Copyrights and Trademarks

Payroll Getting Started Guide 1

Copyrights and Trademarks

Copyrights and Trademarks

Copyright © 2002-2018 by Us.
We hereby acknowledge the copyrights and trademarks of all terms we use in this manual and its
accompanying electronic documentation. This includes, but is not restricted to, the following names and
terms.
The following are the property of the Microsoft Corporation and / or its subsidiaries:
Microsoft SQL Server
MSDE
Windows 95, Windows 98
Windows NT
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7
Windows 8/10

The following are the property of Adobe Corporation:

Adobe Acrobat
PDF

Manual Version
April 2018 (2018.01)

Please note the following:

Specifications and information in this guide are, to the best of our knowledge, correct at the time of
publishing. Since we invest in our products on an on-going basis, the information in this guide is subject
to change without prior notice. Therefore, Sage South Africa cannot be held responsible for errors or
omissions. Copying or reprinting of this guide or sections thereof is not permitted without prior written
authorisation.

Payroll Getting Started Guide 2

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 4
The Hosting Site ........................................................................................................................................... 5
Getting Started ............................................................................................................................................. 6
Admin Tasks ................................................................................................................................................. 8
Add a Company .......................................................................................................................................... 10
Add an Employee ....................................................................................................................................... 13
Client Information ....................................................................................................................................... 14
Company .................................................................................................................................................... 17
Payroll ......................................................................................................................................................... 32
Leave .......................................................................................................................................................... 44
Accounting Integration ................................................................................................................................ 59
Reports and Exports ................................................................................................................................... 61
UIF Declaration ........................................................................................................................................... 64

Payroll Getting Started Guide 3

Introduction

Introduction
Sage Business Cloud Payroll is an online payroll solution.

Sage Business Cloud Payroll is a SAAS product. SAAS is the abbreviation for Software as a Service and
is sometimes referred to as "on-demand software". It is a software delivery model in which the software
and the user’s data are hosted online, and the user uses a web browser to access the software and their
data over the Internet.

Sage Business Cloud Payroll aims to provide a cost effective and easy-to-use payroll for the SME market.
There is no cap on the number of companies or employees that can be loaded. The payroll functionality
that the user requires determines whether Sage Business Cloud Payroll is the payroll solution for them.
Sage Business Cloud Payroll currently caters for:
• Monthly, weekly and fortnightly payrolls
• Multiple companies and
• Unlimited employees.

To ensure that the system remains user friendly, easy to use and easy to support, the customisability has
been limited. Earnings and deductions and basic calculations (such as overtime) have been pre-defined.

Terminology

Term Explanation

The website from which the user accesses Sage Business Cloud Payroll is called
Hosting Site
the hosting site.

The person who opens an account with Sage Business Cloud Payroll and is liable
Client
for paying the account.

User The person who logs in and processes on Sage Business Cloud Payroll.

The UI is everything that is designed into an information device with which a user
can interact. This will include the display screen and the software’s appearance on
User Interface (UI)
the user’s desktop as well as how a website invites interaction and how the user
responds to it.

Company This is the PAYE entity or employer.

Pay Cycle The pay frequency cycle.

Pay periods fall within a pay cycle. There are thus 12 pay periods (months) in a
Pay Period monthly pay cycle, 26/27 pay periods in a fortnightly pay cycle and 52/53 pay
periods in a weekly pay cycle.

These are all your earnings, deductions, company contributions and fringe benefits.
Definitions are pre-defined in Sage Business Cloud Payroll and editing has been
Definition
limited (e.g. descriptions and multipliers). Templates are used to select which
definitions are used in each company.

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The Hosting Site

We refer to the input that is done on all definitions as transactions. Sage Business
Transaction
Cloud Payroll allows for multiple transactions on each definition.

The different screens in Sage Business Cloud Payroll is referred to as “views”. We

Views
thus refer to, for example, the Company Detail view, the Payslip view, etc.

The blue blocks displaying to the right of the screen while another view is
Minimised view
maximised.

Tiles Each employee is displayed in a tile on the employee list.

Views are divided into different sections, indicated by blue headers and triangles to
Expander
the left. These sections can be expanded and collapsed by the user.

Switch The action to move between companies or tax years.

The Hosting Site

Information can be found on the following pages on the hosting site:
• Product Info
o This page contains general information about Sage Business Cloud Payroll and Sage’s other
products and services.
• FAQ
o This page contains basic questions about Sage Business Cloud Payroll, as well as
information regarding Tax, SDL and UIF. This page also has links to registration forms and
websites with more information on each topic.
• Contact Us and Support
o These pages contain all the phone numbers and contact details for Sage Business Cloud
Payroll.
• Login
o This is the page where all existing users log into Sage Business Cloud Payroll. Users can
bookmark this page.
o This page also contains details of what was released in each software update.

Important Information when Training with this Module

When training this module, advise the learners to sign up using the TRY THE DEMO button, using their
own email address. You will be able to go live with the information entered should you wish to, by
performing a roll over and entering the information as required.

Payroll Getting Started Guide 5

Getting Started

Getting Started
Steps to sign up as a user on Sage Business Cloud Payroll
• Go to the Payroll website: http://payroll.sageone.co.za/
• The following screen is displayed:

• Click on the Sign Up link at the top of the page.

• The following screen is displayed:

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Getting Started

• Complete the details on the Sign Up page. This is the information that will be used as the
user’s login details.
o Your name and surname – This is the client name and surname.
o Account name – This is the name of your Payroll account (your company name).
o Email address – This is the email address the user will use to log into Sage Business Cloud
Payroll. This email Address is also used for all correspondence from Sage Business Cloud
Payroll such as activation and reset password emails. It is thus important that an active email
address is used.
o Number of employees – Enter the number of employees that you will load on the system.
o Password – The password must be at least 8 characters long and contain at least one
upper case letter, one lower case letter and one number.
o Confirm password – The user must retype the password to ensure that the correct
password was entered.
o Voucher number – You can enter your voucher number if you have one.
o Terms and Conditions – You can click on Terms and Conditions to read it before checking
the check box in order to continue.
• After the details have been entered click on the Register button.

