter 0 through 99. STATE PERSONAL EXEMPTIONS: Enter the number of deductions the employee claims for State Withholding purposes. You (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 39 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual may enter 0 through 99. This field should be left blank if your state does not have a withholding tax. Page 40 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES (CONT) STATE STANDARD DEDUCTIONS: Not all states use a "Standard Deduction", and you will have to determine what system your state uses. In most cases, states that use a standard deduction use a value between zero and three (0..3). Some states equate zero and one, and others do not. Enter a value between zero and three, inclusive. If you enter a value greater than 3, ZIPPER will process this as the Married Standard Deduction (2). This field should be left blank if your state does not have a withholding tax. Special situations are covered in the README.DOC file. Check this file to see if there are conditions that apply to your state. STATE EXTRA DEDUCTIONS: This field should not be confused with the State Personal Exemption, and is used by some states to provide a wider range withholding. Special situations are covered in the README.DOC file. CITY NAME: If your employees are subject to any city or local withholding tax, then you should enter the name of the city or municipality that administers this tax. The name you enter will appear on the employee's W-2 Form in the block labeled "Name of locality" (block 29, Form W- 2). Leave this field blank if there is no city or local withholding (personal income tax) in your area. TAX STATUS (Federal, State, and City): A zero (0) is entered as the "default" entry for all employees. You should change this to a one (1) for any employee who is exempt (does not pay) from any of the taxes listed below. Entering a (1) in any field will tell ZIPPER not to calculate that tax. Data entry errors (any number other than 0 or 1) will treat the employee as "Not Exempt", and tax will be calculated for this employee. Most employee are Not Exempt; in other words, they pay tax. In such a case, no entry is required. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 41 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES (CONT) STATE TAX STATUS SIT (State Income Tax) SDI (State Disability Insurance) SUTA (State Unemployment Tax) User Defined Tax Optional for those state that have an additional payroll tax. See ENTERING PAYROLL TAX RATES. CITY TAX STATUS CIT (City or Local Income Tax) EXTRA WITHHOLDING: (Federal, State, & City) Enter the amount, if any, an employee might wish to have withheld from their pay as an extra amount of withholding. You may enter any amount, and it will not effect calculation of normal withholding. Extra withholding may be entered for Federal, State, and/or City. The entry is used as a "constant", and will automatically be included each time payroll is processed. This amount may be changed or deleted for any individual payroll record when you process payroll. You should leave the State and City fields blank if you (your employees) are not subject to this kind of tax. Figure 2.4 Page 42 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES (CONT) STATE DISABILITY INSURANCE: Enter the six (6) character alpha-numeric sequence for this employee. See STATE DISABILITY INSURANCE. PAID VACATION (days per year): Enter the number of days of paid vacation you wish to provide for this employee. Enter 0 (zero) if this employee is not entitled to vacation pay. Do not include paid holidays. See EMPLOYEE BENEFITS. PAID SICK LEAVE (days per year): Enter the number of days of sick pay you wish to provide for this employee. Enter 0 (zero) if this employee is not entitled to sick pay. See EMPLOYEE BENEFITS. FEDERAL TAX STATUS FIT (Federal Income Tax) FICA (Social Security Tax & Medicare Tax) FUTA (Federal Unemployment Tax) DEDUCTION FOR MEDICAL BENEFITS (per pay period): Use of this field is optional. If your company provides any type of medical / dental / health insurance, and you wish to deduct any or all of the cost of this program from your employees pay, then enter the amount to deduct from each pay period. You must convert a monthly or yearly premium into the proper amount for the number of pay periods per year. PENSION PLAN: To "link" an employee to a particular Pension Plan, enter the number (1 to 9) of the pension plan that has already been created. When payroll is processed, the information about that pension plan is used to calculate the pension deduction and/or employer contribution for that employee. PENSION DEDUCTION: A non-calculated employee deduction. If there is no pension plan assigned, the amount of this deduction will be treated as taxable wages. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 43 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES (CONT) PENSION DEDUCTION: (cont) If there is an assigned pension plan, the amount of this deduction will be added to any deduction that is calculated by the Employee Deduction Rate, and treated according to how that plan is configured. UNION AFFILIATION: This field is optional, and would be used if you wish to incorporate payroll deduction of union dues. Enter the one digit number (1 through 9) that corresponds to the proper union affiliation for this employee. The information pertaining to each labor union should have already been entered. See LABOR UNIONS. UNION DUES: Enter the "flat rate", or dollar amount of dues to be deducted from each pay period. You may have to convert a monthly dues into the amount for this employee, based on the number of pay periods per year. ZIPPER also provides for a "variable rate" method of calculating union dues that can be used instead of, or in addition to a "flat rate". Leave this field blank if you do not wish to deduct any union dues for this employee. See LABOR UNIONS. Page 44 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT Although ZIPPER is not a personnel management program per se, it does provide a number of useful management capabilities. You can take advantage of these additional features by entering the appropriate data for each employee through ENTER NEW EMPLOYEES, and then maintaining this data as changes occur. These data items are located on the third data entry screen for each employee. Use of these fields is optional. If you elect not to enter these data items, it will not have any effect on payroll computation. The following data fields provide this management capability. Some of these items have been described in the previous pages. Date of Birth Date Hired Date Terminated Job Title Department Date of last pay increase (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 45 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: EDITING EMPLOYEE DATA To change (edit) any employee information, you begin by selecting the employee(s) you wish edit. You may select one employee by entering the employees last name, or you may select several employees by "checking" or "picking" them from a list. You may also edit every employee record. SELECTING EMPLOYEES TO EDIT You may select one employee by entering the employees last name. You may enter the last name in full, or only in part. Whichever method of entry you choose, ZIPPER will search through all your employees to find a match to your selection. This search method provides a good combination of speed and flexibility. If your company is large (more than say 30 employees) the fastest search method would be to enter the employee's last name in full. Since some employee's names may be long and/or difficult to spell, it may be faster (and easier) to enter only a partial name and let ZIPPER search through the employees that match your search parameters. Page 46 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: SELECTING EMPLOYEES TO EDIT As an example, if you wanted to search for an employee who's name is Robert Villanueva, you could enter the last name in full, or you could enter "v*" or "vil*" or "villa*" (do not enter the quotation marks). In the preceding examples, each entry becomes more specific than the one before. Notice how the asterick (*) follows the partial entry; this is a "wildcard" character. The more letters you enter, the more "specific" your search becomes. By entering just the asterisk (*) wildcard character, you search becomes totally "unspecific", and ZIPPER will then scroll through every employee (they all match the search parameters). Figure 2.6 To follow this example, assume you enter "vil*" to find the employee Robert Villanueva. ZIPPER will stop at the first match it finds - any employees who's last name begins with the letters "vil". If the first match is correct, press [ENTER] to indicate that this match is correct. If the first match is not correct, and you want ZIPPER to continue the search, press the letter "N" (for NEXT PLEASE...), or press the [TAB] or [RIGHT ARROW] key to move to "NEXT PLEASE...", then press [ENTER]. Figure 2.6a (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 47 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: SELECTING EMPLOYEES TO EDIT (CONT) You may quit your search at any time. If there are no remaining matches , ZIPPER will terminate the search on it's own. If ZIPPER does not find any matches to the search parameters you have set, it will advise you, and then allow you to try again or quit. Remember, you can enter the asterisk "*" by itself if you are unsure of which employee you want, and ZIPPER will let you scroll through every employee in your company. In this case the employees are presented in the order they were added to your payroll database. If you select only one employee to edit, you will have access only the employee you selected. If you select either several or all employees, then the selected (or all) employees will be presented in alphabetical order. You may move through each record by pressing [F8] for the next employee record, and/or [F7] for the previous employee record. There are three screens (pages) of data for each employee. You may quickly move through the screens by using the [PGUP] and [PGDN] keys. You may edit any of the data that is displayed, with the exception of the employees name. ZIPPER makes special use of the employee's name, and therefore provides special processing if you need to change this information. This is discussed below. Page 48 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: CHANGING AN EMPLOYEE'S NAME ZIPPER builds an internal code based on the employees name (Last Name, First Name, and MI). Using an employee's name for this purpose allows you to find employees by their name. You are not required to create or remember "employee numbers", and you do not need to remember the employee codes that ZIPPER creates. The method for creating an Employee ID Code is shown below. Figure 2.7 ZIPPER builds the internal ID code by joining the first four letters of the Last Name (Smit), the first three letters of the first name (Jan), and the Middle Initial (R). Thus, the Employee Id Code for Jane R. Smith is "SmitJanR". When you change an employee's name, ZIPPER builds a new ID code for this employee. Since it is possible that this ID code may already be used for another employee, ZIPPER will check for this condition and warn you if this is the case. Since ZIPPER does not allow the duplication of an existing ID code, you will need to somehow modify the change you wish to make. See ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES - Employee Name. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 49 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: YEAR-TO-DATE PAYROLL INFORMATION From the EMPLOYEE MENU, select (4) Enter / Change Historical (YTD) Data. If you begin using ZIPPER Payroll during the middle of a year, and are converting from another system, you must enter the year to date payroll data for your employees. We recommend that you do this BEFORE you process any payroll with ZIPPER. Although ZIPPER allows you to directly access this data at any time, WE RECOMMENDED THAT YOU DO NOT DO SO, OR THAT YOU DO IT WITH EXTREME CAUTION. Some payroll programs restrict you to working within "quarters", and closing these quarter as they pass. This is the way accounting systems seem to work, and we have tried very hard to create a system that works in a more natural fashion. The one draw-back of such a design is that if you begin using ZIPPER Payroll during the middle of a quarter you will not be able to extract the necessary information for your quarterly reports for that particular quarter. EXAMPLE: Say you want to begin using ZIPPER Payroll in May, the second month of the second quarter. By entering the year- to-date data at that time, ZIPPER knows the proper year- to-date amounts for each employee, but has no way of knowing in which quarter (or month) these wages occurred. Thus, ZIPPER does not keep track of quarters, per se, but tracks data based on the "payroll date". Page 50 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: YEAR-TO-DATE PAYROLL INFORMATION (CONT) ZIPPER allows you to extract information (create reports) based on any quarter, the full year, or any date range you wish to create - at any time. You will understand the advantages of this design when you begin creating reports. Because of this, we recommend that you begin using ZIPPER to process payroll at the beginning of a new quarter (January, April, July, or October), and enter the Year-To-Date values for each employee PRIOR to processing your first payroll. If you incorrectly enter any year-to- date values, ZIPPER will simply continue to build on these incorrect values. If you discover your error at a later date you may correct it, but BE CAREFUL. We give you access to this data to make your life easier, but it also gives you enough rope to hang yourself. As a precaution, we recommend that you print the Year-To-Date Payroll Register Report after you have entered your initial data. This way you will always have a record of your starting point. We also recommend that you print a copy of this report BEFORE and AFTER you make any adjustments to the data. Consider using the [SHIFT-PRINT SCREEN] feature of your computer prior to editing any existing data. ONCE YOU CHANGE THE DATA IN THE YEAR-TO-DATE REGISTER IT CAN NOT BE RESET. UNLESS YOU RECORDED THE PRIOR VALUES, YOU WILL NEED TO LIVE WITH THE CHANGES YOU HAVE MADE. When editing this data, ZIPPER will allow you one last chance to undo the changes you have made. You may do so by selecting the "Reset" option from the MENU BAR. Think about this before you press [ESC] or select "Quit". The Reset feature is available only while you are editing this record. Once you leave this employee's record, the Reset feature will not work. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 51 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: YEAR-TO-DATE PAYROLL INFORMATION (CONT) Listed below are the data items you need to enter. Remember, this is year to date data. The amounts you are entering are the amounts you have paid, deducted, or that have accumulated for the whole year - up to the day you are entering this data. Figure 2.8 HOURS WORKED: THESE ITEMS SHOULD BE ENTERED FOR BOTH HOURLY AND SALARIED EMPLOYEES. Regular Hours: The # of hours worked, not including any overtime. Overtime1: The # of hours worked in the first overtime category/rate. Overtime2: The # of hours worked in the second overtime category/rate. WAGES: THESE ITEMS SHOULD BE ENTERED ONLY FOR HOURLY EMPLOYEES. Regular : The dollar amount of hourly wages paid, not including any overtime. Overtime1: The dollar amount of hourly wages paid in the first overtime category/rate. Page 52 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual Overtime2: The dollar amount of hourly wages paid in the second overtime category/rate. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 53 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: YEAR-TO-DATE PAYROLL INFORMATION (CONT) EARNINGS Salary : THIS ITEM SHOULD BE ENTERED ONLY FOR SALARIED EMPLOYEES. Enter the dollar amount of salary paid. Does not include WAGES (above). Other : This is the miscellaneous category. Enter the dollar amount of earnings that are not otherwise covered by other categories. Commission : The dollar amount of commissions paid. Holdiay Pay: The dollar amount of holiday pay paid. THIS AMOUNT SHOULD NOT BE INCLUDED IN SALARY, OR ANY WAGE ITEM. Vacation : The dollar amount of vacation pay paid. THIS AMOUNT SHOULD NOT BE INCLUDED IN SALARY, OR ANY WAGE ITEM. Sick Pay : The dollar amount of sick pay paid. THIS AMOUNT SHOULD NOT BE INCLUDED IN SALARY, OR ANY WAGE ITEM. TIPS: The dollar amount of tips earned. See PROCESSING PAYROLL - EARNINGS - TIPS, for a discussion between Tips Paid and Tips Reported. Paid : The dollar amount of tip you have paid. Reported : The dollar amount of tip collected by this employee, and reported to you. WITHHOLDING Federal : The dollar amount of Federal Withholding deducted (withheld) from this employees pay. Page 54 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual State : The dollar amount of State Withholding deducted (withheld) from this employees pay. City : The dollar amount of City (or local) Withholding deducted (withheld) from this employees pay. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 55 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: YEAR-TO-DATE PAYROLL INFORMATION (CONT) DEDUCTIONS Social Sec. : Enter the dollar amount of Social Security (FICA) Tax withheld. Medicare : The dollar amount of Medicare Tax (FICA) withheld. SDI : The dollar amount of State Disability Insurance (sometimes called State Industrial Insurance) withheld (the employees portion). Medical : Use this category for any medical / dental / vision insurance plan to which your employee(s) contributes. Advances : The dollar amount of advances you have collected back from this employee. DO NOT ENTER THE AMOUNT OF ADVANCES YOU HAVE PAID, ONLY THE AMOUNT RECOVERED. Union Dues : The dollar amount of union dues (employees portion) withheld. Pension : Use this category for any pension / retirement plan to which your employee(s) contribute. Other : This is the miscellaneous category. Enter the dollar amount of any deductions that are not otherwise covered by another category. Page 56 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: YEAR-TO-DATE PAYROLL INFORMATION (CONT) BENEFITS Vacation Paid: Enter the NUMBER OF HOURS of vacation pay paid to this employee. DO NOT INCLUDE THIS AMOUNT IN HOURS WORKED (see above). If this employee is paid a salary, you must convert the amount paid into an numeric representation of hours. EXAMPLE: An employee who takes a "one week" vacation is actually paid for five days. Assuming a normal eight hour day, this employee actually received 40 hours of vacation pay. (See EMPLOYEE BENEFITS.) Accrued Bal. : Enter the number of hours of vacation pay benefits that are owed (accrued) to this employee AS OF THE LAST PAYROLL. Sick Pay Paid: See above, Vacation Paid. Accrued Bal. : Enter the number of hours of sick pay benefits that are owed (accrued) to this employee AS OF THE LAST PAYROLL. Holiday Paid: Enter the NUMBER OF HOURS of holiday pay paid to this employee. DO NOT INCLUDE THIS AMOUNT IN HOURS WORKED (see above). If this employee is paid a salary, you must convert the amount paid into an numeric representation of hours. ADVANCES Balance : Enter the dollar amount of advances paid to this employee that have not been recovered. The amount entered should represent the amount owed to you by this employee, AS OF THE LAST PAYROLL. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 57 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: YEAR-TO-DATE PAYROLL INFORMATION (CONT) WAGES PAID NOT SUBJECT TO: You should enter dollar amounts for these categories only under certain conditions. Social Sec. : Enter an amount ONLY IF (1) you have paid wages to this employee, and this employee is exempt from (not subject to) Social Security Tax; or (2) this employee has already been paid earnings (of any kind) in excess of the social security wage base. (See IRS Circular E.) If the above does not apply, leave the amount as $0.00. Medicare : Enter an amount ONLY IF (1) you have paid wages to this employee, and this employee is exempt from (not subject to) Medicare Tax; or (2) this employee has already been paid earnings (of any kind) in excess of the medicare wage base. If the above does not apply, leave the amount as $0.00. FUTA : Enter an amount ONLY IF (1) you have paid wages to this employee, and this employee is exempt from (not subject to) FUTA (Federal Unemployment) Tax; or (2) this employee has already been paid earnings (of any kind) in excess of the FUTA wage base. If the above does not apply, leave the amount as $0.00. SUTA : Enter an amount ONLY IF (1) you have paid wages to this employee, and this employee is exempt from (not subject to) SUTA (State Unemployment) Tax; or (2) this employee has already been paid earnings (of any kind) in excess of the SUTA wage base. (Check your state bulletin for the amount of this wage base). If the above does not apply, leave the amount as $0.00. TOTALS : When entering the individual year-to-date data values (above) , ZIPPER will automatically calculate the proper totals (INCOME, DEDUCTIONS, AND NET PAY) for you. Page 58 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: EMPLOYEE BENEFITS ZIPPER allows you to compute two types of employee benefits; Vacation Pay and Sick Pay. ZIPPER makes certain assumptions to do these computations, and your method of computation must match these assumptions for ZIPPER to work for you. We have tried to provide you with as much flexibility as possible. In order to compute both Vacation Pay and Sick Pay, you will need to enter the amount (number of days per year) each employee is entitled to. This information should be entered for each employee when they are entered into the payroll database. See ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES. The number of days can be changed at any time (EMPLOYEE MENU - Edit / Change Employee Data), and the updated amount of benefit (days per year) will only affect payroll that is computed after that change. Previous payroll entries are not affected by these changes. A typical entry for an employee who will receive two weeks paid vacation, and one week paid sick leave would be as follows: Paid Vacation : 10 (days per year) Paid Sick Leave: 5 (days per year) The above entry assumes a five day work week. Prior to entering this information for each employee, you will need to tell ZIPPER how your benefits are to be configured. This information needs to be entered only once, when you do your initial set-up. What ZIPPER needs to know is: The number of hours in the normal work day : (Usually 8) The number of hours in the normal work week: (Usually 40) The number of weeks in the normal work year: (Usually 52) With this information ZIPPER computes the number of hours in the normal work year: (Usually 2080) (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 59 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: EMPLOYEE BENEFITS (CONT) This data is entered or changed via the EMPLOYEE MENU, Option (6), Employee Benefits (Vacation & Sick Pay). You are provided with an entry screen requesting the information listed above. Based on your entries, ZIPPER calculates the number of hours per year, and displays that amount for you to see. An example is also provided which will display the actual effects of your company's benefits configuration combined a typical entry for a given employee. You are allowed to change the number of vacation and sick pay days in this example, and it does not have any effect on your particular configuration or any of your employees. Press [ESC] when you have finished entering this data. Figure 2.5 The best way to explain these conditions is to show by an example. You may wish to go to the EMPLOYEE BENEFITS entry screen; MAIN MENU (1) Employees, then (6) Employee Benefits, and follow along. The "default settings" are : Hours per day : 8 Hours per week: 40 Weeks per year: 52 (this creates) --> Hours per year: 2080 Based on the "default setting" of: Paid vacation days (per year) : 10 Paid sick pay days (per year) : 5 Page 60 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual The EXAMPLE (above) produces the following result: 0.04 days of vacation pay, and 0.01960784 days of sick pay, for every 8 hour day worked. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 61 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: EMPLOYEE BENEFITS (CONT) These calculations assume that each of these employee benefits will continue to accrue even while an employee is on vacation, or off sick. In the above example, this assumption creates the following modification to the more obvious calculations. For the purposes of vacation pay, this employee would actually work 50 weeks (or 2000 hours) per year; for the purposes of sick pay, 51 weeks (or 2040 hours) per year. This condition further identifies that the entries for the number of hours worked (during payroll preparation) is important, even for salaried employees. NOTE: ZIPPER's benefits calculations are "advisory" and do not have any effect on your actual payroll. You may, at any time, exceed the amount of accrued benefits for any employee, or even pay benefits to any employee who normally does not receive benefits. The accrual amounts will be displayed for each employee when you process their payroll. The accruals are also included on the Year-To- Date Payroll report. Consider the following example: Page 62 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual Hours Vacation Sick Pay Basis for Employee: Worked Paid (hrs) Paid (hrs) Benefits ------------------------------------------------------------------- Employee A 28 8 4 40 Employee B 32 0 8 40 Employee C 40 0 0 40 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 63 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual II. EMPLOYEES: EMPLOYEE BENEFITS (CONT) These entries are critical, especially in states where taxes like Industrial Insurance are computed on the number of hours worked. In the example above the taxes would be based on 28, 32, and 40 hours (for Employee's A, B, and C, respectively from the previous page), and the calculation for employee benefits (accumulations for Vacation Pay and Sick Pay) would be based on 40 hours. When you prepare payroll, enter the number of hours worked to reflect the number of hours that the employee was present, and will be paid for. The "hours worked" should not include any vacation or sick pay. Vacation and sick pay are separate entries. These calculations are for the purposes of maintaining a "running total" for the amount of benefits (calculated in hours) available for each employee. Thus, the amount of benefits granted to each employee affects the amount of additional benefits accrued during any payroll period. As indicated above, these "running totals" are displayed (rounded-off) for each employee during payroll processing, and are only advisory. You may exceed the accumulated benefits due for any employee. Printing the Year-To-Date Payroll Register will show the amount accrued for each employee. These amounts are carried over from year to year for each employee. If your company does not provide for carry-over accumulations, then you will need to delete the amount contained in the YTD Register after a "New Year" is created. Hint: If employees are granted company paid holidays (Christmas, New Years Day, etc), those hours should be entered as Holiday Pay when payroll is processed. Page 64 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 65 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual Page 66 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 67 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL Option (2) off the MAIN MENU brings up the PAYROLL MENU. The PAYROLL MENU provides seven options: Figure M3 NOTE: The menu selections followed by ". . . " indicate the presence of additional menus. BEGIN NEW PAYROLL SEQUENCE (CREATE PAYROLL RECORDS): You begin processing payroll by creating a "payroll group". ZIPPER processes payroll as a group, and will lead you through the logical steps necessary to create this group. After the group has been selected, ZIPPER creates individual payroll records for each employee within that group. You may create several payroll groups and process them together, or create and process each as a separate entity. After you have created a payroll group, you can enter the data ZIPPER needs to calculate payroll. Creating a payroll group involves selecting the type of payroll you are processing (Normal or Special), the frequency with which this group is paid (Weekly, Biweekly, Semimonthly, or Monthly), and the type of pay the individuals within this group receive (Hourly, Salary, or either Hourly or Salary). Page 68 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: NORMAL OR SPECIAL PAYROLL NORMAL PAYROLL: As the name implies, this is what you will "normally" do. Select this option to create a payroll group that you might logically create every week, every two weeks, twice a month, or once a month. SPECIAL PAYROLL: Select this option for processing payroll that would be beyond the realm of a Normal payroll. Examples of this might be paying an employee early if they go on vacation, or as termination pay, severance pay, or other similar reason. This option might also be used if you underpay an employee (while processing a Normal Payroll) and want to issue a supplementary check for the additional amount due. Do not use Special Payroll to process payroll advances. ZIPPER provides separate capabilities for this purpose. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 69 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: FREQUENCY Next you need to further specify the employees to include in your payroll group. This selection is based on the frequency your employees are paid. Your choices are: (1) Weekly (paid 52 times a year) (2) BiWeekly (paid 26 times a year) (3) SemiMonthly (paid 24 times a year) (4) Monthly (paid 12 times a year) If your company has employees that are paid at different times, you might, on certain occasions, need issue paychecks for both groups at the same time. ZIPPER will allow you to process these groups and print checks at the same time, but the two groups must first be created separately. Now ZIPPER asks you to further define your payroll group. Your choices are: (1) All Employees (2) Hourly Employees (3) Salary Employees For example, within a Weekly group you could process all employees (both Hourly and Salary) at the same time. Optionally, you could process only employees that are paid hourly as a separate group from the employees that are paid a salary. The selection here is purely for your convenience and flexibility. If you process these groups separately, you may still print or export paychecks, or print payroll vouchers at the same time. After you have made your payroll group selections, ZIPPER will show you the group that you have created, and then let you accept or reject this group. If you reject the group you have just selected, you may start over or quit. If this is the payroll group you want, press any key, other than the [ESC] key. Next you will need to enter the payroll dates for this payroll group. Page 70 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: ENTERING PAYROLL DATES ZIPPER requires three dates for payroll preparation. These are the Payroll Date, the Starting Date, and the Ending Date. See the section on DATA ENTRY METHODS, ENTERING DATES. Figure 3.1 PAYROLL DATE: Use this date to indicate the actual date that payroll will be issued. Paychecks will be printed or exported with this date, and this is the date that will be used to calculate your tax liability for your quarterly returns. The screen prompting you for entry of these dates also displays a calendar with the current month in the center. The preceding and following months are displayed along side. ZIPPER assumes you wish to use "today" as the payroll date, and displays it as the payroll date. ZIPPER obtains the date from your computer system. If the battery for your clock / calendar is dead, your computer is not equipped with such a device, or the system date is not properly set, the date pre- entered and the PAYROLL DATE will be incorrect. You may edit this date by typing over it, or Press [F2] to delete it. When entering the payroll dates, ZIPPER requires that all fields have a date entered. If you decide to abort the preparation of payroll at this point, simply leave any date field blank. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 71 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: ENTERING PAYROLL DATES (CONT) PAYROLL DATE: (cont) ZIPPER always knows the "active year", and will not allow you to enter a payroll date that is not in this same year. At the end of the year you will want to create a new payroll database (ZIPPER will do this for you, See UTILITIES - CREATE A NEW YEAR), so that you may continue to process payroll in the new year. ZIPPER computes Federal, State, and City (Withholding) Taxes based on the tax tables for the current year. Since the tax tables change from year to year, ZIPPER will not allow you to create payroll (based on the Payroll Date) in a year different than the year that is covered by the tax tables contained in your payroll database. Updated tax tables (federal and state) will be sent only to registered users. You will need to manually update any local tax tables that you have created. See CREATE A NEW YEAR, and INSTALLING NEW TAX TABLES. STARTING & ENDING DATE: These dates are more for explanatory purposes, and indicate the period that is covered by this payroll. Leaving either date blank will abort processing of the selected payroll group. Additionally, ZIPPER assumes an ending date that occurs before a starting date to be an error, and will not allow this condition. If you later discover that any payroll dates are incorrect, you may correct this error after you have completed processing this payroll. See UNDO / REDO. Page 72 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: CREATING PAYROLL RECORDS After you have entered the payroll dates, ZIPPER will create new payroll records for the group you have selected. As soon as these records are created, you may enter your payroll data. If you do not wish to enter payroll data at this time, press [ESC]. You may return at any time to continue entering or finish entering payroll data. You may now create another payroll group, and enter payroll data for the two (or more) groups at the same time. MOVING THROUGH YOUR PAYROLL RECORDS When entering payroll data, the payroll records are in alphabetical order. Use [F8] to move to the next employee, and [F7] to move to the previous employee. Use the [TAB], [DOWN ARROW], or [ENTER] keys to move to each field. Use the [SHIFT TAB] or [UP ARROW] keys to move to a previous fields. When you have entered (or skipped over) the last EARNINGS field of the first page of this data entry form, you then move to the first field of the DEDUCTIONS page (page 2). You can move back and forth from EARNINGS to DEDUCTIONS by pressing [PGUP] and [PGDN]. To terminate the present data entry / edit session, press [ESC]. The records will be saved in their present condition, and you may return at any time, find where you left off, and continue to enter or edit the existing data. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 73 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: ENTERING EARNINGS Earnings are entered on the first screen (page) of each payroll record. Figure 3.2 REGULAR HOURS WORKED: Enter the number of regular (not overtime) hours worked by each employee. ENTER THE HOURS WORKED EVEN IF THE EMPLOYEE IS PAID A SALARY. The number of hours are needed for computing vacation benefits (accruals), and computing State Industrial Insurance (SDI). OVERTIME1 (and OVERTIME2 ) HOURS WORKED: Enter the number of hours in each field where appropriate. ZIPPER allows two rates of overtime pay for each employee. In order to take advantage of this feature, you must have entered the hourly rates for the overtime categories for this employee. If you have entered these hourly rates they will be displayed to the right of the field where you enter the number of hours worked. If there is no hourly rate indicated at this location, an entry in the hours worked field will not generate any wages for this employee. Page 74 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: ENTERING EARNINGS (CONT) VACATION BENEFIT HOURS PAID: Enter an amount only if the employee is to be paid vacation pay during this payroll period. As an example, consider an employee who is paid BiWeekly (every two weeks) and normally works 80 hours during a payroll period. Assume the employee worked one of these weeks (40) hours, and was on vacation the other week (40 hours). The amount entered under REGULAR HOURS would be 40 (the number of hours actually worked), and the amount entered under VACATION would also be 40 (the number of vacation hours to be paid). In this case, the number of hours worked is 40, yet the employee is still paid the proper amount of pay (based on 80 hours). THIS APPLIES TO BOTH HOURLY AND SALARY EMPLOYEES. SICK PAY BENEFIT HOURS: Similar to the above situation, entry would be made into this field only if the employee is to be paid sick pay. As above, this amount should offset (not duplicate) the number of hours worked. HOLIDAY BENEFIT HOURS PAID: Enter an amount only if the employee is to be paid holiday pay during this payroll period. Vacation, Holiday and Sick pay are computed against the REGULAR HOURLY RATE. Salaried employees are paid vacation and sick pay at a rate that equals an hourly representation of their annual pay. BENEFIT HOURS ACCRUED: This field displays the amount of vacation pay and sick pay (hours) accrued to date. The amount is based upon (1) the parameters you have selected for your company (See EMPLOYEE BENEFITS), and (2) the amount of benefits this employee receives. The amount of benefits for each employee is set when you enter the employee into your payroll database. The amount displayed is advisory only. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 75 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: ENTERING EARNINGS (CONT) BENEFIT HOURS ACCRUED: (cont) You may pay any amount (number of hours). If the amount of hours displayed is a negative amount, the employee "owes you" the number of hours indicated. Each time payroll is processed, ZIPPER automatically computes the number of benefit hours earned by each employee, based on the parameters described above. SALARY: This amount is automatically provided but can be changed. The amount displayed is based on the salary per pay period that you have entered for this employee. If the employee is paid hourly this field is blank, and an amount should not be entered. TIPS: Food service businesses have special requirements with respect to income categorized as tips. ZIPPER handles tips in a method that provides the greatest flexibility (for you), and still keeps your bookkeeping (payroll) correct. Tips are not difficult to handle, from ZIPPER's point of view, but it is important that you understand how this information is processed. TIPS PAID: These are tips that are collected by you, the employer, and then included in your employees paycheck. Do not include any tips that the employee has already collected (received). TIPS REPORTED: These are tips that are already in the hands of your employee. How they get there is not important (to ZIPPER). Whether or not you collect and later disperse this money to your employee (as in tips that are included in credit card purchases, or "pooled" tips, or the employee takes them is cash off the table), the IRS requires that these tips be reported as income. Since the employee is already in possession of REPORTED TIPS (like an advance), you do not want to include it in their pay. You do, however, need to include it in their Page 76 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual payroll calculation to ensure it is subject to withholding and FICA. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 77 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: ENTERING EARNINGS (CONT) TIPS REPORTED: By entering this amount in the TIPS REPORTED category during payroll processing, you will insure that the above requirements are met. These tips are added to the employee's pay for tax calculations, and then subtracted so they are not paid again. Note that in manually calculating the TOTAL EARNINGS, TOTAL DEDUCTIONS and NET PAY amounts on the check stubs, payroll vouchers, or payroll proof report, the amount of TOTAL DEDUCTIONS will also include the amount of TIPS REPORTED. The DEDUCTIONS column will therefore seem to be incorrect, but it is not so. The TIPS category on the check (payroll voucher, or proof report) combines TIPS PAID and TIPS REPORTED, even though ZIPPER keeps them separate. In a food service business it is possible for an employee to have a "minus" pay. This happens when the amount of TIPS REPORTED is very large, and the amount of wages or salary is relatively small. Usually, the amount of withholding (Federal and/or State) is too large for the small amount of wages included in the check. ZIPPER will not allow the processing of a zero or negative payroll. Should such a condition occur, you will need to correct these payroll record. See NEGATIVE PAYROLL. COMMISSION: Enter the dollar amount of this type of earnings. OTHER INCOME / PAY: Enter the dollar amount of this type of pay. DESCRIPTION (of OTHER INCOME / PAY): Enter a description, up to 30 characters, describing the basis for this entry. Page 78 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: ENTERING DEDUCTIONS Deductions are entered on the second screen (page) of each payroll record. Figure 3.3 EXTRA FEDERAL WITHHOLDING: This item will display an amount if the employee has requested an additional amount of Federal Withholding Tax to be withheld, and you have entered this amount into the employee's payroll record. This amount will appear in every payroll record you create for this employee, but may be edited or deleted for any payroll. DO NOT ENTER FEDERAL WITHHOLDING TAX from the Tax Tables, Circular E, into this field. Federal Withholding Tax is automatically calculated by ZIPPER. EXTRA STATE WITHHOLDING: Same as above. DO NOT ENTER STATE WITHHOLDING TAX into this field. State Withholding Tax is automatically calculated by ZIPPER in states where withholding tax exists. This field should be blank if there is not a withholding tax in your state. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 79 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: ENTERING DEDUCTIONS EXTRA CITY WITHHOLDING TAX: Same as above. DO NOT ENTER CITY WITHHOLDING TAX into this field. City Withholding Tax is automatically calculated by ZIPPER if you have created City / Local Tax tables. This field should be blank if there is not a withholding tax in your city or local municipality. MEDICAL / DENTAL BENEFITS: This field will contain an amount if you have entered this information in the individual employee's record. You may change or delete the amount from this particular record. See ENTERING NEW EMPLOYEES - DEDUCTIONS FOR MEDICAL BENEFITS. PENSION PLAN: See the section on PENSION PLANS. UNION DUES: See the section on UNION DUES. ADVANCES AGAINST PAY: Use this field to recover payroll advances that have been paid to this employee. ZIPPER displays the amount of advances accumulated to date. The amount displayed (the amount the employee owes you) is advisory. Enter whatever amount you wish to deduct from this payroll. DO NOT ENTER THIS ITEM AS A NEGATIVE AMOUNT. OTHER DEDUCTIONS: May be used for any purpose (savings bonds, profit sharing, etc). DESCRIPTION (of OTHER DEDUCTIONS): Enter a description, up to 30 characters, describing the basis for this entry. After you have entered data into the last DEDUCTION field, you will be taken to the first EARNINGS field of the next payroll record. After you have entered all data for each employee, press [ESC]. You are ready to begin AUTOMATED PAYROLL PROCESSING (compute payroll). Page 80 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: COMPUTING PAYROLL After all payroll data is entered, you are ready to begin Automated Payroll Processing. ZIPPER steps through each payroll record and calculates all necessary deductions, taxes, and liabilities. You can watch as each of the records, and each item within that payroll record is calculated. A check mark will appear next to each item as it is calculated. Items that are not checked have not been computed. Figure 3.4 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 81 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: EDITING AND REPROCESSING PAYROLL (NEGATIVE PAYROLL) After all payroll computations have been completed, ZIPPER checks to be sure that there are not any payroll records that have resulted in a Net Pay of $0.00 or an amount that is less then zero. If this occurs a warning screen will display. Figure 3.5 Press any key to continue, and select payroll records that have a zero or negative net pay. Figure 3.6 Press [F8] and/or [F7] to move up and down the payroll records. Select records by pressing [ANY KEY]. A check mark will appear next to any selected records. Press [SPACE BAR] to unselect any records. Page 82 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: EDITING AND REPROCESSING PAYROLL (NEGATIVE PAYROLL) You can also print the Payroll Proof Report. The Payroll Proof Report provides greater detail then viewing the records on screen, and will be more helpful in indicating the reason for the zero or negative net pay. The most likely causes for a zero or negative net pay are: 1. Deducting an advance that is greater than the amount of available pay. Correct this condition by changing the amount of the advance deduction. 2. A large amount of Reported Tips combined with a small amount of wages or salary. Correct this condition by entering a negative amount in Extra Federal Withholding field (Deductions) that is greater than the amount of the negative balance. 3. Any deduction that was incorrectly entered. Correct this condition by changing the amount of the deduction. You must correct or delete the offending record(s), as ZIPPER will not process any zero or negative paychecks. These records are held "in limbo" until they have been corrected and reprocessed, or deleted. If any payroll records have been selected they will be immediately reprocessed. This means that the original payroll calculations will be reset and you will be allowed to make changes. Edits or changes to these records will not have any effect until the records are reprocessed. Reprocessing edited payroll records is the same as selecting (3) Compute Payroll (Automated Processing) from the PAYROLL MENU. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 83 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: EDITING AND REPROCESSING PAYROLL (NEGATIVE PAYROLL) You cannot create checks for these records until they have been reprocessed, and you cannot create checks for these records until the net pay is greater than zero. Remember, these records are "in limbo", and will remain that way until reprocessed or deleted. Also, if you create checks (print / export / write) ZIPPER will ignore any zero or negative net pay records. After you have edited these payroll records, ZIPPER will remind you to recompute or delete these payroll records. There is also a no action option. You can recompute or delete these payroll records later from the PAYROLL MENU. If you select the option to delete the edited payroll records, ZIPPER will delete every record that you marked for editing, even records with a "positive" balance. If you have zero or negative net pay records that you want to delete AND other payroll records that you want to edit and reprocess, these records should be selected and reprocessed in different groups. In other words, select and delete payroll records, then select, edit, and reprocess any other payroll records. There is no limit to the number of times that payroll records may be selected, edited, and reprocessed. Page 84 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: PROOFING PAYROLL RECORDS ZIPPER lets you evaluate your payroll records before you print or export your paychecks. You can view these records on screen, or print a report showing the full payroll. While viewing the records on screen, you have the ability to select any or all of the records for further editing or deletion. See DESTROYING PAYROLL RECORDS. To proof your payroll records, select (4) Final Proof Payroll Records from the PAYROLL MENU. By "Final Proof", we mean this is your last opportunity to review, evaluate, or change any of your payroll records prior to printing checks (or exporting to Quicken). The PAYROLL PROOF/EDIT MENU allows you to: (1) Print Payroll Proof Report (2) Select Records to Edit / Correct / Destroy PAYROLL PROOF REPORT: This report shows the Earnings, Deductions, Hours Worked, Hours Paid, Gross Earning, and Net Pay for each employee. The report also provides a total of these amounts for the entire payroll group. This lets you see your total payroll requirement (Net Pay) before you print checks. The Payroll Proof Report tells you how much money you need in the bank to cover this payroll. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 85 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: PROOFING PAYROLL RECORDS (CONT) SELECT RECORDS TO EDIT / CORRECT / DESTROY: Selecting this option lets you view your payroll records on the screen. This allows you to see the Hours, Earnings, Deductions, and Net Pay for each employee. If you want to change any of these records they must be individually selected. Each record you have selected will be identified with a check mark. After you have made your selection(s), press [ESC]. ZIPPER automatically re-processes each of these payroll records, and makes them available for changes. You may now edit or delete these records and process again. Figure 3.4 Page 86 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: CREATING MULTIPLE PAYROLL GROUPS As soon as you have created a payroll group you may create another payroll group. You can create a payroll group, complete automated payroll processing, and then create another payroll group. These multiple groups can then be printed (paychecks) or exported at the same time. You might find that you generate a payroll group, have it ready to print, and then decide to generate another payroll group as well. ZIPPER allows the greatest flexibility possible. Under certain conditions, however, ZIPPER may become confused as to which payroll group you want to work with. Should this occur, ZIPPER will ask. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 87 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: PRINTING PAYCHECKS If you want ZIPPER to print your checks, you need the checks that are designed to be used with ZIPPER Payroll. These checks are available directly from Deluxe Business Systems. See ORDERING CHECKS. After you have finished computing your payroll you may print paychecks. If you do not wish to review (Final Proof) your payroll records, or you have already done so, select (5) Print / Export Paychecks from the PAYROLL MENU. ZIPPER will now update the Year-To- Date payroll records for each employee. You may now select your method of processing paychecks. To have ZIPPER print your checks, select (1) Print Checks, from the CHECK PRINTING / EXPORTING MENU. ZIPPER will show you your currently selected printing configuration, and allow you to make any changes. You need to select the printer that allows printing in the compressed (approximately 17 characters per inch) mode. ZIPPER also supports the printing of paychecks on laser printers. (See PRINTER CONFIGURATION.) This would be a good time to insert the ZIPPER custom paychecks forms into your printer. The first time you print your checks you will need to do some experimenting with the alignment of your printer and the checks. Your particular set-up depends on the configuration of your printer. In most cases, you will need to order a special "form saver" or check leader to attach to your first check so that you don't waste a check each time you print paychecks. Once you have established the "proper alignment" for your printer, you should "record" this information. Make note of this alignment, and perhaps make a mark on your check leader so that subsequent printing of checks will be easier. For an initial setting, we recommend that you align the top edge of the check (the "first line") with the top of your printer's print head. Page 88 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: PRINTING PAYCHECKS (CONT) ZIPPER now displays the number of checks that are ready to print. This will be the same as the number of payroll records that ZIPPER just updated, unless you are printing paychecks for more than one payroll group. If you have created and processed more that one payroll group you can print paychecks for all of them at the same time. ZIPPER now displays the check number it thinks you will want to use for the next check. If this is the first group of checks ZIPPER is printing the number will be zero ( 0 ). Each time you print checks ZIPPER will maintain the number, and display the check number it thinks you will want to use at that time. You may use the check number displayed by pressing [ENTER] or you may enter a new check number. Figure 3.8 ZIPPER will now ask if you want to print one check to verify your printer alignment. Choosing "NO" will have ZIPPER print all of your paychecks. Choosing "YES" is the safe way to see if the alignment of your check and printer is correct. Choosing "YES" will have ZIPPER print only the first check, and then ask you if it printed OK. If you choose not to print just the first check, all of your checks will now print. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 89 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: PRINTING PAYCHECKS (CONT) ZIPPER will then want to know if your check(s) printed correctly. If it printed correctly (the alignment was correct and the printer did not jamb), select "YES", if not, select "NO". Depending on your choice, ZIPPER will take you to the appropriate next step. If your first check did not print correctly, ZIPPER will take you back to where you started in printing these checks, and verify the check number. ZIPPER assumes that you "trashed" the first check and increments the number by one. Accept or change the number displayed, and once again you may print only one or all of your checks. If the alignment of your first check was correct, you may now print your remaining checks. You can quit and come back later to finish printing checks. If your checks printed correctly, and there were no printing errors (printer jammed, checks torn, etc.) then press [ENTER]. This tells ZIPPER that everything processed correctly. ZIPPER will then update the payroll register for the check(s) it just printed. The payroll cycle in now complete. If any printing errors occurred, you need to tell ZIPPER the number of the first check that did not correctly print. Based on the number you enter, ZIPPER assumes that the checks that printed before this number printed OK. These records are updated (completed) and removed from the list of checks you have to print. You must enter a number that is between the first and last check number displayed (the check numbers ZIPPER thinks it just printed). Page 90 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: PRINTING CHECKS WITH QUICKEN (TM) ZIPPER provides an option to "Export" payroll check data in a format that can be used by Quicken. The format used by ZIPPER is compatible with Quicken, Version 3.x and later. You will need to tell ZIPPER where your Quicken files are located, so that ZIPPER will know where to send the data. This may be done the first time you export data to Quicken, or from the SYSTEM MENU, select (6) QUICKEN Configuration. Payroll data will be exported to a file ZIPPERQ3.DAT, located in the directory that you have identified. If you do not identify a directory to use, ZIPPER will use the default setting as indicated on the screen. You may change the default setting for the Drive & Path, and also the Category or Class for Quicken to use. Be sure the directory location is entered correctly, or the file will not be created. The default settings are: DRIVE & PATH : C:\Quicken CATEGORY : Net Payroll IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT PREVIOUSLY CREATED ZIPPERQ3.DAT FILES WILL BE DESTROYED (OVER-WRITTEN) BY THE CURRENTLY CREATED ZIPPERQ3.DAT FILE. IT IS THEREFORE ALSO IMPORTANT THAT EACH UNIQUE ZIPPER PAYROLL CYCLE BE IMPORTED INTO QUICKEN IMMEDIATELY AFTER IT IS CREATED. To export the data to Quicken, select the Export To Quicken option from the CHECKS MENU. ZIPPER will take you through the steps to export your payroll data (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 91 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: IMPORTING PAYROLL DATA INTO QUICKEN To import the data into Quicken: 1. Quit ZIPPER 2. Start Quicken. 3. Select the Account Group you wish to use. 4. From the Check Register select [F2] Acct/Print. 5. Then, select - 6. Import. 