Calculating, closing and publishing a Canadian pay

In Canadian payroll, each employer has one pay per period of its calendar. You calculate it, check it line by line, add one-off elements and hours, then close it: it is then frozen and makes the year-to-date totals. Next come the pay statements to publish, the accounting voucher and, if you have set it up, the SFTP deposit. This article follows that path from start to finish. It is aimed at payroll managers and administrators.

Before you start #

• The employer must have a Canadian employer record and be attached to a reference period — see Setting up a Canadian employer and the payroll settings.
• Employee files must be complete (SIN, forms, dental code) — see The employee’s Canadian payroll tab.
• Pays by period right: at the Access level, you read the calendar, pays, their lines, pay statements and the accounting voucher; at the Execute level, you calculate, enter, close, publish pay statements, regenerate and book the voucher. The Administrator and Payroll Manager roles hold it at the Execute level.

Reading the pay calendar #

Open Canadian payroll › Pays by period. For the Year chosen at the top right, the screen shows one table per Canadian employer, with its pay frequency (for example Biweekly (26 pays)). Each row is a period:

• No.: the pay’s number in the year; a calculated pay opens when you click it;
• Period and Payment: the period dates and the payment date;
• Status: Not calculated, Open, Awaiting validation or Closed, with the number of blocked contracts if any;
• Contracts, Gross, Net: the totals of the calculated pay;
• Action: the Calculate or Recalculate button, as long as the pay is not closed.

A pay belongs to the year of its payment date: the December pay paid in January is the first pay of the following year.

If no employer has a record, the screen shows “No scope has a Canadian employer record: there is no pay to calculate.” with a link to Canadian employers. If the calendar cannot be built, it points you to the employer record.

Calculating a pay #

1. On the period’s row, click Calculate.
2. The message “Pay calculated.” appears and the pay opens.

The header shows the number, the employer, the period and the payment date. Four boxes give the Gross, Deductions, Net and Blocked contracts. The table has one row per Canadian contract active in the period: Employee, Province, Hours, Gross, Deductions, Net and Status.

A row’s Status is Calculated, N to complete (information is missing but the calculation is done) or Blocked (the calculation is impossible).

Reading a row’s details #

Click the employee’s name to expand the row:

• what is missing, with the Open the employee’s Canadian payroll tab link;
• Earnings: the earnings from the Salary tab, with hours and rate, and the elements added; non-taxable amounts, paid on top of net pay;
• Statutory deductions: CPP / QPP, CPP2 / QPP2, employment insurance, QPIP, federal tax, provincial tax or territorial tax;
• Other deductions: pension plan, union dues, support payments and one-off deductions;
• Employer contributions: the employer shares, and in Quebec the HSF and CNESST.

Adding a one-off element #

While the pay is open, each expanded row offers the Add a one-off element block.

1. Choose the Type:
   • Regular earning: paid overtime, adjustment, taxed with the salary;
   • Non-periodic payment: bonus, retroactive pay, vacation pay, taxed separately (bonus method);
   • Taxable benefit: not paid in cash, included in gross pay and tax, not in net pay nor insurable earnings;
   • One-off deduction: advance, garnishment, taken from net pay.
2. Enter the Label and the Amount ($).
3. Click Add. The message “Element added, pay recalculated.” confirms it.

To remove an added element, click the bin icon next to its amount.

Correcting the hours of the period #

For an hourly employee, the Hours of the period block shows the Paid hours and their source: the worked hours approved in Attendance, or those of the contract (weekly hours × 52 ÷ number of pays). If no hours are approved in Attendance for the period, the row waits for them to be entered.

1. Enter the hours to pay.
2. Click Save the hours. The pay is recalculated.
3. To return to the original hours, click Undo the correction.

Closing the pay #

1. Check that no contract is blocked: the Close button stays greyed out while any remain.
2. Click Close.
3. The Close the pay dialog warns: the pay is recalculated one last time and then frozen; no element or hour can be entered any more, and its amounts enter the year-to-date totals.
4. Confirm with Close. The message “Pay closed: its amounts make the year-to-date totals.” appears.

Pays are closed in order: a pay cannot be closed while an earlier pay of the same employer is still open.

If a four-eyes validation circuit is active for closing, the message reads “Closing sent for validation: a second officer must approve it.” The pay switches to Awaiting validation and stays frozen meanwhile; a banner says so, with, for whoever can decide, the Approve or reject link. The person who requested the closing cannot approve it.

Publishing the pay statements #

At closing, Illizeo produces one pay statement per employee. The Pay statements block of the closed pay shows how many are generated and published. Each pay statement is in French in Quebec, elsewhere in the employee’s language. Each row’s PDF button opens it.

1. Review the pay statements.
2. Click Publish pay statements (N).
3. The confirmation dialog warns: each pay statement is filed in the employee’s “Payslips” folder, and the employee is notified; a published pay statement can no longer be regenerated.
4. Confirm with Publish.

As long as they are not published, pay statements can be rebuilt from the closed pay with Regenerate (after a template change, for example). If production fails, a banner gives the reason and offers Restart. Publication can also go through a four-eyes validation: nothing is filed meanwhile.

The accounting voucher #

Closing also creates the pay’s accounting voucher, at the employer’s level of detail, from the module’s chart of accounts. The Accounting voucher block of the closed pay lets you:

• download it, choosing the Level of detail and the Format (CSV, Excel, PDF, QuickBooks Online, Sage 50 Canada or a configured format), then Download the voucher;
• read its Voucher entries (debit, credit, text, amount); lines without accounts in the chart of accounts are flagged as outside the voucher, with the Set up the chart of accounts link;
• Regenerate it with the current accounts of the chart, as long as it is neither booked nor exported;
• Mark as booked: it is then frozen, but remains downloadable;
• Export to accounting its entries, as generic CSV or Business Central; once exported, the voucher can no longer be regenerated.

The SFTP deposit #

If an SFTP server is set up for the company, the SFTP deposit block of the closed pay lists the deposits of the accounting voucher and pay statements, sent automatically when they were produced. The Deposit the voucher and Deposit the pay statements buttons deposit them again, in your name. The setting is in Settings › Canadian payroll › SFTP deposit.

The monthly view of pay statements #

In Payroll › Canadian payroll, an overview lists, for the month, the periods paid, the contracts and the pay statements issued, with a search by person. Each pay statement opens from there; a pay not yet closed is flagged Pay still open.

Good to know #

• Every entry (element, hours) recalculates the pay immediately.
• An open pay counts neither in remittances, nor in T4 slips, nor in records of employment.
• Pay statements follow the template set in Settings › Canadian payroll › Pay statement at the time they are generated.

Frequently asked questions #

Why is a row blocked? #

Essential information is missing: SIN, province of employment, hours of an hourly employee… Expand the row to see what is missing, correct it, then recalculate.

Can I reopen a closed pay? #

No. A closed pay is frozen. A correction goes through an element in a later pay.

Is the employee notified when their pay statement is ready? #

Yes, on publication: their pay statement goes into their “Payslips” folder and they receive a notification.