Important Information

Please note that an activation email will be sent to you with a link in it. When you click on this link,
you will be prompted to enter your email address and password.

• The registration process is only complete once you have clicked on the activation link. You will not
be able to access Sage Business Cloud Payroll before activating your account.

Payroll Getting Started Guide 7

Admin Tasks

Admin Tasks
Sage Business Cloud Payroll allows you to perform certain tasks to manage your profile and accounts.

My Profile
From the top black navigation bar, click on the drop down arrow next to your email address and select My
Profile.

You will be able to edit your details from this view.

• Display Name – The name that will be displayed for this user.
• Email Address – The email address linked to this account.
• Clients I am linked to – The user’s information will be displayed here including the site code and the
date that the account was registered on.

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Admin Tasks

Change Password
Click on the Change Password button. A screen will be displayed allowing you to type a new password.
Make sure that your password is at least 8 characters long and contains at least one upper case letter,
one lower case letter and one number. You cannot make your password your email address or any
portion thereof.

Reset Your Password

If you forgot your password, you can reset it:
• Go to the Sage Business Cloud Payroll website: www.payroll.sageone.co.za
• Click on Login.
• Click on Forgot password? to reset the password.

Enter the email address for which the password must be reset.

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Add a Company

Add a Company
After successfully signing up and activating an account, you will be prompted to add a company when you
first log into Sage Business Cloud Payroll.

• On the main navigation bar select Company and then click on Add new company or you can
click on the Add Company button. The following screen is displayed:

or

• After selecting the option the following screen is displayed:

• Enter the registered Company Name and also enter a Company Number
(0001 – 9999).

Important Information

Please note that if you do not select a unique company number, the next available number will be
displayed for you.

• Click on the Next button. The following screen is displayed:

Payroll Getting Started Guide 10

Add a Company

• Add a cycle name (for example, Monthly Salaries), choose a cycle frequency and add the date that
the financial year will begin on.

Important Information

Please note that the company tax year start date is automatically set according to the date
selected here. If the wrong date was selected and the process was finalised, the date cannot be
changed. A new company should be added and the company with the wrong date should be
changed to “HISTORY”. To change to history, change the company name on the Company details
view.

• Click on the Finish button once all the information has been entered. The following screen is
displayed:

• Enter the company’s details as requested on the screen.

• Once all the information has been entered, click on the Save button.

How to Switch between Companies or Reach the “My Dashboard” View

Follow these steps:

• From the Company Details view, click on the green Change Company or Cycle button inside the
black bar at the top of the screen:

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Add a Company

• The following screen is displayed:

• Click on the company and the cycle you wish to switch to.

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Add an Employee

Add an Employee
• Click on Employee in the main navigation bar and select Add new employee.

In order to add an employee, Sage Business Cloud Payroll initially only requires 4 fields:
• Surname,
• Date of Birth,
• Date Engaged and
• Tax Status.

Additional Information

Please note that in order to generate tax certificates, Sage Business Cloud Payroll will require all
mandatory fields as required by SARS. The following are mandatory fields required before you
will be able to generate a tax certificate:

Deleting an employee

An employee can only be deleted in the first period that you load the employee, by going to the
employee’s details and clicking on Delete Employee.

Ending employment

Ending employment can be done by clicking on the End Employment button. This button is available
when you click on Employee in the main navigation bar and select Employee details or by accessing the
Hours and rates, Employment tax incentive, Payslip, Private benefits, Payslip details or Year to date
values from the Payroll selection in the main navigation bar. You will also be able to access it from the
Leave option on the main navigation bar by selecting Employee leave details or Employee leave
transactions.

Payroll Getting Started Guide 13

Account Information

Account Information
• From the main navigation bar click on the drop down arrow next to your user name and select
Manage Accounts.

• The following screen is displayed:

Client Information has 3 tabs:

• Account details
• Invoice details
• Support

Payroll Getting Started Guide 14

Account Information

Account details
Account details contain the details of the person/entity that will be invoiced, the address and contact
details. Most of the account details are completed by you during the sign up process. This information can
be changed at any time.

Invoice details
Invoice Details hold all the invoices and the bank details. The unpaid invoices are grouped together, so
that you can see which invoices are outstanding.

Invoices are always generated on the last day of the month. You are then billed for all usage during the
month.

Payroll Getting Started Guide 15

Account Information

Support
You now have the option to give support consultants support access to assist with a query or to do an off-
site consultation. This means, the consultant can log into your account without having to ask for your login
details.

By clicking on Grant access the following screen is displayed:

Once you click on the Grant access button, the Support desk will have access to your information for 24
hours or until you decide to cancel the access. Once you click on Grant Access you will see the date and
time when the 24h session starts. You will also get a reference number for this support session.

Important Information

Please note that you must always log out of the system while the consultant is investigating. If
both you and the consultant try to make changes the system will give errors. ALL changes made
to the system will be discussed with you and confirmed that it is correct.

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Company

To cancel the support session, you can click on Cancel access as indicated below:

By cancelling the session it will not automatically log out the consultant. The consultant should still click
on Log out, but will then not be able to get back into the system as the access has been cancelled.

Company
Company Details
• From the main navigation bar select Company and then Company details:

There are 5 sections on the Company details view.

• The Company section contains the following information:

• Company Number
This is the company number entered when the company was added, and can be changed here. It
is any number between 1 and 9999.
• Company Name
Enter the company’s registered name. This can be followed by the company’s trading name.
• Company Registration Number
If this is a registered company or cc, enter the registration number here.

