Dundee Group Blog

Proper Setup of the Tax Withholdings Panel in Sage Abra Payroll

How do you setup an employee to have no Federal Income Tax or State Income Tax withheld? Can you set an employee to have a flat amount withheld in each check? In this post we'll examine how to do this. Abra has two settings in the exemption count field which can assist with this.

If you want Abra Payroll to accumulate wages for the employee, but not withhold any taxes, enter 99 in this field and select No in the Exempt field. (This is a special code you should use only for this situation.)

If you want Abra Payroll to accumulate wages for the employee and only withhold supplemental taxes enter 98 in this field and select No in the Exempt Field. (This is a special code you should use only for this situation.)

You can also combine the Extra Tax field to give you flat amounts.

Example: an employee needs to have $600 per pay period withheld. First set their exemptions to 98 or 99 as noted above. Next, enter 600 in the Extra Amount field. Select 'Absolute' for Extra Tax Type field. The 98/99 setting will ignore the tax table and withhold $0. The extra amount is added, $0+$600, and $600 will be withheld each pay period.

If you are pay a Bonus Earning taxed at Supplemental Tax Rates you will probably want to use 98 exemptions.

Example: An employee is setup to have $200 per pay period withheld. They are also receiving a $500 bonus earning this period. Your bonus earning is set to use the Supplemental Tax Rates.

If the employee is set at 99 exemptions, their regular check will have $200 Federal Income Tax withheld. Their bonus check will have $0, since the $200 amount was withheld in the first check.

If the employee is set at 98 exemptions, their regular check will have $200 Federal Income Tax withheld. Their bonus check will have $125 Federal Income Tax withheld ($500 * 25% Supplemental Federal Tax Rate).

Disclaimer: the purpose of this post is to educate you on how Sage Abra Payroll works. We are not giving tax advice. Please consult a tax professional if you have questions on what is allowed by State and Federal law.

Posted by: Tim Ross

Importing Hours into Sage Abra Payroll with Time & Attendance Software

Dundee Group's customers have a number of different Time & Attendance solutions that they use with their Sage Abra Payroll systems. Some they love and some not so much. Some systems have been built from the ground up to work with Abra and others are designed to work with a variety of payroll systems.

Without an automated Time & Attendance system, payroll staff key hours into Abra using 'Create Auto Time Sheet' or 'Enter/Update Time Sheet'. Both of these processes put records in the table PrPost. The goal of a Time & Attendance system is put those records in automatically with a Payroll Import. These hours are visible in the 'Time Sheet' tab when you run 'Edit/Update Time Sheet' for your payrgroup.

If your system has table-to-table integration with Abra, then it will write your hours directly to the PrPost table. Typically your Time & Attendance software has a process that you will run to write the records directly to Abra. Since the records are added outside of the Abra User Interface, you will need to Reform Indexes when you log into Abra to see your hours in Abra. (If you don't see any hours on the 'Time Sheet' tab you've forgotten this step!)

Other systems will create an import file which can be brought into Abra using an interface which converts the text file into FoxPro records. In this case the process is to 1) create the export file in the Time & Attendance software and then 2) convert and import the hours with your interface. An interface written to run inside of Abra will do your reindexing for you.

Some earnings are paid in dollars rather than hours such as stipends or bonuses. These earnings are visible in Abra on the 'Other Earnings' tab of 'Edit/Update Time Sheet'. If you plan to track these in your Time & Attendance system then you will need to have it update the table PrEarn. If the earning doesn't exist on the employees Earnings panel your interface should create it.

If you don't have an automated Time & Attendance system, we suggest you contact us to learn how Time & Attendance systems can improve your bottom line. If you have an existing Time & Attendance system, Dundee Group can write an interface for Sage Abra Payroll.

Posted by: Tim Ross

Reschedule Sage Abra HRMS v10 Webinar

The webinar introducing Sage Abra SQL HRMS Version 10.0 scheduled for October 8, 2009 has been rescheduled  for October 28, 2009 at 2PM Eastern. We will also have webinars in November for those unable to attend on the 28th.

Please join us for this 1 hour preview of Sage Abra SQL HRMS Version 10.0. Abra Version 10 was created to enhance the user expreience and provide the superior functionality you have come to expect from Sage Abra.

Click Here to sign up today and select the session that works for you.

Posted by: Tim Ross

Introducing Sage Abra SQL HRMS Version 10

Come see the future of Sage Abra HRMS.

Please join us for this one-hour event as we preview Sage Abra SQL HRMS version 10. This significant product release was created to enhance your user experience and provide you with the superior functionality that you have come to expect from Sage Abra.

October 8th, 2PM - 3PM Eastern

October 28th, 2PM - 3PM Eastern

Click Here to sign up today and select the session that works for you.

Check Out Our Updated Website

The Dundee Group website has a new look. Drop by for a visit. Important improvements for customers include access to support from every page and a new training request form.

