Completing Your Payroll Calendar (Why Deductions Depend on It)

Why this matters

Benefits with per-pay-period costs (HSA and other tax-saving products) are calculated against your payroll calendar. If the calendar is incomplete, UZIO falls back to default paycheck counts. The per-pay-period deduction amounts can then be wrong on every paycheck for the affected employees.

Who needs this: Any user whose role includes the Payroll permission, and benefits administrators who set up per-pay-period deductions.

When is the calendar considered complete?

Two conditions:

1. It spans the full benefit period. If your benefit effective period crosses two calendar years, the payroll calendar must be set for both years. Complete means the calendar covers everything from the first benefit effective start date through the last benefit effective end date.
2. Every pay frequency in your census is covered. Each pay frequency your employees use needs its pay group periods defined, so cut-off date logic works for every employee.

What happens if it is incomplete?

For any frequency without calendar details, per-pay-period deduction calculations use the default paycheck schedule for that frequency instead of your actual dates: Weekly 52, Bi-Weekly 26, Semi-Monthly 24, Monthly 12, Quarterly 4. See Understanding and Setting Up Pay Groups. For a bi-weekly pay group with 27 pay dates in a year, for example, the default of 26 slightly overstates each paycheck's deduction.

How to check and fix it

1. Go to Payroll > Payroll Setup > Pay Groups. A warning icon marks any pay group with no pay periods defined.
2. For each pay group that has employees assigned, confirm pay periods exist through the end of your benefit plan year.
3. If a pay group is missing periods, open it and generate them. See Pay Group Setup by Frequency.
4. If you added employees on a new pay frequency (for example, your first monthly-paid employee), set up that pay group's periods before their first benefit deduction.

Related articles

• Understanding and Setting Up Pay Groups
• Pay Group Setup by Frequency
• How Per-Pay-Period Deductions Are Calculated in the Payroll Deduction Report