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Company

• Tax Registration Number

If the employer is registered for PAYE, then enter the PAYE number, otherwise enter the
employer’s Income Tax Number.
• Trade Classification
Select the applicable trade classification for the employer.
• SDL Payment Reference Number (SARS)
This is the SARS payment reference number for SDL and must only be completed if the employer
is paying over SDL to SARS.
• Some payments were made directly to SETA
If you have made payments directly to a SETA, check this check box.
• Some payments were made directly to UIF
If you made payments directly to the UIF, check this check box.
• UIF Payment Reference Number (SARS)
This is the SARS payment reference number for UIF and must only be completed if the employer is
paying over UIF to SARS.
• UIF Registration Number (Debt of Labour)
This is the UIF registration number as issued by the Department of Labour.
• Not eligible for Employment Tax Incentive
This dropdown menu allows you to select an option for not being eligible for ETI.
• Standard Industry Classification
Enter the SIC code. This code can easily be found by searching for it on the internet.
• Special Economic Zone
A Special Economic Zone is an economic development tool to promote national economic growth
and export by using support measures in order to attract targeted foreign and domestic
investments and technology.

The Physical Address section contains the following information:

Enter the employer’s physical address.

The Postal Address section contains the following information:

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Company

Enter the employer’s postal address. If the postal address is the same as the physical address, check the
Default from physical address check box.

The SARS Contact Person Detail section contains the following information:

• Contact person
• Email Address
• Contact Telephone Number

The UIF Contact Person Detail section contains the following information:

• Contact person
• Email Address
• Contact Telephone Number

If the UIF contact person details are the same as the SARS contact person details, check the Default
from SARS Contact Person check box.

Manage pay periods

From the main navigation bar select Company and then Manage pay periods.

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Company

Manage pay periods has 2 tabs:

• Cycle Details
• Dates & Periods

Cycle Details:

This tab contains the current company’s information and cycle information. You can add new cycles here
by clicking on the Add New Cycle button.

Close cycle

You can flag cycles that are no longer in use as closed. This will typically be used when a business or
business unit closes.

The closed status is mainly used to include the cycle when generating tax certificates - we don't expect
the cycle to have rolled a full tax year.

You are able to flag a cycle as closed if:

• All the employees in the cycle have been terminated and
• The user rolled out of the period in which the termination is effective.

If these conditions are not met, a report with the relevant information will display.

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Company

Roll Over and Roll Back

Each period that you roll over is recorded here and marked when completed.
• Rollover
You can select to roll over to the following period by clicking on this button. A backup is
automatically made as part of the roll over process.
• Roll back
You can select to do a roll back if you have to go back to a previous period. A roll back is different
to restoring a backup. When you restore a backup of a previous month all data is restored to what it
was at the time of the backup. When you roll back only your financial history (or anything affecting
financials, such as tax status, age, etc.) is restored to what it was in the previous period. You are
only allowed a maximum of two roll backs per company and you cannot roll back over tax years or
to periods that you did not roll over from.

Dates & Periods:

This view allows you to edit period end dates of weekly and fortnightly companies and move periods to
other payroll months.

Payroll Getting Started Guide 21

Company

Setup benefit funds

• From the main navigation page click on Company and select Setup benefit funds.

From the Manage Benefit Funds view you will be able to add a pension, provident or medical aid fund.

Payroll Getting Started Guide 22

Company

Pension and Provident Funds

To add a pension or provident fund, click on the Add pension fund or Add provident fund button.

Adding these funds will require the following information:

• Fund Name
Give the fund you wish to add a name.
• Clearance Number
If a clearance number is provided this can be added but this field is not mandatory.
• Description
To describe this fund.
• % Calculation or Fixed Amount
You must select whether the calculation setup is based on a % that must be calculated or will it be
a fixed amount.
• Calculation based on
This field requires that you select the type of calculation from a drop down menu.

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Company

o Fixed Pensionable Earnings Amount

This selection changes the Calculation will be based on field to an amount field, allowing you
to type in the amount that the calculation will be based on.

o Percentage Of Specific Earnings

This selection changes the Calculation will be based on field to a % field, allowing you to
type in the % value that the calculation will be based on and adding a selection drop down,
containing all the income transactions, to select which incomes the % will be based on.

o Specific Earnings
This selection is the default selection and changes the Calculation will be based on field to a
selection drop down, containing all the income transactions, to select which incomes the %
will be based on.

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Company

• Contribution Type
This field allows you to select which type of contribution this is. This information can be found on
the fund’s certificate.
o Defined Contribution
No category factor has to be stipulated if this option is selected.
o Defined Benefit Fund
Provide a Category Factor as stipulated on the fund certificate.

o Hybrid Fund
Provide a Category Factor as stipulated on the fund certificate.

• Employee Contribution
This field allows you to enter a value for the % the employee will contribute of the above
calculated/given amount.
• Employer Contribution
This field allows you to enter a value for the % the employer will contribute of the above
calculated/given amount.

• Ensure that you save once you have entered all the information needed.

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Company

Medical Aid Fund

To add a medical aid fund, click on the Add medical aid button.

• Fund Name
Give the fund you wish to add a name.
• Scheme Name
Provide the Scheme Name.

Important Information

Please note that adding a medical aid to the payslip of the employee will be done by adding the
transactions on the payslip itself.

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Company

Global Payslip Definitions

• From the main navigation page click on Company and select Global payslip definitions.

Important Information

Please note that Global Payslip Definitions were designed to make global modifications that can
affect all your companies. That is why adding payslip definitions and linking them to your
template is a global function.

Global Payslip Definitions has 2 tabs:

• Manage Payslip Definitions – You can copy and delete transaction definitions and edit their
descriptions displaying in the system and on reports and printed payslips. Changes can also be
made to the default OID flags and changes are allowed to the multipliers of certain definitions.
• Payslip Definition Templates - Templates are used to select the definitions that are used in
companies. You can add or delete any definition from an existing template or create your own
template.

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Company

Manage Payslip Definitions

Important Information

Please note that you can only copy lines with this icon. All the tax rules for that specific
type is copied to the new line.

You can only delete lines with this icon and only definitions with no values on them can be
deleted. If a definition is used in any of the companies, you will not be able to delete it.