6. At the "Import From ASCII File" menu: FILE: [ enter the filename ] Enter ZIPPERQ3.DAT Quicken remembers your entry, so the next time you import you will not have to enter a filename. Include items which are transfers (Y/N): [ enter N ] 7. Quicken will import the data, and your paychecks are ready to print. See your Quicken User's Manual for additional information. PAYROLL VOUCHERS: Quicken does not print payroll check stubs for your employees. If you export your "checks" to Quicken, you should let ZIPPER print these check stubs (payroll vouchers) for you. See Printing Payroll Vouchers. Page 92 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: PRINTING PAYROLL VOUCHERS ZIPPER provides the flexibility to print paychecks, export paychecks to Quicken, or write checks by hand. There are advantages to each, and the decision is yours to make. You choose how you wish to "write" your paychecks after you have created and processed your payroll records. You should print payroll vouchers if ZIPPER is not printing your paychecks. If ZIPPER prints your paychecks, all payroll information, both current and year-to-date, is included on the "pay stub" portion of the check. If you are sending your data to Quicken, Quicken is not capable of providing the detailed payroll information included on the stub portion of the check. ZIPPER will export your data to Quicken and still print a separate payroll voucher to be included with the Quicken printed check. This same option is also available if you elect to write your checks by hand. Payroll vouchers may be printed after the payroll records have been fully processed. From the PAYROLL MENU select (5) Print / Export Paychecks. If you are exporting your data to Quicken, ZIPPER will ask you if you want to print payroll vouchers after your data has been exported. You must print these payroll vouchers at this time. If you do not print the vouchers at that time, you will not be allowed to print them later. You can print your vouchers first and export your data to Quicken second. Select option (3), Print Vouchers, and then export your data. If you write checks by hand select option (3), Print Vouchers, and then select option (4), Manually Process Checks, after you have printed your vouchers. You may then enter the numbers for the checks you have written. Manually entering check numbers is optional, and although you are encouraged to do so, ZIPPER does not require it. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 93 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: PRINTING PAYROLL VOUCHERS (CONT) If you have paychecks that are ready to be printed, ZIPPER has a feature that will remind you of this when you start the program. If you issue your paychecks by hand, then you will need to select option (4) Manually Process Checks, at some point to "finalize" these records. If you do not do so, then ZIPPER will not know that you have processed them yourself. ZIPPER will continue to recognize these records as unprocessed, and remind you that you have paychecks ready to print the next time (and every time) you start ZIPPER. If you forget to manually process paychecks after printing vouchers, you may do so at any time. NOTE: Unprocessed payroll records will not be included in any printed payroll reports. You must process or "finalize" these records if you want this data to be included in any reports. Payroll records are automatically "finalized" when they are printed by ZIPPER or exported to Quicken. Payroll vouchers are printed one to a page, and are formatted so that the name, address, and zipcode of the employee will be located (when properly folded) for the window of a standard business envelope. Page 94 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: DESTROYING PAYROLL RECORDS This feature provides the means to delete individual payroll records prior to the completion of payroll. Consider a new payroll sequence. At some point after creating a "payroll group", you realize that you did not intend to prepare payroll for one of the employees in the group. You might need to prepare payroll for all but one of your employees (for whatever reason), and do not want create a Special Payroll to do so. Now What? ZIPPER can handle each of these conditions. You may Destroy one, several, or all of the payroll records you have created. To understand how destroy works, it helps to understand how ZIPPER handles payroll records. When you first create a payroll group, ZIPPER makes a new payroll record for each employee included in the group. These payroll records are placed in a "temporary work area"; call this Work Area 1. While these payroll records are in Work Area 1, you can enter or change any of the payroll information needed to complete each payroll record (Hours Worked, Benefit Hours Paid, Salary, Tips, Commission, Other Income, and any Deductions). These records are accessible in this work area at any time, up until you Compute Payroll (begin Automated Payroll Processing). AUTOMATED PAYROLL PROCESSING performs all calculations necessary to complete the payroll records in Work Area 1 based on the information previously entered for each employee, as well as the data entered in the current payroll record. After automated processing is completed, the payroll records are moved to another area, Work Area 2. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 95 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: DESTROYING PAYROLL RECORDS (CONT) To Destroy Payroll Records that have not been through Automated Payroll Processed (still located in Work Area 1), select Destroy Payroll Records from the PAYROLL MENU. ZIPPER will then warn you of the number of records you are about to delete, and ask you to confirm this decision. Select "NO" to abort this decision. Select "YES" and they are gone! Payroll records can only be Destroyed when they are located in Work Area 1. If you want to Destroy a payroll record that has already been processed (but not yet printed or exported), it must be returned from Work Area 2 to Work Area 1. Since the Destroy feature works on EVERY RECORD located in Work Area 1, you want to select only those records (in Work Area 2) that you want to Destroy (move to Work Area 1). Selecting payroll records is done by using the Final Proof Payroll Records feature. See PROOFING PAYROLL RECORDS. After selecting the payroll records you want (to Destroy), ZIPPER "unprocesses" each of these records, and returns them to Work Area 1. This is the same process you would use if you wanted to correct a payroll record. Selected records can now be Edited or Destroyed. Select Destroy Payroll Records to eliminate the records you have selected. ZIPPER will always ask you to confirm any records selected for Destruction. Once you have selected a payroll record for Destruction it has been "separated" from it's payroll group (still located in Work Area 2). If you decide not to delete this record(s), you need to "reunite" this record with it's group. This is done by once again Computing Payroll (Automated Processing). ZIPPER recalculates all amounts for each record, and transfers it back to Work Area 2. Page 96 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: WHAT-IF ANALYSIS One of the benefits of providing a feature of this type is that it gives you the ability to create a payroll group just to calculate and/or evaluate any type of payroll scenario. You can create a payroll group, calculate payroll, and print the Payroll Proof Report to see the effects of this payroll. You can change these records (See PROOFING PAYROLL RECORDS), and print another Payroll Proof Report. After you are through "playing around", you can Destroy these records. The records are gone, and will have no effect on your companies' data. This is sometimes referred to as "What-If Analysis". This type of feature lets you see exactly what your payroll costs might be if your business needs to bid jobs, and part of your bid a based on labor costs. Taking this analysis one step further, you could even compute the cost of state and federal payroll taxes on a hypothetical payroll. To do this, select your payroll group, and use a payroll date that is in the future (to help identify this group). Process your payroll (print the checks with your printer turned off), and then print the quarterly reports for that payroll period (enter the specific payroll date). Remember, ZIPPER allows you to process quarterly reports for any date range you select -- not just by quarters. After you have finished this analysis, be sure to UNDO any "what-if" payroll you have created. See UNDO / REDO. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 97 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: ADVANCES ZIPPER makes it easy to provide payroll advances for employees. ZIPPER maintains a running total for the advances that you prepare, so that you will know how much you have advanced an employee (balance) when you prepare a new advance or prepare a regular paycheck. The balance amount is advisory only, and ZIPPER does not restrict the amount you pay (advance) or deduct from a paycheck. Advances are created by selecting (1) Create New Advances from the ADVANCES MENU. You may prepare advances for one employee or several at a time. If you select (1) One Employee, ZIPPER will ask you for the employee's name. Enter the name in full, or use a wildcard (*) search. If you select (2) Several Employees, ZIPPER will provide you with a "Pick / Check" form to select the employees you wish to include. ZIPPER will list only "Active" employees. Press any key to select an employee, press the [SPACE BAR] to unselect any previously selected employee. Press [ENTER] or [F8] to move down the list. Press [F7] to move back up the list of employees. If you have more employees than will fit in the window, you may scroll downward [F8] or upward [F7] to get to the employee you want. Employee names are listed in alphabetical order. Select as few or as many employees as you wish. You may select additional employees in another session if you forget to include an employee. You may add to this list at any time prior to printing (or exporting) advance checks. Once an employee is selected for an advance this payroll record cannot be deleted until it has been fully processed. The completed advance may be deleted later (See UNDO / REDO). Page 98 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: ADVANCES (CONT) After you have selected the employees (one or several) you wish to include, ZIPPER will ask you for the date you wish to use for the currently selected advance(s). ZIPPER gives you the current date as the default. Press [ESC] to use this date, or enter a new date and press [ESC]. To enter a new date you can type over the date that is shown, or press [F2] to blank the field. A valid date must be entered. ZIPPER will show you a list of each of the employees you have selected. The Year-To-Date Balance (how much each employees owes you) is also displayed. Enter the amount of the advance you wish to pay each of the selected employees. You must enter an amount for each employee, and the amount must be greater than zero. You may not enter a negative amount. Press [ESC] after you have entered an amount for each employee, and are returned to the ADVANCES MENU. You may now print or export (to Quicken) these checks. If you wish to change the amount of any advance, you may do so up until such time as the checks print, simply select (2) Edit Advances. PRINTING ADVANCE CHECKS Choose (3) Print Advance Checks. ZIPPER checks to see that amounts have been entered for all advances. If proper amounts have been entered you may print or exports these checks. If you have forgotten to enter an amount you will be returned to the data entry screen where you can do so. If you have entered a negative amount (less than zero), you will likewise be returned. Advance checks are printed / exported like paychecks. See CHECK PRINTING / EXPORTING. If you are using ZIPPER Custom Payroll Checks, align them in the same way you do paychecks. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 99 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual ZIPPER does not provide the ability to print Payroll Vouchers for advances. Page 100 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual III. PAYROLL: DEDUCTING ADVANCES Advances paid to employees are recovered by payroll deduction. This is done when you process payroll (Normal Payroll or Special Payroll). When you prepare payroll enter the amount you wish to deduct from that employee. The Current (advance) Balance (the amount this employee owes you) is displayed to the right of where you enter the amount you wish to deduct. The Current Balance is "advisory" only. You may deduct as much or as little as you wish during the current payroll. ZIPPER maintains a running balance for each employee, and the Current Balance will always be displayed a payroll time. If you deduct an amount greater than an employee owes you, it will appear at the next payroll as a negative (-) amount. If you have "overcharged" an employee for an advance, you must process an advance for the amount you have overcharged. An overcharged advance cannot be corrected by payroll processing. You can ignore a negative balance (as long as the employee does not object) because the Current Balance does not effect payroll, withholding, or tax liability. ZIPPER treats advances as a "loan". (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 101 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual Page 102 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 103 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual IV. REPORTS Option (3) off the MAIN MENU brings up the REPORTS MENU. The REPORTS MENU provides eight options: Figure M4 NOTE: The menu selections followed by ". . . " indicate the presence of additional menus. ZIPPER Payroll provides a wide range of data output in the form of printed reports. Because of the nature of the data, ZIPPER does not provide data output to the screen. In order to take advantage of ZIPPER Payroll's extensive reporting capabilities, you will need a printer. You may also send your reports to a disk file. ZIPPER supports all printers; however printing of continuous W-2 forms or continuous checks requires a printer that can print in the compressed (17 cpi) mode. Printer control sequences, or codes, are sent to the printer based on the currently selected printer. The selected printer may be changed at any time a report is printed. Be sure that you have configured your printer(s) by giving ZIPPER the necessary control codes listed in your printer manual. See PRINTER CONFIGURATION. Page 104 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual IV. REPORTS: SUMMARY In addition to some of the specialized reports (like paychecks, advance checks, W-2 forms, etc.), ZIPPER provides the following reports. Payroll Reports Focus (grouped by) by Employee Focus (grouped by) by Pay Period Employee Benefits Report Pension Plan Report Year-To-Date Payroll Register Check Register Paycheck Register Advance Check Register Payroll Liability (Quarterly) Reports Federal Withholding & FICA Federal Unemployment (FUTA) State / Local Withholding State Unemployment (SUTA) State Disability (Industrial) Insurance (SDI) User Defined Tax Labor Union Dues Combined Liabilities Report Personnel & Management Reports Department Listing Employees by Departments Employee Birthdays Payroll by Department (Budget) SDI - Listing of Codes, Classes, & Rates (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 105 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual IV. REPORTS: SUMMARY (CONT) EMPLOYEE BENEFITS REPORT The employee benefits report shows the amount of vacation and sick pay that was accrued and/or used for the period selected. It also includes the amount of payroll deductions for pension or medical plans. The actual balance (accumulations as of report time) for vacation pay as sick pay are also shown. You may print this report for one, several, or all employees. PENSION PLAN REPORT The pension plan report shows year-to- date pension information by employee and pension plan type. It also includes the amount of employer contributions, as well as employee deductions. You may print this report for one, several, or all employees. YEAR-TO-DATE PAYROLL REGISTER The year to date payroll register is just what the name suggests. ZIPPER maintains year to date totals for each employee, and this report provides this data. The year to date payroll register report does not require a date range. You may print this report for one, several, or all employees. CHECK REGISTER ZIPPER maintains two check registers, one for paychecks and one for advances. Select the register you want to print, the date range you want to cover, and the employee(s) you wish to include. The report includes the Date, Check Number, Payee (Employee), and the Amount of the check. The checks are listed in numerical sequence. PAYROLL LIABILITY (QUARTERLY) REPORTS These reports form the backbone of your quarterly tax liability reports -- the ones you file with the IRS, and various agencies in your state. These reports require a date range, and will include every employee for whom payroll was prepared within the selected date range. Page 106 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual IV. REPORTS: SUMMARY (CONT) FEDERAL WITHHOLDING & FICA: This report will serve as the basis for your IRS Form 941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return. Although you would generally print this report for a specific quarter, you can select a specific date range to calculate the amount of your periodic tax deposits. This report will include all employees for whom payroll was processed during the selected date range. FEDERAL UNEMPLOYMENT (FUTA): This report is similar to the one above, but includes information for preparing IRS Form 940, Employer's Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return. You can select a specific date range to calculate the amount of your periodic tax deposits. This report will include all employees for whom payroll was processed during the selected date range. STATE / LOCAL WITHHOLDING: This report includes information for preparing your state and, if applicable, local withholding tax return. STATE UNEMPLOYMENT (SUTA): This report is similar to the Federal Unemployment (FUTA) report, but includes information for preparing the state return. STATE DISABILITY (INDUSTRIAL) INSURANCE (SDI): This report forms the basis for the SDI report, if SDI is treated like a payroll tax. USER DEFINED TAX: This report is used for states that utilize some type of payroll tax other than those listed above. If you have created such a condition for ZIPPER to track, then this report would be utilized to prepare that quarterly report. LABOR UNION DUES: If you are deducting union dues for any of your employees, then this report will provide the information you would need to report and deposit these dues with the respective labor unions. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 107 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual IV. REPORTS: SUMMARY (CONT) COMBINED LIABILITIES REPORT: This report includes information regarding your entire payroll tax expense. The report includes Gross Earnings, Social Security Tax (FICA), Medicare Tax (FICA) Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA), State Disability Insurance (SDI), State Unemployment Tax (SUTA), and Other (User Defined) Payroll Tax Expenses. The total payroll tax expense is also provided. PERSONNEL & MANAGEMENT REPORTS DEPARTMENT LISTING: If you wish to utilize the Payroll By Department report (see below), then you will need to assign each of your employees to a department. You do this by creating department codes and descriptions. After you have created all your departments you should print this report to review what you have entered. Printing this report will make it easier for you to assign your employees to their respective departments. EMPLOYEES BY DEPARTMENTS: If you wish to utilize the Payroll By Department report (see below), then you will need to assign each of your employees to a department. After you have made these assignments you should print this report for review. PAYROLL BY DEPARTMENT (BUDGET): If you have assigned employees to various departments within your company, then this report will show you what your year to date gross payroll is for each of these departments. It also includes a listing of each employee within that department, and the gross pay for each employee. EMPLOYEE BIRTHDAYS: This is a neat little "freebie" report that you might want to use in your company. It lists employee birthdays by months, but is discreet enough not to include the employees age. This little touch could help to build esprit d'corps within your company. Try it! SDI - LISTING OF CODES, CLASSES, & RATES: This report provides a listing of the codes, classes, and industrial Page 108 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual insurance rates that you have entered. See STATE INDUSTRIAL INSURANCE. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 109 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual IV. REPORTS IMPORTANT: Most ZIPPER Payroll Reports (other than personnel and management reports) will require you to specify a date range and/or specify the employees you want to include. (See the following sections for information on how to specify these ranges.) SELECTING A DATE RANGE FOR REPORTS The ZIPPER Payroll Menu System will lead you through the necessary choices to set the various report parameters. As an example, many of the reports require you to specify a report range --the period you want to cover in the report. In such cases, you create the range by selecting the specific dates or the quarter. If you wish to select "BY SPECIFIC DATES", simply enter the Starting Date and Ending Date you want covered in that report. The computer system date appears as the "default" Ending Date. You may delete this date by pressing [F2], and then enter the date you wish to use. The date range is inclusive. If you fail to enter one of the dates, ZIPPER will assume you do not wish to continue. Figure 4.1 Page 110 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual IV. REPORTS: A DATE RANGE FOR REPORTS Figure 4.2 You may create a date range by selecting "BY QUARTER". This feature lets you forget that silly jingle "Thirty days has September, April, June and November....". Now, by selecting "3rd Quarter", ZIPPER will automatically enter the dates July 1, xxxx to September 30, xxxx (where xxxx equals the current payroll year, like 1994). You may also select the "Full Year". This option creates the date range January 1, xxxx to December 31, xxxx. If you want the report to cover a period, say only the month of June, simply select "BY SPECIFIC DATES". SELECTING EMPLOYEES FOR REPORTS When you select a report to print, ZIPPER will ask you to specify the employees you want to include. You may select (1) One employee, (2) Several employees, or (3) All employees. See SELECTING EMPLOYEES TO EDIT. To select one employee, enter the employees last name. Remember, you can do a "wildcard" search by including the asterisk ("*") with a partial name. If you want to create a report including several, but not all your employees, select (2) Several employees. This will allow you to pick the employees you want to include. You must select at least one employee to let ZIPPER know that you want to continue. Your printed report will indicate the date range and the type of employee selection where applicable. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 111 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual IV. REPORTS: PAYROLL REPORTS BY FOCUS ZIPPER provides two primary payroll reports. These reports include the same information, but are formatted differently. Because there is so much payroll information that ZIPPER maintains, this report requires a minimum of four pages. That is to say that the report is four pages wide, even in compressed mode. You must have a printer that prints in compressed mode, or a wide carriage printer capable of printing 132 columns at 10 characters per inch. You must assemble the pages to format the report correctly. You will note at the top of the report that the page header line has special characters at the right edge, the left edge, or both the right and left edge. These characters ">" "<" help to indicate the relative position of the individual pages of the report. Examples of the respective top lines are indicated below. Illustration 4.1 After final assembly, the top line (actually the title underline) of the four pages should look like the sample below. Illustration 4.2 Page 112 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual IV. REPORTS: PAYROLL REPORTS BY FOCUS These reports give you all of the payroll information in one wide report. You need to tape these pages together (hence the special character markings above) to make effective use of this information. This may seem a bit unwieldy, but such is the nature of the payroll beast. This is the only report that requires this configuration. Selecting "Focus by Employee" will present the payroll data grouped by individual employees, and broken down by payroll date. Select this report if you want to review payroll for individual employees. Selecting "Focus by Pay Period" will present the payroll data grouped according to payroll date, with individual payroll records listed in alphabetical order within each payroll date / group. Select this report if you want to review payroll by the payroll date. Both payroll reports require a date range. You may print this report for one, several, or all employees. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 113 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual IV. REPORTS: SENDING REPORTS TO THE PRINTER ZIPPER will next display the current printer settings, and give you the opportunity to make any changes. Select YES to change the current settings. You may change the currently selected printer, the currently selected printer port, or both the printer and printer port. ZIPPER allows you to select among any of the printers (up to 3) you have previously configured, and supports printing to 3 parallel ports (LPT1, LPT2, and LPT3), and 2 serial ports (COM1 and COM2). SENDING REPORTS TO A TEXT FILE To send your report to a text file select that option. ZIPPER will ask you to enter a valid DOS file name. You may enter up to eight (8) letters or characters allowable by DOS. Do not enter a period "." or a filename extension after the "filename". ZIPPER will automatically enter a period and the file name extension ".ZPR" (Zipper Printed Report) to every report you sent to a disk file. ZIPPER creates this file in the current directory (where your payroll database is located). ZIPPER does not check to see if it will "overwrite" a previously created report file, so use care in selecting unique file names. If you enter a file name that matches a file that already exists, ZIPPER will overwrite (destroy) the previously existing file without any warning. Page 114 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual IV. REPORTS: PRINTING W-2 FORMS Printing W-2 forms is similar to printing checks; it requires the alignment of a preprinted form in your printer. From the REPORTS MENU, select (7) W-2 Forms. (See the section on SYSTEM to refer to setup information for Checks and W-2s on the CHECKS MENU.) You can order continuous W-2 forms from Deluxe Business Systems. (Check out the SYSTEM MENU, selection (8) Checks and W-2's for additional information.) If you do not wish to purchase the continuous W-2 forms (maybe you only have a few to print), then you can simply "print your W-2's" on plain paper, and then copy the data to the W-2 forms you can get free from the IRS or Post Office. OR, use a laser printer. YOUR PRINTER MUST BE ABLE TO PRINT IN THE COMPRESSED MODE (17 CPI) IN ORDER TO PRINT THE W-2 CONTINUOUS FORMS. ZIPPER begins by checking and verifying year end totals, and then creating control numbers to use for printing W-2's. ZIPPER will print W-2's only for employees who have been paid during the current year. ZIPPER will let you know how many W- 2's you have to print, and ask you if you want to print the first W-2 to check the alignment of your printer. Since the alignment of these forms is critical, we suggest that you print the first one, and adjust your printer as necessary. ZIPPER will allow you to print a test W-2 as many times as necessary to get the alignment of your printer and forms correct. Once you have the alignment correct, select "NO". This tells ZIPPER you want to print all your W-2's. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 115 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual IV. REPORTS: PRINTING W-2 FORMS (CONT) Box 1 (upper left corner) of the W-2 form is labeled as "Control number". The IRS does not use this information, but it allows us to sequentially number your W-2's. We do this in the event you have a printing error of some type, and one or more of your W-2's will need to be reprinted. After ZIPPER has printed (or thinks it has printed) all your W-2's, it will ask if they all printed correctly. If no printing problems occurred, select "NO", and W-2 printing has been completed. If printing errors occurred, select "YES". ZIPPER will ask you for the number of the first W-2 that did not print correctly. This question refers to the control number in Box 1 of the W-2 form. Enter the control number of the first W-2 that needs to be reprinted, and ZIPPER will once again allow you to test print and align your printer and forms. After the alignment issue is resolved, ZIPPER will print the remaining W-2's, beginning with the first W-2 you indicated as printing incorrectly. After you have successfully printed all your W-2's, ZIPPER will ask you if you want to print a summary W-2. If you leave your printer just where it is, ZIPPER print one additional W-2 form with the totals of all your W-2's. This is the information you need to complete your Form W-3. (The layout of the Form W-3 is different than the Form W-2, and ZIPPER does not directly provide printing of the Form W-3). This report may also be printed from the REPORTS MENU, (8) W-3 Report (W-2 Totals). ZIPPER will allow you to print W-2's at any time, but we assume that you would only want to do so AFTER you have processed all payroll for the year. The information included on the W-2 forms is the year-to- date totals for each employee. If you print W-2's, and then process more payroll for the year, your previously printed W-2's will be incorrect. Page 116 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual IV. REPORTS: PRINTING W-2 FORMS (CONT) PRINTING W-2's (AND THEN YOUR W-3 REPORT) SHOULD BE THE LAST THING YOU DO FOR THE "ACTIVE PAYROLL YEAR". SORTING LASER W-2 FORMS: Special attention needs to be given to properly sorting your preprinted W-2 forms if you are printing them on a laser printer. Single sheet W-2's are available in 4-set, 6-set, or 8-set forms. When you print W-2, if you have configured your system for Laser W-2's (above), then ZIPPER will ask you how many copies (sets) you want to print. ZIPPER allows you to print from 1 to 9 copies (sets). Normally, you would select either "4", "6", or "8", depending on whether you have state withholding (6-set), state and local withholding (8-set), or simply federal withholding (4-set). Prior to loading these forms into your laser printer, you must separate each form and then place them into like piles. You would then have one pile with just "Copy A", one pile with just "Copy B", one pile with just "Copy C", and so on. Now, place the "Copy A" pile on top of the "Copy B" pile, and then place this pile (A over B) on top of the "Copy C" pile, and so on. Now load these "sorted" W-2 forms into your laser printer, Tell ZIPPER how may copies (sets) you want to print, and relax. Obviously, this sorting procedure is not required to print W- 2's on continuous forms for dot matrix printers. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 117 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual Page 118 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 119 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual Page 120 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM Option (4) off the MAIN MENU brings up the SYSTEM MENU. The SYSTEM MENU provides eight options: Figure M5 NOTE: The menu selections followed by ". . . " indicate the presence of additional menus. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 121 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: COMPANY INFORMATION The first time you use ZIPPER it will know that it has not as yet been configured for any state. The first data entry screen will ask you about your company (Name, Address, ... etc.), to include the state where your company exists. ZIPPER configured itself for the state in which you are located, loading the proper tax tables (for your state) from the tax table database (ZIPxxTX2.RBF) into your ZIPPER payroll database. All of the withholding (income) tax tables, and the methodology for computing state withholding are loaded for your state. The Federal tax tables are already included. You should enter your Federal and State Tax Identification Number at this time. If you don't have this number handy, you may enter it at a later date. Figure 5.1 SETTING UP MULTI-STATE PAYROLLS If you do not have company branches in other states (all you employees are in one state), you may skip this section. As indicated above, ZIPPER configures itself for the state where you are located. This means that you cannot process payroll (without some changes) if you have branches or employees in several states. If your company needs to process payroll for several states, simply create a payroll database for each state. Each database will need to be located is a different directory. Page 122 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SETTING UP MULTI-STATE PAYROLLS Say your company does business in Washington, Oregon, and California. Each state has different tax requirements. In order to process payroll for your company, you must create a different DOS sub- directory for each state. (See your DOS users manual and the installation instructions for ZIPPER Payroll.) An example for this situation might be as follows: C:\ZIPPER______ \ZIPCA (or ZIP_CA or CAL-ZIP) |_____ \ZIPOR |_____ \ZIPWA You could locate the ZIPPER Payroll program files (ZIPPER.EXE, ZIPPER.OVL, etc) in the directory C:\ZIPPER, and the database files ZIPPER1.RBF, ZIPPER2.RBF, and ZIPPER3.RBF in each of the sub- directories for each state. This configuration will work as long as "C:\ZIPPER" is located in your DOS "path" (see your DOS manual). You will also need to copy the tax table databases (ZIP??TX1.RBF, ZIP??TX2.RBF, and ZIP??TX3.RBF) to each of these sub-directories as well. When you initially use ZIPPER Payroll for each of these states, simply use the two letter state designation (CA, OR, or WA) for the state in question. (Use the address for your branch location). ZIPPER will load the proper tax tables for each configuration. At the end of the year, when you wish to print W-2 forms, simply change the two letter state designation to whatever matches your company location, or enter the address of the parent location. This will insure that your company address will appear correctly on the W-2 form. ZIPPER will sense this change in state location, and ask you to verify that this is what you wish to do. If you affirm this action, ZIPPER will then load the state tax tables for the new state you have selected. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 123 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SETTING UP MULTI-STATE PAYROLLS THIS MODIFICATION WILL NOT AFFECT YOUR DATA, BUT YOU DO NOT WANT TO PROCESS ANY PAYROLL WITH THESE NEW TAX TABLES LOADED. In order for ZIPPER to load the new tax tables, you will need to be sure that the tax table databases (ZIP??TX1.RBF, ZIP??TX2.RBF, and ZIP??TX3.RBF -- where ?? is the current tax table year) are available in the current directory. If there is a city or local withholding tax (in your "old state"), and you have created one or more city / local withholding tax tables, ZIPPER will assume that the existing local tax tables will not be applicable to the new state you have selected. ZIPPER will want to delete these tables, and will ask if you want to review / approve deletion of each table. Select "YES", and then disapprove each tax table deletion. ZIPPER will delete the actual tax table(s), but save the templates containing the rates and ranges you have created. In effect, this will save your tax tables. After you print your W-2 forms (this should be about the last thing you do for the year), simply change back to your original state designation. This will reload the proper state tax tables. Again, you will need to be sure that the tax table databases (ZIP??TX1.RBF, ZIP??TX2.RBF, and ZIP??TX3.RBF -- where ?? is the current tax table year) are available in the current directory. See CREATING LOCAL TAX TABLES. You should now reactivate your local tax tables (if you saved them as indicated above). To do so, from the MAIN MENU select (4) System, (3) Payroll Tax Rates & Tables, (3) City / Local Income (Withholding) Tax. You need to again indicate the basis by which your City / Local Income Tax is to be computed. (See CREATING LOCAL TAX TABLES.) After making your selection you will be shown the first of your city /local tax tables Page 124 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual (templates). Press [ESC], and then press "Y" for YES, or press [ENTER]. ZIPPER will now recreate your tax tables. