Wages Manager Basics

Wages Manager Basics

Wages Manager 

Wages Manager simplifies payroll by assisting employers with calculating wages, leave, tax, termination pays and superannuation. Single Touch Payroll and SuperStream is also available within Cashflow Manager Gold, Wages Manager and Wages 1-4. 




Please Note: This guide includes all the existing features of both Wages Manager and Wages 1-4, however those customers making use of Wage 1-4 are unable to make use of multiple business files, more than 4 active employees or the Backpackers Tax functions.  


As the Australian Tax Office (ATO) may release tax changes each financial year (1st July until the 30th of June each year), it’s important to ensure that you are always using the latest version of our software. This is actively available via the Cashflow Manager website for those customers with a current subscription.

Wages Manager will use the current tax scales and superannuation rates to ensure that you are calculating everything correctly for your employees, in preparation for completing their tax returns each year, as well as Single Touch Payroll (STP) which become mandatory as of 1/7/19. 

To get started, check that you are in the current financial year. The financial year is determined by what year the financial year ends.

For example:
 
1st of July 2019 – 30th of June 2020 would be the financial year 2020.

Click on [Employees] on the left side of the main Dashboard and check the financial year that appears along the top of the screen.


Please Note:
 
If you have a welcome screen that has appeared, select [No] to import an existing Wages Manager File and then fill out the remaining screens with your ABN and address. You can switch on SuperStream at a later time.

To begin recording wages, your first step will be to add in your employees.

 

Adding Employees

Click on [Add Employee]. Refer to our support guides on each step of entering your employee for more information

For more information regarding Adding Employees click here.
For more information on Setting up Leave Entitlements click here.
For more information on Recording Bank Accounts for an employee click here.

If you are unsure about any questions that relate to your employee, you may need to refer to the employment agreement, Tax File Number (TFN) Declaration or contract.

We recommend obtaining the employee’s superannuation fund name before you start entering any pays as this will save you having to make further adjustments in the future.

 

Processing Pays

Flexibility is provided on how you wish to calculate pays for your staff. The pay structure options offered are: Salary, Hourly, Nominated Gross and Piece Work. This stems from how the employee was setup within the Pay Details tab, when the employee was first entered.

To begin calculating wages, click on the [Pay Single Employee] button on the top right side of the Employees section.

The pay screen will change depending on employee’s pay structure.

For more information on Processing Pays and Calculating Wages click here.
For more information on Viewing Pay history click here.
For more information on Deleting Pays click here.
For more information on Editing Payroll click here.
For more information on using the Employee Diary click here.

When you are recording pays, it’s recommended to work from the top to the bottom of the screen. Select your Pay Period From and To dates from the drop down list provided or you can type in these dates, and then select your Pay Process Date in the first column.

Please Note: The Pay Process Date selected needs to be a date within the financial year set on your Employees screen.

You are also able to adjust how many pay periods the pay should be taxed over.

For example: You may need to record a pay that covers two weeks even though the employee is set up as a weekly pay period. In this instance, you would simply change the pay periods to be taxed over to 2.

There are also options located on the right side of the Pay Single Employee to enable you to access additional functions such as deleting a pay or recording different types of payments such as Bonuses or Commissions.

For more information on Salary and Hourly Payments click here.
For more information on Nominated Gross Payments click here.
For more information on Piece Work Payments click here.

Single Touch Payroll (STP) functionality is also available as per the latest changes rolled out by the ATO and requires business registration with My Gov and with Single Touch.

Please Note: To learn more on how to prepare and how to lodge this reporting within our software please read the Single Touch Payroll Guide.

 

Superannuation

When you record each pay, superannuation will automatically calculate for each employee. This means that when it comes time to working out what superannuation needs to be paid, you can simply run a Superannuation Remittance report. The reports provided will be covered in further detail, during the reporting section of this guide.

Superannuation payments are generally made for a quarter or a monthly period and there are two options to record this type of payment to ensure you are compliant with SuperStream. SuperStream was rolled out by the ATO in previous years to ensure that Superannuation is paid correctly and reported electronically to the ATO.

The first SuperStream option is a manual method and involves running the Superannuation Remittance report, logging into your Superannuation Clearing House website and then typing in the superannuation amounts to be paid and reported. Your last step will be to record the superannuation payment information within the Superannuation section by selecting each Superannuation Fund Name and clicking on [Pay Fund].

For more information on submitting SuperStream Manually click here.

The second option will require you to run the Superannuation Remittance report, check that this is correct and then to click on the [SuperStream] button. This will record superannuation payment information for all funds and will enable you to create a SAFF (SuperStream Alternative File) CSV file to be uploaded to your Superannuation Clearing House website.

For more information on submitting SuperStream Electronically click here.
 

Reports

An extensive list of reports is available, including a report to print out a PAYG Payment Summary for your employee, a report to reprint a Termination Pay, or a report to provide a breakdown and total on the hours worked for an employee (Combined Payroll Summary Report with the drill down option ticked).

To access your reports, click on the last Reports option, on the left side menu.

For more information on Wages Reports click here.


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