You can edit the Description, Report Print Description and Payslip Print Description fields:

Fields, Headings and Buttons on the grid:

• Default Description
This is the original definition description and cannot be edited
• Transaction Type
Indicates whether it is earnings, deductions, company contributions or fringe benefits.
• Description
This is the description as it will display on any view (e.g. Payslip, Year to Date, etc.). You can edit
this description.
• Report Print Description
This is the description as it will display on any report. You can edit this description.
• Payslip Print Description
This is the description as it will display on all payslips. You can edit this description.
• Group on Payslip
This option will allow you to total the group of definitions as one value on the printed payslips. The
description that will print will be the description of the first line in the group. In the example below

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Company

you will see all the definitions for the group Allowance, but what will print on the payslip is a total
for Allowance, Shift allowance, Tool allowance, Computer allowance, Phone allowance and
Other allowance.

• Favourite
When you flag a definition as a favourite , it will always be listed at the top of the list in
alphabetical order on the Manage Payslip Definitions view.
• Multiplier
On definitions that use a multiplier, for example overtime and reimbursed kilometres, you can edit
the multiplier.
• Copy
Click on the copy icon to copy transaction definitions. Only definitions with this icon can be
copied.
• Delete
You can delete any definition you copied as long as the delete icon is visible. If any values have
been processed against this definition in any company, you will not be able to delete it.
• Effective From
The effective from date is to indicate from which year the applicable definition has been valid. For
example the Bursaries and scholarships fringe benefit is only effective since March 2012. With
Sage Business Cloud Payroll you can add a company over different tax years and for IRP5
purposes it is important that the correct definitions show in the correct tax year.
• Effective To
The effective to date is to indicate up to which year the applicable definition is valid. For example
the IRP5 code for “Free or cheap services” changed in March 2012, so the old definition is effective
to February 2012. With Sage Business Cloud Payroll you can add a company over different tax
years and for IRP5 purposes it is important that the correct definitions show in the correct tax year.
• IRP5 Code
This is the IRP5 code applicable to the specific definition, for IRP5 purposes.
• IRP5 Code Description
This is the IRP5 code description applicable to the specific definition, for IRP5 purposes.
• Taxability
This is the taxability of the specific earning whether it is normal (monthly), periodic or not taxable.
• Taxable %
This is the percentage of the value processed on the definition that Sage Business Cloud Payroll
will tax.
• Directive Mandatory
This is to indicate whether a directive is mandatory for the applicable definition.
• OID Included
This is the only other editable field. The OID flags default, but you can change the flag to include or
exclude the definition in the OID calculation for the OID report.
• UIF Included
This is to indicate which definitions are used to calculate UIF Remuneration.
• UIF Use Tax %
This is to indicate whether the taxable % value must be used instead of the full amount when Sage
Business Cloud Payroll calculates UIF Remuneration for this specific definition.
• SDL Included
This is to indicate which definitions are used to calculate SDL Remuneration.
• SDL Use Tax %
This is to indicate whether the taxable % value must be used instead of the full amount when Sage
Business Cloud Payroll calculates SDL Remuneration for this specific definition.
• RFI Included
This is to indicate which definitions are used to calculate RFI Remuneration.

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Company

• RFI Tax %
This is to indicate whether the taxable % value must be used instead of the full amount when Sage
Business Cloud Payroll calculates RFI Remuneration for this specific definition.
• ETI Included
This is to indicated whether the transaction is included in the ETI calculation or not.
• ETI Use Taxable Value
If this definition is checked, then the taxable portion of the value processed on this definition will be
included.
• Expand All/Collapse All button
You can either expand or collapse all groups with Expand All or Collapse All. You can also
expand or collapse a specific group by clicking on the next to the group.
• Reset OID flags
You can reset all the OID flags to their original state with the option Reset OID Flags. It will prompt
you to select whether you want to reset main definitions only or main and sub definitions.

Important Information

Please note that you can sort or filter on some of the headings on the Manage Payslip Definitions
view. When you hover your mouse over the heading you will see your curser turn into a hand
allowing you to click. If you click a heading you will be able to filter on this heading in ascending
order and clicking again will filter in descending order:

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Company

Payslip Definition Templates

Templates are used to select the specific definitions you want to use in a company. In Sage Business
Cloud Payroll you only do the setup once, and template the definitions to each company. Once you have
added and edited your definitions on the Manage Payslip Definition view you can add them to your
templates.
You can edit existing templates to add or remove definitions from the template, or you can add a new
template.

There are two existing templates:

• Salaries
This template was designed with a selection of basic definitions specific to the monthly cycle. It
can, however, be changed to include the weekly and biweekly cycles. If you add a new company
with a monthly cycle, it will use the Salaries template by default and will only change if you create a
new template that you want as the default and flag it as such.
• Wages
This template was designed with a selection of basic definitions specific to the weekly and
fortnightly cycle. It can, however, be changed to include the monthly cycle. If you add a new
company with a weekly or fortnightly cycle, it will use the Wages template by default and will only
change if you create a new template that you want as the default and flag it as such.

Important Information

Please note that both the default templates can be modified by either adding new definitions or
deleting exiting definitions.

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Payroll

Payroll

The Payroll drop down view is separated into 2 sections:

• The first section contains all the payslip details and information.
• The second section allows you to do a roll over and roll back as well as print or email payslips.

Hours and rates

When adding an employee you can add the employee’s monthly salary, rate per hour or rate per day on
the payslip view when entering the basic salary or you can access the Hours and Rates view and
complete the fields there.

Adding rates from the Hours and Rates view:

From the main navigation bar select Payroll and then Hours and rates. The following screen is
displayed:

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Payroll

The employee's hours and rates must be entered on this view.

Field Description
Enter the number of hours the employee works per day.
The hours will default to 8 hours a day, but can be
modified.
Working hours per day
If the employee does not work the same amount of
hours every day, enter the average number of hours per
day the employee works.
Enter the number of days the employee works per
Working days per week week. The days will default to 5 days a week, but can
be modified.
This value will be used to calculate the rate per hour.
Average working hours per month
The value will default to 176, but can be modified.
This value will be used to calculate the rate per day.
The value will default to 22, but can be modified.
Average working days per month
Working days per period are usually 20, 21, 22 or the
average of 21,67.

