Use this form to put somebody on the payroll, or to change how they are paid. It holds the employment facts that every deduction is calculated from: where the person is employed, how often and how much they are paid, the dates that decide holiday pay and records of employment, and the figures from the tax form they filled in (a TD1 in Canada, a W-4 and state certificate in the United States).
Open it
- To add someone: Employees ▸ Employee Centre, then press Add someone. The page is titled Add someone to the payroll, with the subtitle From their TD1 or W-4, and the pay you agreed.
- To change someone: open them in the Employee Centre and press Change on the Employment card. The page is titled Payroll setup — name.
The form is a page, not a pop-up, so the menu bar stays visible. Press Back to leave without saving, or Save when you are done. After a successful save the page closes and the list refreshes.
Add someone, step by step
- Press Add someone.
- In Employee, start typing the person's name. Pick them from the list if they already exist in SeroBooks, or keep typing to add a new person by name. People who never sign in to SeroBooks, such as kitchen or warehouse staff, can be added this way.
- Choose the Province of employment and how often they are Paid.
- Choose the Basis (salary or hourly) and enter the Annual salary or Hourly rate.
- Fill in First day and Date of birth, and Standard hours a week for salaried staff.
- Choose their Statutory holidays, Overtime and Vacation pay entitlements (Canada).
- Turn on Hours come from the time clock if their hours should come from clocked punches.
- Copy the figures from their TD1 (or W-4).
- Press Save.
- Back in the Employee Centre, open the person and add their SIN and bank details. See Employee Centre.
Employment
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Employee (required) | The person this setup is for. When adding, pick someone or type a new name. When changing, the name is shown and cannot be changed here. |
| Province of employment (required) | Where they work. Provincial income tax follows the province of employment, which is not always where the business is. Shown as a two-letter code and name, for example ON — Ontario. In a US company this is State of employment. |
| Paid (required) | Weekly (52), Every two weeks (26), Twice a month (24) or Monthly (12). Every annual ceiling and tax bracket is divided by the number of pay periods, so a weekly and a monthly employee on the same salary are not deducted the same amount per dollar. A pay run pays only the people whose frequency matches it. |
| Basis | Salary or Hourly. |
| Annual salary or Hourly rate | The label follows the basis. |
Dates and hours
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| First day | The first day of employment, as YYYY-MM-DD. A record of employment needs it, and so does deciding whether someone has worked long enough to be paid for a statutory holiday. Vacation pay rates that step up with years of service are counted from it. |
| Last day | Only if they have left, as YYYY-MM-DD. This is the date the Records of Employment screen works from. |
| Date of birth | As YYYY-MM-DD. It is a CPP input, not just a personal detail: CPP starts the month after someone turns 18 and can stop when they elect out at 65, and the exemption is pro-rated in those years. Without it the PIER review can only mark the employee for review. |
| Standard hours a week | What a salaried person's week is. Statutory holiday pay divides by it, so assuming 40 short-pays someone on a 37.5-hour week. The box suggests 40. |
Entitlements (Canada)
These three appear only in a Canadian company.
| Field | Choices |
|---|---|
| Statutory holidays | The province's minimum (the default), Minimum plus days we observe, or Not entitled. "Not entitled" pays no statutory holiday pay at all and is meant for a director, not for ordinary staff. |
| Overtime | Paid at the province's rate (the default), Banked as time off in lieu, or Exempt. Banking needs a written agreement in most provinces. Choose Exempt only if the work genuinely is exempt under the province's rules. |
| Vacation pay | Accrued and held (the default) or Paid out every cheque. Paying it out each cheque needs the employee's written agreement in several provinces. |
Switches
| Switch | What it does |
|---|---|
| Hours come from the time clock | On: clocked punches add up into a timesheet the pay run reads. Off: hours are typed into the pay run. The Timesheets screen shows only people with this switched on. |
| On the payroll | On by default. Off: the person is left out of future pay runs; their history and slip are kept. |
TD1 (Canada)
Copy these from the TD1 forms the employee gave you. They turn gross pay into taxable pay, so a zero here over-taxes somebody.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Federal claim amount | Total claim amount from the federal TD1. |
| Provincial claim amount | Total claim amount from the provincial TD1 (for example TD1ON). |
| Additional tax per pay | Extra tax to deduct each pay, only if the employee asked for it. |
| Dependants under 19 | Number of dependants under 19. Not a claim amount: in Ontario it widens the Ontario tax reduction, which can remove provincial tax entirely for a parent on a low wage. |
| Dependants with an impairment | Number of dependants with an impairment. Widens the reduction further. |
| CPP exempt | Tick only if the person's employment is exempt from CPP. |
| EI exempt | Tick only if the employment is not insurable, usually a non-arm's-length relationship. |
W-4 and state certificate (United States)
In a US company the card is titled W-4.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Filing status — Step 1(c) | Single or married filing separately, Married filing jointly or Head of household. |
| Step 3 — dependants, annual | The annual dependants amount from Step 3. |
| Step 4(c) — extra withholding | Extra withholding per pay. |
| Step 2(c) — two jobs, or a working spouse | Tick if checked on the W-4. It selects a different bracket table. |
| State filing status | From the employee's state withholding certificate, not the W-4. |
| State allowances | Allowances from the state certificate. Several states still use them. |
| State extra withholding | Extra state withholding per pay. |
A state with no wage income tax ignores the three state fields.
Messages you may see
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| Type the name of the person this is for. | Pick or type a name in Employee. |
| Choose the province they are employed in. | Choose Province of employment. |
| Other messages in red under the form | SeroBooks' own reason, for example a date in the wrong format. Correct the field it names and press Save again. |
When a pay run is calculated later, SeroBooks refuses to pay an employee with no TD1 (or W-4) on file and names them, because it will not guess somebody's claim amount. Fill in this card before the first run.
When somebody leaves
- Open the employee and press Change.
- Enter their Last day.
- Turn On the payroll off once their final pay has been run.
- Press Save.
- Pay their final pay run, including any vacation pay owing, then prepare their record of employment. See Records of Employment.
Their history, balances and year-end slip are kept.
Permissions
Saving needs the Edit Payroll Setup permission under Payroll ▸ Employees. Without it, SeroBooks asks someone whose role has it to approve the change.