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 125 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SETTING UP COMPANY DEPARTMENTS ZIPPER provides the option of grouping employees by department. This feature allows additional management reporting capabilities, such as reporting payroll by department. Use of this feature is optional, and is also described in the section on PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT. If your company is small, and you do not have different departments, you do not have to use this feature. In order to group employees by department, you will need to enter Department ID Codes (that you define) and a Department Name that you assign to that code. Department ID Codes may be letters and/or numbers that you select to uniquely identify this department. The following are all valid entries: 0001, 1, 2, 3, 15, Exec, EXEC, Adm6. You may use from one to four characters. The entry must be unique, and ZIPPER will warn you if you attempt to make a duplicate entry. Figure 5.2 DEPARTMENT ID CODE: A Department ID Code should be entered for each employee (optional) within that department when the employee is first entered. If you later decide to change a previously entered Department ID Code, you will need to update each employee record that has been assigned this ID Code. You may change an employee from one department to another, at any time, and this will not have an effect on previous payroll. Payroll is "charged" to the "assigned" department at the time payroll is computed. This allows proper departmental budget reporting. Page 126 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SETTING UP COMPANY DEPARTMENTS (CONT) DEPARTMENT NAME: Each Department ID Code is related to a Department Name. You are allowed any twenty characters for this purpose. Typical departmental entries are shown below. The entry must be unique. ZIPPER will warn you if you attempt to make a duplicate entry. You may enter the department names in UPPER or lower case letters. You can print a "hard copy" listing of all Departments that have already been entered. This will make it easier for you to select the correct Department ID code when entering each employee. When you enter new employees into your payroll database, enter the Department ID Code for the appropriate department. This will "assign," or link, your employee, for payroll purposes, to that department. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 127 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: PASSWORD SECURITY The use of a password security system is optional. If you elect not to utilize a password system, then you will never be asked for a password. INSTALLING A NEW PASSWORD: A password can be set by selecting (4) System from the MAIN MENU, and (2) Password from the SYSTEM MENU. You will be informed that no password is in use, and then asked to enter a password. If you decide not to enter a password at this point, simply press [ENTER], and no password will be set. To enter a password type in any letters and/or numbers you wish. You are limited to a maximum eight (8) characters, and a minimum of one (1). The password is "case sensitive". In other words, the passwords "goForIt" is not the same as "GOFORIT" or "Goforit" or "goforiT". Some examples might be: "zipadedo", "JohnBrow", "12345678", "Bill6/%%", or "ZZ9z". Do not enter quotation marks unless you want them as part of the password. CHANGING A PASSWORD: To change the current password, you will be required to first enter the current password. If the password is entered correctly, you will be asked for a new password. You may enter any valid password. Page 128 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: PASSWORD SECURITY REMOVING PASSWORD PROTECTION: You will be required to enter the current password. If the password is entered correctly, you will be asked for a new password. Press [ENTER], and the password system will be removed. You will no longer be asked for your password when ZIPPER starts. Figure 5.3 USING THE PASSWORD SYSTEM: If a password is in effect, ZIPPER issues a warning when the program starts that a password security system is in use. The user is given three (3) chances to enter the correct password. If the password is not correctly entered by the third attempt, this event (date and time) is recorded and the program terminates. The next authorized user (someone who correctly enters the password) will be informed that someone tried to access the program, and the date and time of the event is reported. We call this the "tattle-tale" feature. ZIPPER does not keep a permanent record of these events - only the last occurrence is recorded. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 129 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SETTING UP WITHHOLDING TAXES FEDERAL & STATE WITHHOLDING TAXES: See the README.DOC file for any special conditions regarding your state. ZIPPER Payroll includes all federal and state tax tables, and ZIPPER "knows" the methodology of computing withholding taxes for your state. You do not have to do anything to create or configure these tax tables. Once you tell ZIPPER where (in which state) your company is located, it will configure and load the proper tax tables. The tax table databases for the current year (ZIPxxTX?.RBF - where xx is the year in two digits - 91, 92, 93, 94, etc.) must be located in the same DOS directory as your payroll database. If the tax tables are not present, ZIPPER will not be able to configure itself for your needs. Also see INSTALLING NEW TAX TABLES and MULTI-STATE PAYROLL. To set up other types of payroll taxes, select option (3) TAX RATES AND TABLES, from the SYSTEM MENU Figure 5.4 Page 130 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SETTING UP OTHER PAYROLL TAXES In addition to Federal, State, and City Withholding (Income) Tax, ZIPPER provides the ability to calculate the following payroll taxes. FICA: Social Security & Medicare FUTA: Federal Unemployment Tax SUTA: State Unemployment Tax OTHER: A user defined payroll tax To enter or edit the information relating to these payroll taxes, form the MAIN MENU select (4) System, (3) Payroll Tax Rates & Tables, (1) FICA, FUTA, SUTA, and User Defined. Figure 5.5 ZIPPER comes with the current rates and base amounts entered for FICA (Social Security Tax and Medicare Tax) and FUTA. You will need to enter the tax rates / bases in order for ZIPPER to properly compute your tax liability for SUTA and OTHER (User Defined Payroll Tax) as may be required by your state. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 131 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SETTING UP OTHER PAYROLL TAXES (CONT) Your state tax rates (SUTA and OTHER) may need to be updated annually, or more frequently, as required. You should not update these values until you want them to take effect. Changing these tax rates will not have any effect on previously prepared payroll. ZIPPER does not update these tax rates for you. ZIPPER does provide, to registered users, annual updates for Federal Income Tax (FIT), State Income Tax (SIT), FICA, and FUTA. FICA: In 1991 the IRS split FICA into the separate categories of Social Security, and Medicare. The current rates and maximum wage base for these items can be found on the cover of the Circular E, Employer's Tax Guide. This publication is sent to every business registered with the IRS. The tax rate is the amount paid by both employer AND employee. These tax rates are maintained by ZIPPER. You will not have to make any entries, nor will you have to update these rates from year to year. These tax rates, along with the federal and state withholding tables are provided to registered ZIPPER Payroll users. See the README.DOC file for information about tax table updates, and technical support. FUTA: Same as above. ZIPPER automatically computes the proper rate for the Net FUTA Liability based on the liability rate for state unemployment (SUTA), and the current FUTA maximum credit. SUTA: This information should be provided by the agency in your state that regulates unemployment benefits. The Maximum Wage Basis represents the amount of earnings that is taxable. Any earnings under this amount (total for the year) are taxable, and earnings over this amount are not taxable. Liability Rate refers to that to be paid by the Employer; Deduction rate refers to that to be paid by the Employee. Page 132 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SETTING UP OTHER PAYROLL TAXES (CONT) OTHER: ZIPPER provides the ability to enter one additional payroll tax that may be used in your state or locality. The following information needs to be entered. NAME / DESCRIPTION: A 24 character text field describing this tax. MAXIMUM WAGE BASIS: The maximum or ceiling, if any. LIABILITY and DEDUCTION RATES: Entered as a decimal value (For example, 0.014). Liability Rate refers to that to be paid by the Employer; Deduction rate refers to that to be paid by the Employee. The fields listed above should be left blank if you do not need to make use of this additional tax category. An example of this type of tax would be the California Employment Training Tax. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 133 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SDI CONFIGURATION: Configuring ZIPPER Payroll to properly handle State Disability Insurance (sometimes called Workers Compensation) involves only three steps: (1) SDI System Configuration; (2) Creating SDI Class / Categories; and (3) Linking employees to SDI Class / Categories. Much of this is accomplished from the STATE INDUSTRIAL INSURANCE MENU (below). To access this menu, choose Option (2) from the PAYROLL TAXES menu. Figure 5.12 SDI SYSTEM CONFIGURATION: From the MAIN MENU select (4) System; from the SYSTEM MENU select (3) Tax Rates & Tables, then (2) State Industrial (Disability) Insurance, then (1) System Configuration. This brings up the screen below: Figure 5.13 ZIPPER calculates SDI in one of four ways: None (no SDI calculation), based on Regular Hours, based on Total Hours, or based on Gross Wages. The method by which SDI is calculated is determined by entering a 0, 1, 2, or 3 into the Premium (liability) Basis field. Page 134 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SDI CONFIGURATION (CONT) NONE Enter "0" (Zero) into the Premium (liability) Basis field. ZIPPER will not calculate any SDI liability or deductions. REGULAR HOURS Enter "1" into the Premium (liability) Basis field. ZIPPER will calculate SDI on the number of Regular Hours entered for each employee. The calculation works the same regardless of whether the employee is paid hourly or by salary. NOTE: You should always enter the number of hours worked for every employee - even if they are paid a salary. TOTAL HOURS Enter "2" into the Premium (liability) Basis field. ZIPPER will calculate SDI on the total number of hours for each employee. This includes Regular Hours PLUS Overtime Hours. The calculation works the same regardless of whether the employee is paid hourly or by salary. Normally, salaried employees would not have hours entered for overtime, and all hours for salaried employees would be entered as "Regular Hours". GROSS WAGES Enter "3" into the Premium (liability) Basis field. ZIPPER will calculate SDI on the dollar amount of gross wages paid to each employee. ZIPPER also provides a field for MAXIMUM WAGE BASIS. Enter a dollar value in this field if you want ZIPPER to stop calculating SDI (both employer liability and employee deduction) when the individual employee's year-to-date earnings reach this amount. Wages (or hours) worked after this amount is reached will not be subject to SDI. CREATING SDI CLASS / CATEGORIES: From the MAIN MENU select (4) System; from the SYSTEM MENU select (3) Tax Rates & Tables, then (2) State Industrial (Disability) Insurance, then (2) Enter Class / Catagories. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 135 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SDI CONFIGURATION (CONT) In our example below, we have already created two SDI entries, or records. You can create as many SDI records as you need. You may create different rates (Classes) for different jobs, or assign a single rate (Class) to all employees. SDI can be paid by the employer, the employee, or both. Figure 5.13a Data is entered into each of the four fields. This information tells ZIPPER how much SDI to calculate (Liability Rates), and for which employees (Class Code). The Class Code provides the "link" to the individual employees. ) CLASS CODE This is an alpha-numeric field (you can enter letters or numbers). The entry should be meaningful. This field provides the link to the employee when the same value is entered into the employee record. CLASS / JOB DESCRIPTION This is a reference or information field. Enter something that describes this Class. Page 136 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SDI CONFIGURATION (CONT) NOTE: The next two fields are entered as a decimal values. What this rate actually represents depends on the system configuration. If the system is set to "1" or "2" (Regular Hours or Total Hours), then the "rate" will be a dollar value multiplied by the number of hours. If the system is set to "3" (Gross Earnings), then the "rate" will be a decimal (percentage) to be multiplied against gross earnings. A rate may be entered in one or both fields. LIABILITY RATE - EMPLOYER Enter the rate to be used to calculate the "employer portion" of SDI. This rate may be left blank if SDI is not "employer paid". LIABILITY RATE - EMPLOYEE Enter the rate to be used to calculate the "employee portion" of SDI. This rate may be left blank if SDI is not "employee paid". The calculated amount will be deducted (withheld) from the employee's pay. LINKING EMPLOYEES TO SDI CLASS / CATEGORIES: Linking the information you have entered above is now done in each individual employee records. From the MAIN MENU select (1) Employees; from the EMPLOYEE MENU select (1) Enter New Employees, or (2) Edit Employee Data (if the employees have already been entered). Press [PAGE DN] twice, this brings up the screen below (only the upper portion of the screen is shown): Figure 5.13b (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 137 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual In order to "link" an employee to a particular SDI Class / Category, you need to enter a Class Code that has already been created. Page 138 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SDI CONFIGURATION (CONT) LINKING EMPLOYEES TO SDI CLASS / CATEGORIES (cont) Now the liability rates for that Class can be accessed during payroll processing. If you enter a value into State Disability Insurance Code that does not exist, there can be no link. When you enter a valid code in this field, the Class / Job Description will display. In the case above, we have entered the code "1101". This is the code for "Parcel Delivery". When payroll is processed for Jason Browning (our example employee), ZIPPER will calculate an Employer Liability of $0.9107 times the Total Hours, AND it will calculate an Employee Deduction of $0.0118 times the Total Hours. The rates used for this employee are the rates entered in Step #2, and the calculation is on the basis of the system configuration established in Step #1. Now, press [PAGE UP] once. Be sure that the State Tax Status for SDI is set to "0" (Zero). This section of the screen is shown below. Figure 5.13c (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 139 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SDI CONFIGURATION (CONT) If you process payroll and SDI has not been calculated, the following steps should be taken: (1) Edit the employee record(s) to see if there is a link. (2) Edit the employee record (the second screen) to be sure that the employee has not been made exempt from SDI - the value should be "0". (3) Edit the SDI records you have created (or print the report) to determine that you have entered rates for Employer and/or Employee Liability, and (4) Verify the proper system configuration. NOTE: If you have created payroll records before a proper link has been created, you will need to destroy these payroll records, then create new ones. Page 140 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: CREATING LOCAL TAX TABLES If your city or local municipality has a personal income tax, and requires that the employer withhold this tax from an employee's pay, ZIPPER can automatically compute this withholding for you, within certain limitations. ZIPPER comes configured so that there will be no computation of city / local taxes. To change this, from the MAIN MENU select (4) System, (3) Payroll Tax Rates & Tables, and (3) City / Local Income (Withholding) Tax. ZIPPER now asks you to select the basis by which your City / Local Income Tax is to be computed. You have five options: Figure 5.6 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 141 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: CREATING LOCAL TAX TABLES (CONT) (0)-None means that ZIPPER will not compute any city / local withholding tax. (1)-% of Gross Wages means that ZIPPER will compute city /local tax based on a percentage of Gross Wages. ZIPPER will not consider any type of deductions, personal exemptions, or allowances. The appropriate tax rate(s) need to be entered in the tax tables as indicated below. (2)-% of Taxable Wages (Federal Base) means that ZIPPER will compute city /local tax based on a percentage of the amount computed to be "taxable wages" for federal withholding purposes. In other words, the same amount (not necessarily the same tax rate though) used to compute federal withholding. The appropriate tax rate(s) need to be entered in the tax tables as indicated below. (3)-% of Taxable Wages (State Base) means that ZIPPER will compute city /local tax based on a percentage of the amount computed to be "taxable wages" for state withholding purposes. In other words, the same amount (not necessarily the same tax rate though) used to compute state withholding. The appropriate tax rate(s) need to be entered in the tax tables as indicated below. (4)-% of State Withholding means that ZIPPER will compute city /local tax based on a percentage of state withholding. The appropriate tax rate(s) need to be entered in the tax tables as indicated below. (5)-% of Federal Withholding means that ZIPPER will compute city /local tax based on a percentage of federal withholding. The appropriate tax rate(s) need to be entered in the tax tables as indicated below. Page 142 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: CREATING LOCAL TAX TABLES (CONT) ZIPPER accepts only zero (0) through (5) as a proper entry. If you enter 1 through 5, ZIPPER allows you to enter information into a template from which ZIPPER will create a tax table. Create up to six local tax tables. Below is a sample of a tax table template for the County of Price for single persons. ZIPPER USES ONLY ANNUAL TAX TABLES, and then computes the proper tax based on the payroll frequency for each employee. Enter the information to create ANNUAL tax tables. Although the table below uses four "payroll ranges," you may have as many as eleven; each range includes a minimum (the OVER column), a maximum (the BUT NOT OVER column), a minimum amount of tax, a tax rate, and a tax base. Figure 5.7 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 143 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual EXAMPLE: Consider an employee who receives an annual salary that once adjusted for deductions and exemptions equals $39,000.00. The tax table above would translate this into the following equation (see row three): "The amount of (ANNUAL) income tax to be withheld shall be $150.00 plus 2.00% (.0200) of the excess over $10,000.00", = $150.00 plus .0200 