Field Description
Annual salary
Fixed salary Enter any one of these values according to the
Rate per day employee's employment contract.
Rate per hour
Select this option if the employee's salary must not be
paid by default. The system will require input of hours or
This employee must not be paid unless hours
days before a salary is calculated.
or days worked are advised
Use this option for employees who, for example, have to
submit a time sheet of hours worked.

If you want to enter the number of days or hours worked every period, and do not want Sage Business
Cloud Payroll to default the employee’s salary after every roll over, flag the This employee must not be
paid unless hours or days worked are advised check box.

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Payroll

Adding rates from the Payslip’s View

From the main navigation bar select Payroll and then Payslip. (Click on the Payslip tab.)

The basic salary line will always default on the payslip screen of monthly cycles. If you click on it the
below screen will display. You can enter the employee’s rates here, or advise any once off amounts to be
paid.

If the basic is not to be paid this month, you can check the I do not want to pay this Basic salary this
month check box.

If you need to pro-rata the salary because the employee didn’t work the full period, check the I want to
pay check box and enter the number of days.

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Payroll

If the user wants to advise a salary amount that must be paid out (not the normal salary for the month and
not based on hours worked), check the I want to adjust the Basic salary to check box and enter the
amount.

If the employee is not receiving a salary this month, check the I do not want to pay this Basic salary
this month check box.

Employment Tax Incentive

The Employment Tax Incentive legislation will encourage employers to hire young people by reducing the
amount of PAYE you have to pay to SARS, thereby, reducing the cost of employment to the employer
while leaving the employee’s earnings unaffected. The effective date of the legislation is 1 January 2014.

Payslip
From the main navigation bar select Payroll and then Payslip.

The payslip has sections for earnings, deductions, company contributions and fringe benefits.

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Payroll

In order to add a new transaction to the payslip, click on in the applicable header. Select the
transaction you want to add and capture the information required on the side menu.

Click on .
Select transaction.
Enter values.
Click on Ok then click on Back
to Payslip.
Transaction added.

Intelligent calculations on the payslip

• Annual bonus – In Sage Business Cloud Payroll we designed the annual bonus calculation to be
an intelligent calculation making adding, editing and deleting the annual bonus with or without
provision and for a current or future month, as easy and simple as possible. It all starts with the
way the annual bonus transaction popup works.
• Select from the earnings heading
• Then select Annual Bonus.

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Payroll

Once you have selected the annual bonus definition you can either choose a manual bonus value or a
13th cheque.

Once you select the system must calculate a 13th cheque, you will be able to select any date after the
current processing month that you are in on Sage Business Cloud Payroll in which you want to pay out
your 13th cheque.

You also have the option to select the bonus provision period. You can either provide for the annual
bonus until the bonus is paid or you can select to provide until the end of the tax year.

You can, however, change this option from month to month up until the month the bonus is paid and
Sage Business Cloud Payroll will recalculate the provision according to the options you select.

It is imperative that you take note of the bottom message. If the company is not flagged to pro rata a 13th
cheque when paid to an employee, the employee will receive the full value. Alternatively you can select a
manual bonus value.

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Payroll

Private Benefits
From the main navigation bar select Payroll and then Private Benefits.

The Private Benefits section has two expandable views:

• Private Retirement Annuity

A Private Retirement Annuity can be added by clicking on the add option next to it.

This will expand the view once more.

Enter the amount that the employee is contributing and the date from which the contributions will start.
You can also add a clearance number if you have one.

• Private Medical Aid

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Payroll

A Private Medical Aid can be added by clicking on the add option next to it.

This will expand the view once more.

Enter the amount that the employee is contributing and the date from which the contributions will start.
You can also add all the medical aid beneficiaries.

Payslip Details
From the main navigation bar select Payroll and then Payslip Details.

The Payslip Details view will display all the transactions on the employee’s payslip in a summative
format as well as the amounts that the system will use to make statutory calculations. This view can come
in very useful when doing manual calculations.

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Payroll

Month To Date
From the main navigation bar select Payroll and then Month To Date values.

The Month To Date view provides you with a table containing all the figures loaded for the employee for
the month, up to the current date.

Year To Date
From the main navigation bar select Payroll and then Year To Date values.

The Year To Date view provides you with a table containing all the figures loaded for the employee for
the year, up to the current date.

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Payroll

ACB
From the main navigation bar select Payroll, ACB and then ACB Setup.

When setting up the ACB layout you can select from the following options:

After entering the details you can save and export the information. By clicking on the Export button you
will be prompted to give more information specific to the type of bank selected previously.

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Payroll

Once the information has been entered click on Process.

The Export to PDF button will display the file in PDF format. The Download button will download the file
to your Downloads folder and can be accessed there to import into the banking website.

Roll Over and Roll Back

The roll over or roll back functions can be performed from two different options. From the main navigation
bar, click on Payroll and then select either Roll over to new processing period or Roll back to
previous processing period. From the black top navigation bar select the Current Period: option for a
drop down menu and select either Roll Over or Roll Back.

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Payroll

Roll Over

Roll Back

Payroll Getting Started Guide 43

Leave

Leave

Leave Setup
In order to activate the Leave Module, select Leave from the main navigation bar and select Leave
setup.

In the right top corner check the Use the leave module in this company (no additional cost) check
box.

The following screen will be displayed if leave is activated at a later stage:

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Leave

If you click on the OK button the leave module will be activated. Complete the grids as indicated below
with the leave entitlement values as well as leave processing requirements.

Terminology

• Leave Type
A short description used to group similar types of leave rules. There are four leave types currently:
Annual, Sick, Family and Maternity.
• Leave Definition
A leave definition is the description of the leave you want to manage, e.g. BCEA Annual leave.
• Leave Rule
Leave rules are linked to a leave definition, and is where all the rules relating to the leave is defined
such as how the leave is accrued, how long the leave cycle is, etc.

Manage Leave Descriptions

The leave descriptions must be set according to your company's leave policy. The values that are set up
here will appear as the default values for each new employee who is added to the specific company.
Default values on this screen are set according to BCEA leave specifications.

