Maintaining Employee General Deductions in HRS

Overview

This document describes how to set up, maintain, and stop employee general deductions (non-benefit deductions). The Create General Deductions page is used to enter/view employee specific deduction data including the related dollar amount, rate, or percentage; the start and end date of the deduction; and the goal amount and current goal balances. Most General Deductions will be established with a flat dollar amount.

Process Considerations:

Due to the passage of Act 10, union dues may no longer be deducted from employee payroll checks, and therefore union dues deduction codes are no longer active in HRS.
The information collection and data entry process for employee general deductions varies from campus to campus. There can be different forms to submit for various general deductions within the same campus. The information is usually entered into PeopleSoft by the central Payroll Coordinator but, in some instances, may be sent to UWSS Service Operations to be entered.
Some campuses periodically submit a General Deductions file which can be uploaded by UWSS Service Operations. Access needs to be granted by the central Payroll Coordinator to be able to submit a file for mass upload. See KB Submitting a File to the Inbound File Upload Page in HRS

You may click on the links below to navigate directly to a section:

Instructions for Adding a New Deduction

Navigation: Payroll for North America > Employee Pay Data USA > Deductions > Create General Deductions
The best way to search for an employee is by Empl ID. You may also search based upon the employee's Name and Last Name. After entering the search criteria click the Search button.
If the employee already has one or more general deductions set up, they will appear on the page. (click View All to see all existing deductions), click the plus sign button in the General Deduction section to the far right of the Deduction Code to add a row for entry of the new deduction.
If the employee does not have any existing General Deductions, the General Deduction Data page will open with only default values showing in the Effective Date and Deduction Calculation Routine fields (all other fields will be blank).
Enter the desired deduction code.
- If you know the deduction code, you may enter it directly into the Deduction Code field.
- If you do not know the deduction code you need to enter, click the Lookup icon (magnifying glass) to the right of the Deduction Code field to search for the desired deduction. You can narrow your search by typing the first few letters of the deduction code into the Deduction Code field and then clicking the Lookup icon (if you do not narrow your search, HRS will only return the first 300 results, and you may not find your desired code in that list). From the list of returned deduction codes, click on either the Deduction Code or the Description to select the desired code.
- Also see KB General Deduction Codes Job Aid for HRS for a list of all active general deduction codes.
Next, enter the appropriate highlighted fields shown in the screen shot and descriptions below:

a. Effective Date - This field is automatically populated with today's date. Change the effective date so that it is on or before the last day of the pay pay period the first deduction should occur. The best practice is to use the first date of the pay period in which the deduction should start. You can type the date in the field or click on the calendar icon and select the date from the pop up calendar.

b. Take on all Paygroups - This box is generally left unchecked.

c. Deduction Calculation Routine - Use the drop down arrow to select the correct Deduction Calculation Routine for the deduction you are entering. Valid options are:
- Default to Deduction Table - Select this option if the deduction you are setting up has a flat dollar amount or percentage established at the Deduction Table level. Very few deductions use this Deduction Calculation Routine, but this can occur when the rate or percentage of the deduction is the same for all employees. If you have any questions about whether to choose this option, contact UWSS Service Operations to verify whether the deduction is set up at the Deduction Table level for this option. If this option is selected, the system takes the amount or percent from the Deduction Table thus the Flat/Addl Amount field and the Deduction Rate or % field should be left blank.
- Flat Amount - Select this value to establish a deduction with a flat dollar amount to be deducted each period. Enter the dollar amount of the deduction in the Flat/Addl Amount field. The vast majority of general deductions are set up with this option.
- Percent of Total Gross - Select this to establish a deduction as a percent of the employee's total gross income. Enter the percent amount in the Deduction Rate or % field.
- Percent of Net Pay - Select this value to calculate the deduction as a percent of the employee's net pay. Enter the percent amount in the Deduction Rate or % field.
d. Deduction End Date - Enter the last date of the pay period that you want the deduction to stop in the Deduction End Date field. (For example, if you want the deduction to come out of an employee's 2016BW01A paycheck, but not their 2016BW01B paycheck, the deduction end date should be entered as 1/9/16 (the last day of the 1A pay period). If you enter any other date within the 1A pay period, the deduction will not come out of employee's 1A paycheck. A deduction end date is not required if you want the deduction to be on-going or if you enter a goal amount in the Goal Amount field.

e. Deduction Rate or % - This field is left blank unless required based on the selected Deduction Calculation Routine. This field is not often used.

f. Flat/Addl Amount - This field must be entered when using the Deduction Calculation Routine of Flat Amount. Enter the dollar amount to take each pay period in this field.

g. Goal Amount - If there is a limit for the deduction, enter it in this field. After this goal amount is met, the deduction will stop taking.

When setting up a new deduction, do not enter a value into the Current Goal Balance field. This field displays the total amount taken to date from the employee's pay for the deduction. The system updates this amount automatically after every payroll confirmation. When the goal balance equals the goal amount for the deduction, the system stops taking the deduction. Thus, if you fill in this field upon entering the new deduction, it will not deduct either the correct total amount or at all.
Click the Save button.

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Stopping/Modifying an Existing Deduction

Add a new effective dated row by clicking on the Add a New Row (plus) icon in the Deduction Details section.
On the new row, you will see that the Effective Date defaults to today's date and the information from the row beneath pulls in to the new row.
To stop the deduction, enter a value in both the Effective Date and Deduction End Date fields. The date used in both fields should be the same as each other, and should be equal to the last day of the pay period in which the last deduction should occur. For example, the employee's last deduction should take in the 1A pay period. Since 01/9/2016 is the pay period end date of the 1A 2016 period, that date was used for the Effective Date and Deduction End Date.
Click the Save button to save the changes to a General Deduction.
To modify an existing deduction, follow steps 1-4.
NOTE: Instead of adding a Deduction End Date, just enter appropriate new amounts in the Flat/Addl Amount and Goal Amount fields.

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Additional Resources

Related KBs:

Related Links:

New General Deduction Policy

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