Improved Access to Support

Our clients rely on Dundee Group for fast and complete answers. By using Citrix GoToAssist we can easily view your workstation using secure, easy-to-use remote-support technology. This technology dramatically reduces the time to solve your issue, getting you back to work fast and keeping support costs down. 

Look for the orange "Support" button in the upper right-hand corner of every page on our improved website.

Click the button to be brought to our GoToAssist access page. Give us a call at (413)445-5917 to receive a unique access code. Enter the code on the page and click the Click Here button to initiate the screen sharing session.

You will be prompted to download a small virus-free plug-in. With your permission, we can view your screen and control your mouse and keyboard. You are in full control of your computer at all times. You always have overriding control of your mouse  and keyboard and you can end your screen-sharing session at any time.

Training Class Request Form

Dundee Group offers regional training on Sage Abra in a variety of locations in New York and New England. All training is conducted by Tim Ross our Sage Certified Trainer.

Use our new request form to let us know about your training needs. We plan classes on:

Crystal Reports for Sage Abra
Sage Abra Payroll
Sage Abra Payroll Year-End
Sage Abra HR

Expected locations include:

Concord, NH
Springfield, MA
Albany, NY
Syracuse, NY

If you are interested in other locations or classes please let us know.

Posted by: Tim Ross

Free HR Technology Expo Passes

This year's HR Technology Expo will be filled with information. Join us at the Expo where Sage Software will be launching the latest release of Sage Abra HRMS. Come by the Sage booth to see our new Desktop and Infoshare.

Contact Tim Ross about free admission to the Expo to be held September 30th and October 1st at McCormick Place, Chicago, IL.

Posted by: Tim Ross

Here's a Tip: Pay Class

Many of our customers use the integration between Sage Abra HRMS and UNITIME to keep their UNITIME system populated with employee information. We suggest making the Pay Class field a required field in your custom Abra panel. If not, you may have employees populated in UNITIME without a Pay Class. You will want to make sure that your HR department knows the proper Pay Class for each employee.

If you have employees that keep generating an Invalid Pay Class exception, be sure to change the field in Sage Abra HRMS if you have Abra to UNITIME integration. Otherwise a UNITIME only change will be overwritten by the still blank field in Abra. Because schedules can override a Pay Class you should also check the employee's schedule. If schedules were created with the blank Pay Class, they will generate an error, even if you later correct the Pay Class on the Time Attendance panel. Simply edit the schedule entries and select the correct Pay Class from the drop down.

FMLA plans in Sage Abra HRMS

Have you setup a rolling 12 month plan in your Sage Abra HRMS?

Rolling 12 month plans are new functionality in Version 7.6. The 12 month rolling period determines an employee's balance of FMLA leave by measuring backwards 365 days from the date the employee starts taking FMLA leave. This is called the 12 month look back period. Each day the calendar moves forward, the 12 month look back period rolls forward one day. Note that the look back period includes the accrued as of date.

You can add your FMLA plan by going to Attendance, Rules, Attendance Plans. Click the Add Button to add a new plan. Give your plan a code and description. For Plan Type select: FMLA. For Plan Year select: Rolling 12-month.

Check out the screen shot below.

Posted by: Julie Brown

Withholding Priorities in Sage Abra Payroll

When creating a new deduction or troubleshooting an existing one, the withholding priorities are critical. Withholding Priority indicates the order in which Abra withholds this deduction from the employee's pay. The higher the number, the lower the priority. Remember that taxes come out first and all deductions should come after the number of taxes (Federal and State) you have. So if you have 20 tax codes you need to start with 21 for your deductions and move up from there by importance. Typical I put Garnishments in next and then medical/dental etc.

On the Employee Detail of Tax Withholdings click the "Withholding Priorities" button to see what order all withholdings will be coming out.

If you decide to change the withholding priority in the rules it will not update this information on the employee level. After changing the rule, you will need to do a mass update. Look at the screen shots below to see how to do the Mass Update.

Posted by: Julie Brown

FMLA Expansion Signed into Law

On Monday, January 28, 2008, President Bush signed into law an expansion of FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act). Under the new law, two additional events have been added to FMLA.

Family Leave Due to a Call to Active Duty -This benefit provides 12 weeks of FMLA leave due to a spouse, son, daughter or parent being on active duty or having been notified of an impending call or order to active duty in the Armed Forces. Leave may be used for any "qualifying exigency" arising out of the servicemember's current tour of active duty or because the servicemember is notified of an impending call to duty in support of a contingency operation.

Caregiver Leave for an Injured Servicemember -This benefit provides 26 weeks of FMLA leave during a single 12-month period for a spouse, son, daughter, parent, or nearest blood relative caring for a recovering service member. A recovering service member is defined as a member of the Armed Forces who suffered an injury or illness while on active-duty that may render the person unable to perform the duties of the member's office, grade, rank or rating.

The Department of Labor will be issuing regulations to fully implement this law. Click the following DOL FMLA Post for more information.

We will follow up in a future post with more information about how to handle FMLA in Sage Abra Payroll.

Posted by: Tim Ross