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Leave

After all changes have been made, remember to click on Save. (Fields with a grey border can be edited
on this screen.)

The Leave Grid

• Leave Rule Description

The Leave Rule Description is the descriptive name for the leave type.
The first grid is for Annual Leave. The second for Sick Leave, third for Family Responsibility
Leave and fourth for Maternity Leave.

• Cycle Start Date

The leave cycle start date will default to the employee date engaged. This is the only option for
cycle start date and will default from the Employee Details screen. This date can be adjusted per
employee on the Employee Leave Details screen.

• Cycle Length
The cycle length is pre-defined on this screen and cannot be edited per leave type. The cycle
length per line are set up as per BCEA leave.

• Cycle Recurs
This column will be selected if according to BCEA the leave cycle should recur as per the cycle
length according to the BCEA rules.

• Entitlement Value
Leave day entitlement is set up by default per leave type according to the BCEA rules. This column
can be adjusted according to your leave policy.
o 15 Days Annual Leave
o 30 Days Sick Leave
o 3 Days Family Responsibility Leave

• Leave Accrual
This field indicates whether the employee is entitled to a number of leave days per cycle or period.
o Period entitlement is accrued at the beginning of each month.
o Cycle Entitlement is accrued at the start of the leave cycle.

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Leave

• Balance at the End of the Cycle

What should happen with the leave due at the end of the Cycle? There are 2 options that are
already set up and cannot be edited.
o The Balance will be transferred to another “rule”.
o The Balance will be cleared.

• Leave Taken Order

This is the sequence order per leave type in which leave days will be taken per transaction.

• Allow Transactions to Exceed Leave Balance

This column determines whether you want to be warned or stopped if the leave transaction you
enter exceeds the leave that the employee has available.
There are 3 options for this column:
o Allow with a warning - If you want the system to warn you that the employee does not have
enough leave days available and the leave will go into a negative, but will still allow the
transaction.
o Allow without a warning - If you want to allow the leave days to go into negative leave
without a warning.
o Do not allow - If you want to be stopped. By selecting this option, the employee will not be
allowed to go into negative leave at any time.

• Exceed by how many days

If the system does allow the negative transaction, you can enter the number of days they are
allowed to exceed with.

• Note Required
Select if the system should remind you that a note is required for a leave transaction.

• After How Many days

Enter the number of days, which may be taken before a note is required. The number of days will
be taken over to all leave lines for the type.

Once all parameters have been set up on this screen SAVE at the bottom right corner to save all
changes made to the original setup. Take note of the following screen you will see when saving the
information.

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Leave

Employee Leave Details

Manage employees’ leave balances

In order to manage a single employee’s leave details, select Leave from the main navigation bar and
select Employee leave details.

Leave settings

Indicate whether the employee's leave is based on calendar days or on working days.
If you indicate working days, ensure that the employee's working days per week are indicated correctly.
The default working days are set to Monday to Friday.

For example: an employee accrues 20 calendar days annual leave per year, and when the employee
takes leave, weekends must be taken into consideration when calculating the number of leave days
taken.
Another employee might accrue 15 working days annual leave per year, and when leave is taken, only
working days are taken into consideration when calculating the number of leave days taken.

The employee leave balances can be set up from this view:

Employee Leave Screen

• Leave rule description

The Leave rule description is the descriptive name for the leave type.

• Entitlement per cycle

The leave entitlement will default from the Leave Setup screen. The value can be adjusted per
employee on the Employee leave details screen.

• Cycle Start Date

The leave cycle start date will default from the Employee details screen from the This employee
started working on field. This field can be edited per employee.

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Leave

• Next Cycle Start Date

This date will automatically calculate based on the cycle start date and cycle length as set up on
the Leave Setup screen.

• Opening Balance
This option is to enter an opening balance when doing a leave take on.

• Accrual this Period

The leave days that accrues per period will show in this column.
Example: 15 days per year in a 1 year cycle. 15 / 12 = 1.25 days accrual per monthly pay cycle.

• Taken this Period

When a leave transaction is entered the total number of leave days for the current period will show
in this column.

• Closing Balance
Opening balance + Accrual this period – Taken this period = Closing balance

• Planned leave
Future leave transactions will display in this column until the user rolls over to the month the days
are in and where they will then move to the taken this period column.

• Leave Settings

RSA Public Holidays will be set up on the Calendar.

Employees’ leave can be set up according to Working days or Calendar Days. If the Working days
option is selected, the user should select the days from Monday – Sunday

• Add New Transaction

Always Save all changes to the Employee Leave screen before clicking on the Add New
Transaction button.
The Add New Transaction button will be greyed out if you do not Save the changes.

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Leave

Leave on the payslip

From the main navigation bar, select Leave and then Employee leave details.

The Leave tab provides you with a leave processing screen. Capture leave by clicking on the Add New
Transaction button.

Processing the leave will be done on the following screen:

• The type of leave that will be processed can be selected by clicking on the dropdown arrow next to
The employee is taking field.
• From date: The first day of the employee's leave.
• To date: The last day of the employee's leave.
• Units: The number of leave days that must be deducted from the employee. The system calculates
the number of days based on the dates entered, the employee's leave settings (so whether
calendar days or working days must be used) and public holidays. You can overwrite the calculated
value (if the employee only took half day leave, for example).
• Type any comments in the Comments field.
• Reference Number: Enter a reference number for the transaction. This field will only be available if
the setting was activated on the Manage Leave Definitions view.

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Leave

• Was a note provided? Check this check box if the employee provided a note for the leave, for
example a sick note. This field will only be available if the setting was activated on the Manage
Leave Definitions view.
• Upload documentation, such as a leave application form or sick notes, by clicking or dragging the
document to the Click or drag document to upload field. You can upload 2 files with a maximum
size of 200 kB. You are able to upload the following file types: bmp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, tif, tiff, doc,
docx, xls, xlsx and pdf.
• Overlapping Transactions

When the same date is selected on another transaction the system will warn you and will not calculate
this day as a transaction again.

