Payroll Setup Options Field List
For help with the fields on the Payroll Setup Options window, select from the fields listed below.
Company tab
Enter the number for the establishment at which the employee works, or to which the employee reports. This information is used for EEO-1 reporting.
Enter the NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) code for the establishment at which the employee works, or to which the employee reports. This information is used for EEO-1 reporting.
Enter the tax number (Employer Identification Number) for your company. The value you enter here will display in the Reporting ID field for the Federal Income Tax (USFIT) on the Form 941 and Form W-2.
You can assign a Tax Number for each database. This tax number is used to link an HR company to a payroll company.
To change the company name and address, or to change the contact name, telephone number, and fax number at the company level, use the
You can change the contact name, telephone number and fax number for payroll in the Options window in Payroll Setup.
Displays the number of employees you have whose status is Active. (Employee status is specified on the Class/Schd tab of the Employees window.)
Processing tab
This information defaults as defined during activating Sage 300 Payroll: you cannot change this field.
This field displays only if your company is set for multicurrency, and if during activation of the payroll program, you had chosen a different payroll currency from the functional currency.
Enter the currency rate type, which has already been defined in System Manager’s Common Services. This rate type will be used when you run Calculate Payroll.
Make sure you have set up currency information properly (such as exchange rates) in Common Services. For details on currency setup, see Common Services' online Help.
The system uses the current federal minimum wage for certain payroll calculations. You can change the minimum wage at any time. The new setting will be used by the next payroll calculation.
You can indicate the number of full calendar years (including the current year) of posted payroll detail your company wants to retain. The minimum is 1 year, that year being the current year.
When payroll history becomes older than the number of years you choose to retain, you can use Delete Inactive Records to delete it. You can maintain up to 99 years of historical data, but keep in mind that historical data consumes disk space. Two or three years of detailed history will usually provide the information you need.
Select either Minutes (the default) or Hundredths Of An Hour from the list to instruct the system how to interpret the entries you make at the timecard Start Time and Stop Time fields. For example, if you select Minutes, in Timecards you will enter a start time of 8:15 o'clock as 8.15. If you select Hundredths Of An Hour, you will enter a start time of 8:15 o'clock as 8.25.
You always enter fractional hours in the timecard Hours field as hundredths of an hour.
This option controls the number of digits to the right of the decimal (from two to five) that you can enter in employee hourly rate fields (for example, employee hourly earnings rates and shift differential rates) throughout the payroll system. (If you reduce the number of decimals in the midst of a processing cycle, precision problems may result on reports.)
You can enter the maximum number of hours if your company employs part-time workers and wants to be warned when a part-time employee has reached the annual maximum.
The bank you enter here will automatically display on the Payroll Checks window
If your company’s payroll currency is different than the functional (home) currency, you must select a bank whose statement currency (as set on the Bank window under Common Services > Bank Services) is the same as the payroll currency.
The check stock code you enter here will automatically display on the Manual Checks window. Use the Finder to select the check stock that was set up in Bank Services > Banks
Select this option to use original dates when reversing checks.
- If you choose this option, the payroll program sets the date of a reversed paycheck to the date of the original check regardless of the reversal date specified in Bank Services.
- If you do not choose this option, the payroll program sets the date of a reversed paycheck to the reversal date entered in Bank Services.
Important! Consider this option carefully, as the reversal date will have tax consequences for an employee whose paycheck is reversed. You should select this option if you want to prevent users from setting reversal dates in Bank Services.
If you want employees’ social security numbers to print on paychecks, choose this option; otherwise clear this option.
Note: SSN numbers printed on checks are masked, so only the last part of the number appears (for example,
When you set this option on the Payroll Options window, it becomes the default setting for the Payroll Checks window.
On the Payroll Checks window, you can change the SSN selection for the session.
The Employee Level Security option indicates whether your company uses Employee Level Security in U.S. Payroll.
Before setting this option, refer to Employee Level Security Warnings.
- To turn Employee Level Security on, select this check box.
- To turn it off, clear this check box.
Frequency tab
The payroll program uses the number of pay periods per year for certain calculations requiring annualization of earnings, deductions, and taxes. If you pay employees by the day, the number of daily pay periods is the number of working days in your payroll year.
You can change the number of pay periods at any time without affecting existing timecards,
The payroll program uses the number of pay periods per year for certain calculations requiring annualization of earnings, deductions, and taxes. If you pay employees once a week, the number of weekly pay periods is the number of working weeks in your payroll year.
Be sure to update this number at the beginning of the year when the number of weekly pay periods changes (from 52 to 53, for example).
You can change the number of pay periods at any time without affecting existing timecards,
The payroll program uses the number of pay periods per year for certain calculations requiring annualization of earnings, deductions, and taxes. If you pay employees every two weeks, the number of biweekly pay periods is the number of working two-week periods in your payroll year.
Be sure to update this number at the beginning of the year when the number of biweekly pay periods changes (from 26 to 27, for example).
You can change the number of pay periods at any time without affecting existing timecards,
The payroll program uses the hours per pay frequency in a number of payroll calculations. The number of hours per pay frequency is the number of hours an employee works at regular pay to complete a full pay period.
You can change the hours per pay frequency at any time without affecting existing timecards,