times $29,000.00 ($39,000.00 - $10,000.000), = $150.00 plus $580.00 = $730.00. This is exactly the same as the federal tables, but the amount is computed (in Price County) on the basis of (3)-% of Taxable Wages (State Base), or the same amount used to compute state withholding (but not the same rate.) Page 144 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: CREATING LOCAL TAX TABLES (CONT) You can create as many as six local tax tables. When you first enter information into these tax tables, the "Table Description" will indicated that it is "Unused". This is a key word for ZIPPER, and you must enter some other type of description, like "City of New York - Single" (whatever identifies the table for you), so that ZIPPER will create a tax table from the information you have entered. If you do not enter something other than key word "Unused", ZIPPER will not build a tax table. Additionally, it is important that you do not enter any amount in the maximum (BUT NOT OVER) column in the row that represents the highest payroll range. In the table above this is the fourth row. The maximum column is blank. This tells ZIPPER that this is the last row in the table you have created. If your local tax rate is based on a flat rate (percentage) of federal withholding, than creating a tax table is simple. The example below shows how to create a tax table where the local withholding rate is eight percent (8%) of the amount of federal withholding. You need to enter information only in the first row. Figure 5.7a (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 145 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: CREATING LOCAL TAX TABLES (CONT) Notice again that the maximum column is blank. This tells ZIPPER that this is the last (and in this case the only) row in the table you have created. The table above creates an infinite range from $0.00 upward. If you selected (5)-% of Federal Withholding as the basis for your local withholding, then all employees (unless you have indicated that they are exempt from local tax) will have local withholding computed at the rate of 8% of the amount of federal withholding for this pay period. After you have made all of the necessary entries in the first tax table (Table # 1), you may use the [TAB] key or the [ENTER] key to move through the fields to the next tax table (Table #2). You may also press [F8] to move to the next table, or [F7] to move to the previous tables. If you do not have any more tables to create press [ESC]. ZIPPER will respond by asking you if you need to update (save) any tax table changes. Press "Y", "y", or [ENTER] to save these changes. Actually, if you press something else, your entries will not be lost. The entries you make for a template that ZIPPER uses to create your local tax tables. ZIPPER cannot compute local withholding, however, until you "save" the entries or changes you have entered in this template. If you press "Y" or [ENTER], ZIPPER will then create tax tables from your templates. Page 146 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual WARNING: You should carefully review your entries in these templates. Improper entries will effect the proper computation of local withholding, and therefore net pay. You may review these tables at any time, and make any corrections to the templates. If you make changes you need to tell ZIPPER to update the tax tables (save these changes). (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 147 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: CREATING LOCAL TAX TABLES (CONT) UPDATING LOCAL TAX TABLES: Any local tax tables you create may need to be updated annually, or more frequently, as required. You should not update these tables until you want the new rates to take effect. You can enter the new values in the templates and then press "N" (for No) to tell ZIPPER not to update the tables now. That way you can enter the changes whenever you receive them, but not have them go into effect until you choose to update or save the changes. Changing your tax tables will not have any effect on previously prepared payroll. DELETING LOCAL TAX TABLES: Should you need to delete any of the tax tables you have created, simply edit the templates. Change the Table Description to "Unused" and blank each of the fields by pressing [F2] when the cursor is located in that field. After you have done this to all the tables you wish to delete, press [ESC], then press "Y" or [ENTER]. ZIPPER will delete these tables. Page 148 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: INSTALLING NEW TAX TABLES After you have created a payroll database to process payroll for the new year, you must install the updated tax tables for this new year. NEW TAX TABLES ARE SUPPLIED ONLY TO REGISTERED USERS OF ZIPPER PAYROLL Install new tax tables from the SYSTEM MENU (3) Payroll Tax Rates & Tables, (4) Install New Tax Tables (Federal & State). The tax table databases for the new year (ZIPxxTZ?.RBF) must be located in the same DOS directory as your new payroll database. If the tax tables are not present, ZIPPER will not be able to configure itself for your needs. Tax table updates are supplied by SOFTCRAFT. These files should be copied to the DOS directory where you have located your payroll database for the new year. ZIPPER installs new Federal and State Tax Tables, but does not modify any city / local tax tables you have created. You will need to update any local tax tables you have created. See UPDATING LOCAL TAX TABLES. Be sure to copy the new calendar files (ZIPCAL.1 through ZIPCAL.12) to the directory where your new payroll database is located. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 149 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SETTING UP LABOR UNIONS & DUES ZIPPER supports payroll deduction of union dues. You may want to take advantage of this feature if some of your employees are union members, AND you wish to deduct union dues from their pay. If your employees are responsible for paying their own union dues, then you should not use this feature. ZIPPER allows you to compute and track payroll deduction for up to 9 labor unions, and provides two methods of computing union dues. To use this feature, you will need to enter the information for each labor union you wish to include. 1. From the MAIN MENU select (4) System, and then (4) Labor Unions. 2. You may enter new information, or edit previously entered data. Note that each labor union is assigned an ID Number (1 through 9). This is the number you will later need to assign to each employee that is a member of that labor union. This is done when you first enter the employee into the payroll database. 3. If you do not need this feature, simply leave the "Union Affiliation" field blank when the employee record is entered. Figure 5.9 Page 150 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SETTING UP UNION DUES ZIPPER allows up to two types of union dues for each employee. These are "Flat Rate" and "Variable Rate" dues. FLAT RATE dues is the dollar amount of dues to be deducted per payroll period (each time payroll is prepared for this employee). This information is entered into the individual employee record. A flat rate system supports different rates for each employee. Thus, if the labor union in question had a different rate for each category of membership (apprentice, journeyman, etc), then the appropriate rate would be entered for each employee. In each case, you will need to convert the monthly dues into an annual amount, then divide it by the number of pay periods per year (either 12, 24, 26, or 52) to convert it to the amount to withhold per pay period. VARIABLE RATE dues is the rate (percentage) applied to the base you have selected. The base would be (1) Regular Hours, (2) Total Hours, or (3) Gross Wages. Thus, if the union in question computes dues as a percentage (say 1- 1/2% of gross wages), then enter 3 for Dues Basis, and 0.015 for Dues Rate. To deduct and track union dues, enter Union Dues: 1. First enter Union Information. 2. Assign a union affiliation to each employee that is a member of that union. 3. Enter a "Flat Rate" for each employee, AND / OR 4. Enter "Variable Rate" for the union, if applicable. ZIPPER will now automatically compute and deduct the proper amount of union dues for each employee assigned to any of the 9 available unions. ZIPPER will print a report (See LIABILITY REPORTS) of accumulated union dues liability for each labor (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 151 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual union, showing the amount of dues computed and deducted for each employee. Page 152 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SETTING UP PENSION PLANS: Configuring ZIPPER Payroll for pension plans involves two steps: (1) System Configuration; and (2) Linking employees to a pension plan. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION: From the MAIN MENU select (4) System; from the SYSTEM MENU select (5) Pension Plans. Figure 5.10 ZIPPER provides the ability to create up to nine different "Pension Plans". How each plan actually works depends on the entries made in each field. This fields below should be entered as described below for each pension plan you want to create. Press [F8] OR [F7] scroll through the available plans. PENSION NAME This field is for informational purposes, but you should enter a meaningful description. EMPLOYER DEDUCTION RATE Enter a decimal value that represents a percentage. Example: Enter "0.065" to represent an employee deduction rate of 6.5%. A deduction equal to 6.5% of the employees Gross Wages will be made at the time payroll is processed. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 153 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SETTING UP PENSION PLANS: (CONT) EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTION RATES ZIPPER provides the ability to have the employer make a contribution to an employee's pension plan. There are two types of employer contributions available. You should use either Rate 1 or Rate 2, neither, but not both. NOTE: Employer contributions are not "Elective Referrals", and are reported in Box 14 of Form W-2. EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTION RATE 1 Enter a decimal value that represents a percentage. This value represents an employer contribution that is based on the amount of the employee's deduction (see Employee Deduction Rate, above). If there is no employee contribution, there will not be any employer contribution. EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTION RATE 2 Enter a decimal value that represents a percentage. This value represents an employer contribution that is based on the amount of the employee's gross pay. MAXIMUM ANNUAL EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTION Enter a dollar amount if appropriate. Entering an amount in this field will tell ZIPPER to stop calculating pension plan deductions and/or employer contribution when the employee's total contribution has reached this amount. Only the employee's deductions are considered in determining the amount of year-to-date contributions. Leave this field blank if you do not want to limit the amount of employee and/or employer contributions. Page 154 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SETTING UP PENSION PLANS: (CONT) EMPLOYEE DEDUCTIONS SUBJECT TO The lower section of the screen provides the ability to make the employee's pension contributions either SUBJECT TO or NOT SUBJECT TO Federal and/or State Withholding. Figure 5.10a By default, each of these fields are blank. This means that the amount of the employee's pension plan deduction will not be taxed. This represents an "Elective Deferral", and is reported in Box 13 (Code D) of Form W-2. Pressing [ANY KEY] while in either of these fields will place a check mark in the field. The check mark indicated that the amount of the employee deduction will be taxed. This method treats the amount of the deduction as regular wages; they are not considered "Elective Deferrals", and are not included in Box 13, Form W-2. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 155 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SETTING UP PENSION PLANS: (CONT) LINKING EMPLOYEES TO PENSION PLANS: Linking the information you have entered above is now done in each of the employee records. From the MAIN MENU select (1) Employees; from the EMPLOYEE MENU select (1) Enter New Employees, or (2) Edit Employee Data (if the employees have already been entered). Press [PAGE DN] twice, this brings up the screen below (only the Pension Plan portion of the screen is shown): Figure 5.11 In order to "link" an employee to a particular Pension Plan, you need to enter the number (1 to 9) of the pension plan that has already been created in the previous step. When payroll is processed, the information about that pension plan is used to calculate the pension deduction and/or employer contribution for that employee. A second field, PENSION DEDUCTION, allows the entry of a dollar amount. The amount entered is a non-calculated employee deduction. If there is no pension plan assigned, the amount of this deduction will be treated as taxable wages. If there is an assigned pension plan, the amount of this deduction will be added to any deduction that is calculated by the Employee Deduction Rate, and treated according to how that plan is configured. Page 156 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: PRINTER CONFIGURATION Printer configuration is one of the more difficult aspects of setting up any software. Configuring your printer for ZIPPER can be easy, and involves only three steps: 1) Naming the printer, 2) Entering the printer control codes, and 3) Building the printer drivers. The most difficult part in configuring the printer is determining the proper printer control codes. The control codes, sometimes called "escape codes" or "escape sequences" can be found in your printer's user manual. An example, for the Okidata Microline 193 Plus, is shown below. We are concerned only with the "Decimal" values. This is what you enter so that ZIPPER can "talk" to your printer. From the MAIN MENU select (4) System; from the SYSTEM MENU select (5) Printer Configuration. This brings up the screen below: Figure 5.15 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 157 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: PRINTER CONFIGURATION (CONT) The upper portion of the screen is used to enter the printer name. ZIPPER allows you to set up three printers - Printer #1, #2, and #3. You must enter a name to associate with each printer you want to use. You can set up one, two, or all three printers. In the example above, the name "Okidata Microline 193" has been entered. After you enter a printer name, press [ENTER] or the [F9] function key to enter the printer control codes for that printer. You must enter the printer control codes for each printer you want to configure. To enter printer control codes, we are now concerned with the lower section of the screen. Figure 5.16 The left side of the screen tells you how to enter the codes and provides an example. The center lists the type of print, or "printer effect". The right side of the screen is where you enter the control codes that cause that particular type of "printer effect" to occur. Now enter the "decimal" values for the printer control codes to START COMPRESSED (15), STOP COMPRESSED (18), and DEFAULT (18). Be sure to enter the forward slash ( "/" ) after each set of numbers. The printer above uses only one set of numbers for each printer effect, but the EXAMPLE at the left side of the screen shows a control code with four sets of numbers (27/04/8/115/). Page 158 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual NOTE: Currently, ZIPPER does not use the BOLD printer effect. You do not need to enter any codes for START BOLD or STOP BOLD. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 159 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: PRINTER CONFIGURATION (CONT) After you have entered the printer control codes for this printer, you can enter information for a 2nd printer, or even a 3rd printer. Enter the control codes (described below) for the corresponding printer effect, and press [ENTER] or [F8] to move to the next printer control mode / sequence. Press [F8] to move down the list, and [F7] to move back up the list. After entering all of the printer control codes for this printer, Press [F9] to return to the printer name. You may then press [F8] to enter the next printer (if you wish to use more than one printer), or press [ESC] to finish. Press [F9] again to return to the upper portion of the screen. Press [F8] to go the next printer; enter a printer name, and press [F9] again to enter the control codes. And so on... Remember, each printer you set up must have a name and it's own control codes. After you have set up your printer(s) and control codes press the [ESC] key. ZIPPER asks: Figure 5.17 ZIPPER will ask if you want to update any printer drivers (save changes). Press "Y" or [ENTER] if you have just entered a new printer, or you have changed any of the existing printer control codes. Press "N" if you do not want to update printer drivers. Printer driver(s) will only be updated if you elect to do so. Changes made to the control codes will be saved, but the printer driver(s) will not be updated unless you elect to do so. You must build / update the printer drivers in order to print reports correctly. Once you have entered the control codes for the printer(s) you use, and have built new printer drivers, you will not need to modify these settings unless you replace any of your printers. Page 160 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: PRINTER PORTS ZIPPER recognized five printer ports; LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, COM1, and COM2. LPT1, LPT2, and LPT3 are Parallel printer ports, and COM1 and COM2 are Serial printer ports. You may configure any of your (up to three) printers to any of these five printer ports at print time. At print time ZIPPER will show you the current printer and printer port settings. The current settings are the ones used at the last printing session. You may leave the current settings as they exist, or change them to any other combination you choose. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 161 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: CHECKS & W-2'S ZIPPER Payroll provides the ability to print payroll checks and preprinted W-2 forms. These can be printed on either continuous, tractor feed forms (the type printed on dot matrix printers), or single sheet (8-1/2" by 11") forms. Single sheet forms are the type used in laser printers. Before you print checks or W-2's, ZIPPER needs to know which type your are going to use. From the MAIN MENU select (4) System; from the SYSTEM MENU select (8) Checks & W-2's, then (1) Select Check & W-2 Type. Figure 5.14 Select item (2) to have ZIPPER print an order form that you can fill out and send to Deluxe Business Systems. The configuration screen for Check & W-2 Types appears below. Figure 5.14a Enter either a "1" or "2" in each of the fields. If you will not be printing checks and/or W-2's there is no entry required. Page 162 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual V. SYSTEM: SORTING LASER W-2 FORMS: Special attention needs to be given to properly sorting your preprinted W-2 forms if you are printing them on a laser printer. Single sheet W-2's are available in 4-set, 6-set, or 8-set forms. When you print W-2, if you have configured your system for Laser W-2's (above), then ZIPPER will ask you how many copies (set) you want to print. ZIPPER allows you to print from 1 to 9 copies (sets). Normally, you would select either "4", "6", or "8", depending on whether you have state withholding (6-set), state and local withholding (8-set), or simply federal withholding (4-set). Prior to loading these forms into your laser printer, you must separate each form and then place them into like piles. You would then have one pile with just "Copy A", one pile with just "Copy B", one pile with just "Copy C", and so on. Now, place the "Copy A" pile on top of the "Copy B" pile, and then place this pile (A over B) on top of the "Copy C" pile, and so on. Now load these "sorted" W-2 forms into your laser printer, Tell ZIPPER how may copies (sets) you want to print, and relax. Obviously, this sorting procedure is nor required to print W- 2's on continuous forms for dot matrix printers. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 163 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual Page 164 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 165 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual Page 166 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual VI. UTILITIES Option (5) off the MAIN MENU brings up the UTILITIES MENU. The Utilities module provides three options: Figure M6 CHECK DATA POINTERS (DATABASE INTEGRITY): Your data is stored in a file on your hard disk drive. Each piece of data also contains a "pointer" to show where the next piece of data is located. Sometimes, due to power fluctuations, power failures, or other reasons, you data may be damaged. This damage can be to the actual data or to the data pointer. A LOSS OF DATA IS NOT DUE TO AN ERROR IN YOUR SOFTWARE. Lost and damaged data and data pointers occur due to power fluctuations (like someone switching on the photo-copier at just the wrong moment), power failures, a "hung" computer due to memory errors, or other events of this type. You can be assured, that this will happen to you at some time. It is a fact of life with computers. That is why you back-up your data. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 167 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual VI. UTILITIES: CHECK DATA POINTERS (CONT) ZIPPER provides you with a method to check the reliability of your data, before you save it (back-it-up). This provides an advantage over commercial backup procedures, in that these other methods do not check the integrity of your data prior to saving it. It is therefore possible to continually save corrupted or unreliable data, over a long period of time, without your knowing that a problem exists. Without being overly technical, what ZIPPER is doing, is checking the condition of the "data pointer chain". The data pointers provide a highway map of your data. Each location of data "points" to the next location, until the end of the data is encountered. Due to the events described above, it is possible for these pointers to become broken. When that happens, the highway map is broken, and all data located beyond the break cannot be found. IT IS POSSIBLE TO ENTER NEW DATA BEYOND POINTERS. DATA ENTERED BEYOND A BROKEN POINTER WILL BE LOST. With this feature, ZIPPER checks the data tables to verify the pointers are intact. The progress will be updated to the screen as the pointers are checked. This will happen fairly rapidly on a "quick" computer. The process will be halted only if problems are encountered. You may utilize this option as often as you like. UTILIZE THIS FEATURE PRIOR TO MAKING A BACK-UP OF YOUR PAYROLL DATA. Page 168 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual VI. UTILITIES: CHECK DATA POINTERS (CONT) If a broken pointer is encountered, you have several options. Your choice will likely be a function of the amount of data you might lose, and how valuable the data is to you. Your options are: (1) Accept your losses, and re-enter all of the lost data. This assumes you know what data you lost. (2) Restore the data from a previous back-up. This assumes that you have made regular data backups, and the data you intend to restore is fairly recent. Very "old data", or data that is missing many recent entries, is not of much value. If you rely on an old back-up, you will still need to re-enter the data that is not included in the backup you use. OR (3) You can send your database, with any or all backups you have made (PLEASE - COPIES ONLY), to SOFTCRAFT. We can also ATTEMPT to restore your data. DO NOT SEND ANY DATA OR FILES TO SOFTCRAFT FILES WITHOUT MAKING ARRANGEMENTS IN ADVANCE. There is a cost for losing data, the cost will be up to you. The more frequently you check the data pointers and back-up your data, the smaller your loss will be. The frequency of your back-ups should reflect the value you place on your data. We consider payroll data to be critical, and the few extra minutes you take each week (payroll) to check the data pointers and do a back-up will be time well spent. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 169 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual WE RECOMMEND YOU CHECK YOUR DATA POINTERS AND BACK-UP YOUR DATA AFTER EVERY PAYROLL. Page 170 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual VI. UTILITIES: COMPRESS (PACK) DATABASE Packing your payroll database reclaims the unused spaces in the data file. These unused spaces are created as a result of normal payroll processing. Packing the database may be done at any time, and as frequently as you like. Packing the database will improve the performance (reduce access time) of your payroll processing. DO NOT COMPRESS (PACK) YOUR PAYROLL DATABASE WITHOUT HAVING CHECKED THE DATA POINTERS, AND MAKING A BACK-UP COPY OF YOUR DATA. HAVING A RELIABLE BACK-UP COPY OF YOUR DATA WILL HELP YOU AVOID A LOSS OF DATA. PACKING A PAYROLL DATABASE THAT CONTAINS BROKEN DATA POINTERS WILL RESULT IN AN UNRECOVERABLE LOSS OF ALL DATA BEYOND THE BREAK IN THE POINTER CHAIN. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 171 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual VI. UTILITIES: CREATING A NEW YEAR This option creates a new payroll database for the next (new) year. ZIPPER simply clones your current payroll database, keeping ALL employee records, and resetting the year-to-date totals to zero - just like it was a new year. You may do this at any time, but you should wait until you have processed all payroll for the "old" year. This will insure that all accumulated totals (Vacation Pay, Sick Pay, & Advances) will be correct. YOU MAY NOT PROCESS PAYROLL WITH THIS NEW DATABASE UNTIL YOU HAVE UPDATED THE TAX TABLES. Since the payroll database files for the new year have the same name as your current year payroll database (ZIPPER1.RBF, ZIPPER2.RBF, and ZIPPER3.RBF), ZIPPER cannot let you build a new payroll database in the same location as your present payroll database. ZIPPER needs to create a new DOS directory to hold your new payroll database. ZIPPER will be prompt you for the Drive and Directory Name or Path where you want to locate your new payroll database. Enter the single letter for the drive you wish to use (C, D, E, F, etc.), and enter a legal DOS directory name. For Example: Suppose your active ZIPPER payroll database is located at C:\ZIPPER. You want to create your new ZIPPER payroll database in the same disk drive (Drive C), and in the directory named NEWZIP. Enter the directory as \NEWZIP . Be sure to enter the backslash [ \ ], and do not include a backslash at the end of the directory name. You can make the new directory a subdirectory of \ZIPPER by entering \ZIPPER\NEWZIP as the directory. Page 172 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual VI. UTILITIES: CREATING A NEW YEAR (CONT) IF YOU ENTER AN INVALID DIRECTORY NAME, OR THE DIRECTORY ALREADY EXISTS, YOU WILL RECEIVE AN ERROR MESSAGE TELLING YOU THAT ZIPPER WAS NOT ABLE TO CREATE THE NEW DATABASE. Creating a new year will take a few moments, depending on the speed of your computer. NOTE: Employee records were created for every employee in your old payroll database, including [I]nactive and [T]erminated employees. If you wish to delete any of these employees you may do so at any time. Your original payroll database (for the current year) remains unaltered. After the year is through, you might want to copy the *.RBF files to a floppy disk (you will need a high density diskette, 1.2 MB or 1.44 MB) to do this. Consider compressing these files using a compression utility like PKZIP, from PKWARE, to simplify this task and save space. In order to work, ZIPPER must have access to the program files that came with your ZIPPER product. These files are ZIPPER.EXE, ZIPPER.OVL, and ZIPPER.MSG. Make sure the program files are in the DOS PATH (PATH=C:\ZIPPER), and that you are located in this new directory (C:\NEWZIP) when you start the ZIPPER. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 173 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual Page 174 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 175 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual VII. UNDO / REDO Option (6) off the MAIN MENU brings up the UNDO MENU. The Undo module provides three options: Figure M7 USE CARE WITH THESE FEATURES. ONCE YOU HAVE DELETED PAYROLL RECORDS THEY ARE GONE - FOREVER. If you have spent any amount of time manually preparing payroll, it should be obvious to you that making payroll errors is something that happens. In designing ZIPPER we assumed that mistakes would be made, and we wanted to give you the ability to correct your mistakes without requiring a seemingly endless number of steps. The Undo / Redo features make it easy to correct your mistakes, but proceed with caution; changes you make may have significant consequences. Since ZIPPER allows for easy error correction while processing payroll (See PROOFING PAYROLL RECORDS and DESTROYING PAYROLL), what we are now discussing is correction of payroll errors after you have printed or exported your payroll. ZIPPER provides the ability to correct the following types of these "after the fact" errors: Incorrect payroll date(s) Incorrect payroll - Individual payroll (employee) record Incorrect payroll - Entire payroll group (sequence) Incorrect advance - Individual payroll (employee) record Page 176 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual VII. UNDO / REDO (CONT) Before making any changes, it is very important that you understand how this data is maintained, and what effect any changes will have. You may wish to review DESTROYING PAYROLL RECORDS. INCORRECT PAYROLL DATES: ZIPPER maintains a "register" of the payroll that you process. Each payroll group is given an internal sequence number (you do not need to know this number), and every record in that group "knows" that number. Since this register maintains data for each record within that group, changes that you make to the register information will effect every record in that group. If you need to change any of the payroll dates, you begin by selecting the specific payroll group that needs to be changed. A "Pick / Check" menu form is provided for your selection. If you select more than one payroll group, ZIPPER will remind you that this is not allowed. You will be returned to the Pick / Check Menu. When you have made your selection, you will be allowed to edit the payroll dates for this payroll group. You can press [F2] to first blank the field, or type over the date displayed. After you have made all of the changes you wish, press [ESC]. The Beginning Date and Ending Date of the Pay Period are more of an "informational" type of data. Changing either of these dates only effects the information that is printed on checks, payroll vouchers, or reports. Changing the Payroll Date, however, could effect your tax liability, and the period in which it is owed. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 177 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual YOU SHOULD NOT MAKE CHANGES TO THE PAYROLL DATES AFTER YOU AVE PROCESSED YOUR QUARTERLY REPORTS (the ones you file with the IRS and your state). Page 178 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual VII. UNDO / REDO: INCORRECT PAYROLL DATES Example: Say you created a payroll group with a Payroll Date of 10/1/93. The Pay Period dates for this group is 09/15/93 to 09/30/93. Even though you processed this payroll and paid your employees on 10/1/93, you realize that this payroll should be charged to September, not October. September is in the 3rd quarter, October is in the 4th quarter. Changing the payroll date from 10/1/93 to 9/30/93 will shift the tax liability for this payroll from the 4th quarter to the 3rd quarter. As always, ZIPPER will assume that you know what you are doing, and will allow you to make such changes. UNDO PAYROLL RECORD(S): There may come a day when you process payroll, print your payroll checks, and then realize that you paid an employee who no longer works for you (the employee's payroll status was not changed to (T)erminated), or you overpaid or underpaid some employee. Now what? You may even process a complete payroll group, print or export the checks, and then realized that you have paid the wrong group of employees. Now what? ZIPPER provides the ability to easily overcome each of these type of errors. UNDO INDIVIDUAL PAYROLL RECORD(S): In the case of underpaying an employee you might consider issuing a "supplemental" payroll check. You can do this by processing a "Special Payroll" See PROCESSING PAYROLL - SPECIAL PAYROLL. If, however, you decide the only way to remedy the error you have made is to delete the payroll record, then proceed to do so. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 179 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual VII. UNDO / REDO: UNDO PAYROLL RECORD(S) (CONT) INDIVIDUAL PAYROLL RECORD(S): (cont) In this case ZIPPER will remove all traces of the payroll record(s) that you select. The Payroll Register is updated to reflect the new number (one less) of records. The Year-To- Date Payroll Register for the individual employee is also updated. When this processing is completed it will be as though this employee had not been paid on the occasion(s) that you select. No muss, no fuss, NO AUDIT TRAIL; just gone! REMEMBER, YOU CANNOT UNDO AN UNDO! ONCE YOU HAVE DELETED (UNDONE) A PAYROLL RECORD IT IS GONE FOR GOOD. If you compare this feature to a "manual" system, it is just like tearing up the check and drawing a line through the entry in your payroll register. To UNDO a payroll record you begin by identifying the employee who's record(s) you want to delete. Enter the employee's last name exactly as it is spelled or use a wildcard (*) search. When you have selected the proper employee, ZIPPER will present you with a list of every payroll record for that employee. The payroll records are listed in descending order, with the most recent payroll listed first. Select any payroll record you wish to delete by pressing any key; a check mark will appear. You may unselect any selection you have made by pressing the [SPACE BAR] when the cursor is at a check mark. Press [ENTER] or [F8] to move down the list. Press [F7] to move back up the list of payroll records. Press [ESC] after selecting all the records you want to delete. After selecting payroll records, ZIPPER will ask you to confirm the selection(s) you have made. Choosing "NO" will Page 180 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual unselect all the records you have selected. Choose "YES" and they are gone! (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 181 ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual VII. UNDO / REDO: UNDO PAYROLL RECORD(S) (CONT) UNDO PAYROLL GROUP: Undoing a payroll group works like Undoing an individual record. The only difference is you select the group you wish to delete, and ZIPPER repeats the process for every employee record within that group. ZIPPER presents you with a list of every payroll group you have created. They are listed in descending order, with the most recently prepared payroll listed first. Again, use any key to select, and the [SPACE BAR] to unselect any previously selected record(s). ZIPPER allows you to Undo only one payroll group at a time. If you select more than one payroll group ZIPPER will warn you that you may not do so, and return you to the Payroll Register to make your selection over. In the meantime, ZIPPER has already unselected every record that you have selected. This time make ONLY ONE SELECTION. You may also press [ESC] to abort this process. If you select a group to Undo, ZIPPER will ask you to confirm the selection you have made. Choosing "NO" will unselect the payroll group you have selected. Choose "YES", and each record is gone! REMEMBER, YOU CANNOT UNDO AN UNDO! ONCE YOU HAVE DELETED (UNDONE) A PAYROLL GROUP, EVERY RECORD IN THAT GROUP IS GONE FOR GOOD. Page 182 (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ZIPPER Payroll User's Manual VII. UNDO / REDO: UNDO ADVANCES: Undo(ing) an advance works just like undoing an individual payroll record, with one small difference. Undoing advances combines the abilities of the Destroy feature with the Undo feature. ZIPPER allows you to select from every record in the Payroll Advance Register. The records are listed with the most recently dated records first. You may select advances that have already been processed (printed or exported), or advances that have not been processed. ZIPPER knows the difference, and will update the Year-To- Date totals appropriately for each employee. If you delete an advance that has already been processed, ZIPPER does not know if you have already deducted all, or any part of this advance (while processing payroll). If you delete such a record, and you have already deducted some or all of this amount in a payroll (deduction), than you may end up with a negative balance (-) for this employee. This will appear as a negative number in that employees account, and will be displayed as a negative dollar amount in each payroll record you process. This would seem to indicate that you owe this employee money (the amount of that negative balance), but that may not be the case. This condition, should it occur, will not have any effect on your payroll, or tax liability. It can only be removed by processing another advance for this employee, for an amount equal to the amount of the negative balance. The Undo feature provides you with the best reason to use a security password. Anyone accessing your data can wreak havoc, intentionally or otherwise, on your data. Delete the wrong information and you may be having some unpleasant conversations with the IRS. (c) 1994 SOFTCRAFT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Page 183