How to Pay Weekly and Fortnightly Employees for Annual Leave

You have to pay the employee his/her full salary/wage they would have earned during the period of leave.
In addition, any fluctuating payments that the employee won't receive during the period of leave, must be
averaged over the preceding 13 weeks and paid in addition to the employee's fixed salary/wage.
An employer must pay an employee for leave taken before the beginning of the period of leave or by
agreement, on the employee’s usual pay day.

In practise, monthly paid/salary paid employees are typically paid on their normal pay day, while weekly
and fortnightly/wage earners are typically paid for leave in the last period before they go on leave.
The system has a built-in leave pay function to help you pay your employees for annual leave.

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Leave

Leave FAQs
• Must I use the Leave function?
The Leave function has 3 objectives:
To assist you to calculate the earnings, deductions, company contributions and fringe benefit
values for the leave periods (i.e. the weeks while the employee is on leave),
To calculate the correct amount of Tax, UIF and SDL for the Leave Pay periods, and
To assist you to keep your leave transactions up to date, if you have the leave module.

Even if you want to input the Leave Pay amounts manually, we advise that you activate the Leave
Pay function to calculate the correct statutory contributions.

• When must I activate Leave Pay?

Leave Pay must be activated in the last period the employee works and gets paid, before going on
leave. Leave Pay can be activated by clicking on the Activate Leave Pay button, displayed on a
weekly or fortnightly employee’s payslip view.

• What happens when I activate Leave Pay?

By activating the Leave Pay option you will see the following screen:

On the Leave Pay Type tab you can choose between two options:
• Normal Leave Pay
Leave that is paid out normally.
• Late Leave Pay
Select this option if you are paying the leave late.

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Leave

On the Leave Pay Definitions tab you are able to remove or add transactions that you feel should be a
part of the calculation. Sage Business Cloud Payroll has placed default transactions here for you to
choose from. Click on the grey to add it to the calculation. If the button turns green it has been
selected. If a transaction is not there to select from, add it by clicking on the button and add it.

The calculations for all the Leave Pay periods are done 'in advance'. If you indicated that the system must
calculate Leave Pay values for specific definitions, you will see the Leave Pay values for these definitions
on the payslip.

On the Leave Pay Periods tab you are able to specify the number of periods that must be processed.

For weekly paid employees, you can enter 1 to 9 Leave Pay periods, where 1 period is 1 week.
For fortnightly paid employees, you can enter 1 to 9 Leave Pay periods, where 1 period is 2 weeks.
If the leave module is active for this company, you can capture the employee's leave transaction when
activating Leave Pay.

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Leave

On the Confirm Leave tab you are able to confirm that the information given is correct and capture the
leave transaction to process the leave.

After confirming the information is correct, you will be prompted to add the leave transaction with the Add
Transaction screen.

Once all the information has been captured click on the OK and Finish buttons.

The following screen will be displayed:

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Leave

• What happens to the employees' payslips while they are on leave?

The employees' payslips are frozen while they are on leave, to ensure that you don't accidentally
process on their payslips while they are on leave. A message next to the employee's name
indicates the remaining number of leave periods.

Certain fields, such as the employee's tax status, which has an impact on the employee's tax, UIF
and SDL calculations, is also disabled while the employee is on leave.
The payslips will be active again when you roll into the period the employee returns from leave.

• What must I do if the employee comes back to work early?

It sometimes happens in practice that an employee returns to work before the end of their Leave
Pay period, and starts working again.

The employee's payslip will be frozen, as the system is expecting the employee to still be on
leave.
In order to activate the employee's payslip, you need to Deactivate Leave Pay.

Important Information

Please note that it is important that you understand the consequences of deactivating Leave Pay.
Please refer to the "Deactivate Leave Pay" section below for more information.

Deactivate Leave Pay

It is not advisable to deactivate Leave Pay unless the employee returns to work before their scheduled
return date.

• What should I be aware of if I deactivate Leave Pay?

o The employee has already been paid up to the end of the Leave Pay period.
o The system will calculate transactions from the period in which Leave Pay was deactivated -
you will have to manually adjust all the values otherwise the employee will be paid again for
the same period.
o The tax will be higher, as the period over which the employee has earned their wage is now
shorter - when activating Leave Pay, the tax factor is calculated up to the end of the Leave
Pay period. When deactivating Leave Pay, the tax factor is only calculated up to the end of
the current period.
o You will have to manually correct leave transactions that were captured when activating
Leave Pay.

• Can I activate Leave Pay again?

Yes you can, however this Leave Pay activation will not take any previous Leave Pay activation
into account.

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Leave

Employee Leave Transactions

From the main navigation bar select Leave and then Employee leave transactions.

View the employee's leave transactions on this view. This includes transactions captured by the user as
well as system generated transactions.

Field Description
This is a description of the type of transaction:
• Leave taken – A leave transaction captured by the user.
• Transaction deleted – A leave transaction which was deleted by the
user.
• Transfer balance from ‘Rule Description’ – This transaction indicates
the leave balance which remained on a leave rule at the end of the cycle
and was transferred to another rule.
• Transfer balance to ‘Rule Description’ – This transaction indicates the
leave balance which remained on another leave rule at the end of the
Transaction
cycle and was transferred to this rule.
Description
• Closing balance cleared at end of cycle – This transaction indicates the
value of leave which was lost at the end of a cycle. In other words, the
leave balance was not transferred to another leave rule.
• Opening balance changed – This transaction indicates that the user
changed the employee’s opening leave balance.
• Entitlement per Cycle changed - Accrual this Period adjusted – This
transaction indicates a change to the employee’s Entitlement per Cycle
value, which results in a change in the employee’s Accrual this Period
value from the period in which the change was made.
Period Captured This indicates the payroll period in which the transaction is captured.
Leave Taken From The first day of the employee’s leave.
Leave Taken To The last day of the employee’s leave.
The number of leave days that must be deducted from the employee. The
system calculates the number of days based on the dates entered on the
Units Calculated
employee’s leave setting (whether calendar days or working days must be used)
and public holidays. You can overwrite the calculated value with your own value.
This value will be the same as the ‘Units Calculated’ value, unless the value was
Units Applied changed by the user. The value displayed here is the number of days which is
taken into consideration when calculating the employee’s Closing Balance.
Note Provided A in this column indicates that a note has been provided.
Reference No
Provided A in this column indicates that a reference number has been provided.

