Setting Up Company Level Deductions

Purpose

Company level deductions are the catalog of everything that can be subtracted from employee pay: benefit premiums, retirement plans, HSA and FSA, garnishments. Deductions must be created at the company level first. Otherwise nothing is available to choose from when assigning deductions to individual employees. This step is mandatory on the payroll setup checklist.

Who can do this: Any user whose role includes the Payroll permission. This is usually the Employer Admin, but other admin roles can be granted the same access.

Prerequisites

• Know each deduction's tax treatment (pre-tax or post-tax) and amounts, from your benefit plans, retirement plan documents, or court orders
• If you use UZIO Benefits: decide whether benefit deductions should auto-sync into payroll (recommended; see below)

Deduction categories available

Choosing a Master Deductions List entry drives the rest of the form. The active master catalog includes:

• Retirement: 401(k), Roth 401(k), 401(k) Loan, 403(b), Roth 403(b), 457(b), Roth 457(b), 401(k) Simple, 401(k) Simple Loan, 408(p) Simple IRA, Roth IRA
• Section 125 pre-tax benefits (with after-tax equivalents): Medical, Dental, Vision, Critical Illness, Cancer Insurance, Accident Insurance, Hospital Indemnity
• Tax-advantaged accounts: HSA, FSA, Limited Purpose FSA (LPFSA), Dependent Care Assistance Plan (DCAP), Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA)
• Commuter benefits: Parking and Transit, each with Pre-tax and After-tax options
• Voluntary and employer-paid insurance: STD, LTD, Basic Life and AD&D, Voluntary Life, Voluntary AD&D (voluntary lines offer Pre-tax and After-tax variants)
• Trump Account: the Section 128 child savings account (see below)
• Garnishment and Other (the generic, fully configurable catch-all)

Trump Account (Section 128)

A Trump Account master deduction covers employee contributions to the federal Section 128 child savings accounts. It is usually paired with a linked employer contribution (Setting Up Company Level Contributions). Things to know:

• On the company deduction listing and view, the deduction type displays as "Pre-tax", not "Trump Account". Look for it by the display name you gave it.
• W-2 Box 12 Code TA is contribution-only. The employer contribution reports under Code TA, and the deduction side offers no TA label. The W-3 Reconciliation Report includes a Code TA row. See Year-End W-2s and Tax Documents.
• When assigning the deduction to an employee, the form shows a fixed note: "Trump Account contributions are subject to an annual IRS limit of $5,000 per child, combining employee and employer (Section 128) contributions. UZIO does not enforce this limit — the account trustee applies it." Track the combined limit yourself or through the trustee. UZIO will not stop an over-contribution.

Garnishments: which "type" field is which

This screen's Garnishment Type field (Child Support, Spousal Support, Student Loan, Tax Levy, Other) only labels the deduction category. It is not the same list as the legal-priority garnishment types used when you enter an actual order at the employee level, which includes Federal Tax Lien, State Tax Lien, Federal Loan, and Creditor Garnishment as distinct types. See Setting Up Employee Garnishments for the employee-level order entry and its full type list.

Steps: Add a deduction

1. Open Company Deductions and click Add Deduction.
2. Choose the deduction category and give it a display name (what employees see on pay stubs).
3. If you use UZIO Benefits: choose whether to auto-sync the benefit's deductions into payroll per benefit type (medical, dental, vision, and so on). If your benefits are brokered elsewhere, select No for auto-sync and enter amounts manually.
4. Set the calculation method: fixed dollar per paycheck, percent of gross pay, or percent of disposable net pay.
5. Optionally set per-paycheck limits (minimum and maximum) and an annual maximum.
6. Optionally enable arrears tracking and pick the processing method. See Understanding Automatic Deduction Arrears.
7. Set the deduction schedule: which paychecks the deduction comes out of, per pay group. To deduct from every paycheck across multiple pay groups, choose Every Paycheck for each pay group.
8. Optionally enable auto-assign to new employees so new hires pick up the deduction automatically.
9. Click Save and Exit, or Save and Add More to continue.

[Screenshot: Add Deduction form showing calculation method, schedule per pay group, and arrears options]

Field reference

The Master Deductions List selection (add flow only; required) drives which fields appear on the rest of the form. Choosing "Other" unlocks the generic setup. Every deduction takes a Deduction Type and a Deduction Name (up to 255 characters).

[Screenshot: Add Deduction form with the Garnishment master selected, showing the Garnishment Type dropdown; use demo data]

Where this deduction shows up afterward

• Employee records: the deduction becomes assignable on each employee's Deductions tab, where its amount, method, limits, and arrears behavior can be overridden per employee. At assignment you also answer How do you wish to limit this deduction amount?: Annually, Lumpsum (a total amount owed, after which it stops), or No Limit.
• Pay runs and pay stubs: it is withheld on the paychecks your schedule selects and appears on the pay stub under the display name.
• W-2: the box and label you set here flow to the employee's W-2 at year-end.
• General Ledger: if you mapped deductions individually in the GL setup, map the new deduction or your next GL file will be out of balance. See Setting Up the General Ledger and Exporting Payroll Journal Entries.
• Remittance: UZIO withholds the deduction. Except for payroll-remitted garnishments, paying the provider (401(k) recordkeeper, insurer) is your responsibility. Those amounts appear under Your Liabilities on the payroll summary.

Related articles

• Setting Up Company Level Contributions: create deductions first; contributions link to them
• Understanding Automatic Deduction Arrears
• Setting Up Employee Garnishments
• Setting Up Employee Payroll
• Overriding Deduction and Contribution Methods for Pension Benefits