Work with existing earnings

Important

This content is archived and is not being updated. For the latest documentation, see Microsoft Dynamics 365 product documentation. For the latest release plans, see Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform release plans.

This topic describes tasks, such as releasing or holding earnings, that you can complete after you generate an earnings statement. You must release earning statement lines before you generate pay statements.

Retroactive earnings aren’t discussed in this topic. For information about retroactive earnings, see Generate earnings.

This task is part of a bigger process

This illustration shows where releasing earnings fits into the larger picture of payroll processing. Other tasks that are described in this topic are not part of the end-to-end payroll process.

For an overview of the process see Processing payroll

Basic steps for processing earnings

Prerequisites

The following table shows the prerequisites that must be in place before you start.

Category

Prerequisite

Task

Generate earnings

Version

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 or Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Cumulative Update 8

Country/region

(USA) The primary address for the legal entity must be in the following countries/regions: United States

If required: Hold earnings from payment processing

You can put one or more earning statement lines on hold so that you can change information or correct errors, as long as the line isn’t included on a pay statement.

You can complete these steps, regardless of whether some or all of the earning statement lines are released.

To put earning lines on hold, follow these steps:

  1. Click Payroll > Common > Earnings statements > Earnings statements.

  2. Complete one of these tasks:

    • To put all the lines for an earnings statement on hold, select one or more earnings statements, and then click Hold earnings statement. The payment status is set to On hold so that the lines won’t be included on any pay statements until you release the lines for processing.

    • To put individual lines on hold so that the rest of the earnings statement can be processed, open the earnings statement, select the lines to put on hold, and then click Hold lines for payment.

Release earnings for payment processing

Follow these steps to change the status of all earnings statement lines from None to Released. You must release earning statement lines before you generate pay statements.

If an earnings statement line is on hold, this process releases the line only if you select the Release lines on hold check box.

To release earning statement lines, follow these steps:

  1. Click Payroll > Common > Earnings statements > Earnings statements.

  2. Select Release earnings statement.

  3. In the Pay cycle field, select the pay cycle of the worker positions to process.

  4. In the Pay period field, select the pay period for the worker position earnings. The pay periods that are displayed are available for the pay cycle. The default pay period is the first open pay period, but you can select any open pay period from the list.

  5. Optional: Select the Release lines on hold check box to release any lines that are on hold on the earnings statements.

  6. Click OK to change all the earnings statement lines that have a payment status of None to Released, so that they can be processed.

    Note

    When you release an earnings statement line for an accrued benefit, such as sick time or vacation time, the number of hours on the line is verified against the minimum balance that is required by the benefit accrual plan. If the balance includes fewer hours than the number of hours on the line, the line isn’t released.

    For more information, see Benefit accrual plan tasks or Benefit accrual balances (form).

If required: Change earnings statements

After you generate an earnings statement, you can add lines to it and change existing lines, as long as they haven’t been released or processed.

You can delete released lines, but not processed lines.

Important

There are two ways to change earnings statement lines that were included on a pay statement. If you can delete the pay statement, do so, put the earning statement lines on hold, and then change the lines. If you can’t delete the pay statement because of its status, enter a new earnings statement line to offset the original line, and then create a new, correct line. You will process the new line that offsets the original line in a subsequent pay statement. For more information, see Work with pay statements.

  1. Click Payroll > Common > Earnings statements > Earnings statements.

  2. Select the earnings statement to change.

  3. Make any changes. Keep in mind these special circumstances:

    • Salaried workers – If you change or add a line for a salaried worker, lines that have a source of Salary are calculated and re-created unless you click Calculate Salary. This helps make sure that a salaried worker does not receive more or less than their typical amount for the pay period. We recommend that you don’t turn off the Calculate Salary functionality unless you are terminating a worker’s employment.

    • Overtime premiums – Earnings statement lines that have a rate basis of Regular rate of pay are used to create overtime premiums. These lines are calculated based on all other earnings statement lines for nondiscretionary earnings. Therefore, after you change any earnings statement line, you must delete any lines that have a rate basis of Regular rate of pay, and then add those lines again. Otherwise, the Regular rate of pay lines might not be correct.

    • Retroactive earnings – You can change retroactive earning lines, but you can’t change the original retroactive rate that the earning statement line originated from.

      For more information, see Earning code and earning code group tasks.

Next step

After you finalize all the earnings, you’re ready to generate pay statements. For more information, see Work with pay statements.

Earnings and the earnings generation process

Technical information for system administrators

If you don't have access to the pages that are used to complete this task, contact your system administrator and provide the information that is shown in the following table.

Category

Prerequisite

Configuration keys

Payroll - USA

Important

When you use Payroll, we highly recommend that you turn off the Payroll information configuration key under the Human resource I configuration key. The forms and tables that are enabled by that configuration key are not used by Payroll. If Payroll is installed and the configuration key is enabled, it might be difficult to make sure that your data is entered and tracked correctly.

Security roles and duties

To work with existing earnings, you must be a member of a security role that includes this duty:

  • Maintain earning entry (PayrollEarningStatementGenerationMaint)

Security roles and privileges

To issue payments to workers, you must be a member of a security role that includes these privileges:

  • Generate earnings (PayrollEarningGenerationProcess)

  • Maintain payroll earnings (PayrollEarningMaintain)

  • Earnings import service operation (PayrollEarningsImportServiceCreate)

  • Maintain payroll earnings (PayrollEarningsMaintain)

See also

Processing payroll

Generate earnings