A in this column indicates that the leave transaction dates fall in a future
payroll period. This transaction is not taken into consideration when calculating
Planned the Closing Balance until the period where the leave starts falls within the
Transactions processing period dates. Thus, if you are in September and capture a
transaction from 5 to 6 October, the transaction will only be taken into
consideration when you roll into October.

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System
Transactions A in this column indicates that it is a system generated transaction.
Documents A in this column indicates that there are documents attached to the
Attached transaction.
Edit Transactions Explained below.
Delete
Explained below.
Transactions
Comments If any comments were made, it will be displayed in this column.

• Edit Transactions
You can edit leave transactions from the Leave Transaction view. The correct dates can then be entered
and the correct days will be recalculated.

• Delete Transactions

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Leave

Confirm that you want to delete the leave transaction by clicking on the Yes button. This procedure will
help you to keep record of deleted leave transactions.

Leave Reports
The leave reports can be seen by clicking on Reports in the main navigation bar and selecting the Leave
option on the left.

There are 6 basic leave reports that you can use to see information regarding leave.

Report Description

Employee Leave Transaction Detail of employee leave transactions.

You will see the details of the employee leave
Employee Leave Summary
balances.
Leave by Month Summary of leave taken per month.
Leave Management - No note or Reference Detail of leave transactions where no note or
Supplied reference number was supplied.
Leave Management - Sick Leave Monitor sick leave abuse.
List employees who did not take leave in a specific
Leave Management - Leave Not Taken
period.

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Accounting Integration

Accounting Integration

The Accounting dropdown view is separated into 2 sections:

• Integration setup
• View journal entries

Accounting Integration Module

From the main navigation bar select Accounting and then select Integration setup.
• In order to integrate with Accounting you will first need to sign up for the Accounting module.
• The integration between the two modules will carry no extra costs.
• You must be a registered user on Accounting in order to use the integration. If you don’t have valid
Accounting login details, you cannot use the module.
• When you activate the module you need to enter your Accounting username and password. It is
not mandatory at that stage, but you won’t be able to link the accounts and submit to Accounting if
you don’t enter the details.

• Check the Use the Accounting module in this company (no additional cost) check box. Enter your
Accounting username and password and click on the Save button.
• Accounts information
o Accounts are linked per cycle.
o Each cycle must first be linked to a Accounting company.
o Multiple Payroll cycles can be linked to the same Accounting company.

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Accounting Integration

• The accounts that you have set up in the selected Accounting company is displayed.
o You need to click on the account you want to link.
o It is not mandatory to link all the definitions to accounts.

• The journal can also be posted from the journal history view.

• The user can post history journals. It is therefore not required to post the journal before rolling over.
• When posting the journal, verify that all definitions with financial values are linked to an account.
You will not be able to post if you have not linked accounts to all definitions with financial values.
• To post a journal, click on the “Post journal …” button.
• A “post journal entries” popup will display.
• Click on Generate.
• If there are unlinked accounts, a popup will display to link the accounts. Unlinked accounts have an
exclamation mark. Link all unlinked accounts.
• If all accounts are linked, then a summary and detail audit report is displayed.
• Reconcile these reports first. Once entries are posted, they are posted live through to their journal.

• If you are satisfied with the values that will be posted and the accounts they will be posted to, you
need to check the I have checked the audit report and want to post the journal check box, and
then click on the Post button.

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Reports and Exports

• The journal entries are then updated to the Accounting live company, so when you log into
Accounting, your journal is already updated with the values. You don’t have to do anything on
Accounting’s side.

Reports and Exports

From the main navigation bar select Reports.

The reports you are able to choose from are available on the left.

Select a section and then a report to the left, then click on Preview.

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Reports and Exports

The report will be displayed on the right. Now you can print the report to a printer.

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Reports and Exports

Alternatively, you can export the report to any of the following formats:

Email payslips

You can email current and previous plain paper payslips to your employees.

Important Information

Please note that payslips are emailed to the email addresses entered on the employees' Employee
details views. Please ensure that the correct email address is entered.

Follow these steps to email a payslip:

From the main navigation bar select Reports or select Payroll and then Print or email payslips.
From the reports selection bar select the drop down arrow next to Payslip.
Select the Current/Previous payslip – Plain Paper Payslip option.
Select the pay period.
Select the specific employees you want to include in the report.
Select whether to exclude employees with zero or negative nett pay.
Select whether you want to sort this report by
o Department, or
o Pay Point.
The default selection is "None".
Select whether you want to sort the employees by
o Surname (default sort option), or
o Employee code.
Select the pay date.
Select the type of rate, which balance to use, company contributions, fringe benefits, private
benefits and which leave balances to print.
Select Preview.
Click on .

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UIF Declaration

A popup with the following information will display:

The employee’s date of birth is used as the password, and the format is yyyymmdd.

Click on Send Payslips to email the payslips to the listed employees. The employees will receive an
email with a PDF payslip attachment.

UIF Declaration
From the main navigation bar click on UIF Declaration.

UIF Submission
The contact details on UIF Submission view defaults from UIF contact person details entered on the
Company…Company Details view. If no information is saved on the Company Details view, the user
will have to manually enter the details every time a submission is done.

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UIF Declaration

• Once all the required information is entered, click on the Submit UIF button.
• The file is now checked for validation errors. A popup will display if there are errors – the user can
select to submit the file with the errors, or to stop the submission and view the error report.

• After validation, Sage Business Cloud Payroll will email the submission directly to the UIF email
address and also CC’s the user.

The UIF Submission Report and UIF Error Report are then generated and can be previewed on screen.

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