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Stipend/Bonus/Extra Duty Payment Options

Employees are often paid additional wages on top of their main contract. These stipends, bonuses, and extra duty payments can be configured in several ways depending on exactly how the money will be paid out.

This article explains how to set up each type of stipend/bonus/extra duty option for an individual employee. If you need to add a widespread stipend/bonus to many people at once (e.g. an attendance bonus paid once a year), see Mass Add Stipend/Bonus.

The three options for setting up stipends/bonuses/extra duties on individuals are:

An amount paid out once or a few times per year
An amount spread across the whole year
An amount that varies depending on how much they worked in each pay period

An amount paid out once or a few times per year

If the amount of the stipend will be paid out in one lump sum or in a few installments, this wage can be added with a payroll item that uses the Amount Series algorithm.

The Amount Series algorithm allows you to select specific pay periods on which the wage will appear. Each pay period can have a unique amount, allowing you to set up variations like the image below, with 25% of pay being received at the beginning of a coaching season and 75% at the end of the season.

Whether you are adding this stipend/bonus to one employee or many, it is generally recommended to use a special Pay Period Group just for these stipends in order to ensure appropriate tax withholding. See Stipend/bonus pay period group for more details.

If using the special stipend pay period group, you must create a new position for this stipend. If needed, you may first create a new position type to describe what is being paid.

  1. Go to Financials Main > Human Resources > Employee - Single View
  2. Look up the employee
  3. Open the Positions tab
  4. Create Position
  5. Fill out the necessary details for the position. The following recommendations are typical for stipends/bonuses/extra duties:
    • FTE = 0
    • Work calendar can match the employee’s main position’s work calendar
    • Pay Period Group should be the special stipend one mentioned above
    • Compensation type should be left blank
    • Wage Payroll Item should be left blank
    • Fill out the Certified, Payroll Account Breakdown, and retirement-related fields as needed
  6. Save
  7. Open the Payroll tab
  8. Add a wage payroll item with the Amount Series algorithm (e.g. Stipend or Amount Series)
  9. Add additional payroll items for taxes, retirement, etc. that should be attached to this position

You can add payroll items one-at-a-time in Employee - Single View, use a payroll item template, or go to Payroll > District Payroll Items > Mass Add Employee Payroll Items.

An amount spread across the whole year

If the amount of the stipend will be paid out by splitting it evenly across the whole year, this wage can be added with a payroll item using the Salary algorithm, which will divide the total yearly amount by the number of pay periods in the pay period group.

Because this pay will be received across the whole year, it can be added to a year-long pay period group.

You may choose to (A) create a separate position for this stipend, or (B) add an salary-algorithm wage payroll item to the employee’s existing main position.

(A) To create it as a separate position:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Human Resources > Employee - Single View
  2. Look up the employee
  3. Open the Positions tab
  4. Create Position
  5. Fill out the necessary details for the position. The following recommendations are typical for stipends/bonuses:
    • FTE = 0
    • Work calendar can match the employee’s main position’s work calendar
    • Pay Period Group can match the employee’s main position’s PPG
    • Compensation type should be Salary, and you will enter the yearly salary amount
    • Wage Payroll Item should be Salary
    • Fill out the Certified, Payroll Account Breakdown, and retirement-related fields as needed
  6. Save
  7. Open the Payroll tab
  8. The Salary, federal income tax, and state income tax items should be added automatically. You can add additional payroll items for taxes, retirement, etc. that should be attached to this position one-at-a-time in Employee - Single View, by using a payroll item template, or by going to Payroll > District Payroll Items > Mass Add Employee Payroll Items.

(B) To add a single payroll item to the main position, you probably want to start by creating a district payroll item that uniquely identifies this item as a stipend and not the main salary.

  1. Go to Financials Main > Payroll > District Payroll Items
  2. Create Payroll Item
  3. Enter Description (this could be a generic reusable name like Stipend, or you could create more specifically named items like Basketball Coach Stipend)
  4. Payroll Calculation Step: Wages
  5. Payroll Item Type: Wage
  6. Algorithm: Salary
  7. Subtotal Types: Set all subtotals to increase (+)
  8. Save

Then you can add the item to the individual:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Human Resources > Employee - Single View
  2. Look up the employee
  3. Open the Payroll tab
  4. Add Payroll Item
  5. Select the position to which you want to add the item
  6. Select the item you created
  7. Uncheck Use wage from position
  8. Enter the amount for the stipend
  9. Check Regular Pay
  10. In Illinois, add a TRS Payment Reason if needed
  11. Fill out the Expenditures with the account that the stipend will be paid from
  12. Update the Liability Account to use the same fund as the Expenditures account
  13. In Missouri, change the subtotals to match the employees’ retirement plan
  14. Save

Note: An alternative to the Salary algorithm above is the Simple Amount algorithm.  With the Simple Amount algorithm, you will enter the per-pay period amount.  For example, an employee who receives a stipend of $1,200 over 24 pays could use either a Salary payroll item with an amount of $1,200, or a Simple Amount payroll item with an amount of $50.

An amount that varies depending on how much they worked in each pay period

An extra duty that is paid at a per-hour, per-day, or other per-instance rate can be added as a payroll item using the Hourly algorithm.

To allow flexibility in using this item at any point in the year, it can be added to a year-long pay period group. If you are sure it will only be used once a year, you can use a special Pay Period Group just for these stipends in order to ensure appropriate tax withholding. See Stipend/bonus pay period group for more details.

You may choose to (A) create a separate position for this extra duty, or (B) add an hourly-algorithm wage payroll item to the employee’s existing main position.

(A) To create it as a separate position:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Human Resources > Employee - Single View
  2. Look up the employee
  3. Open the Positions tab
  4. Create Position
  5. Fill out the necessary details for the position. The following recommendations are typical for stipends/bonuses:
    • FTE = 0
    • Work calendar can match the employee’s main position’s work calendar
    • Pay Period Group can match the employee’s main position’s PPG
    • Compensation type should be Hourly, and you will enter the hourly (or daily, per-instance, etc.) rate
    • Wage Payroll Item should be Hourly
    • Fill out the Certified, Payroll Account Breakdown, and retirement-related fields as needed
  6. Save
  7. Open the Payroll tab
  8. The Hourly, federal income tax, and state income tax items should be added automatically. You can add additional payroll items for taxes, retirement, etc. that should be attached to this position.

(B) To add a single payroll item to the main position, you probably want to start by creating a district payroll item that uniquely identifies this item as an extra duty and not the main salary.

  1. Go to Financials Main > Payroll > District Payroll Items
  2. Create Payroll Item
  3. Enter Description (this could be a generic reusable name like Stipend, or you create more specifically named items like Detention Supervision)
  4. Payroll Calculation Step: Wages
  5. Payroll Item Type: Wage
  6. Algorithm: Hourly
  7. Subtotal Types: Set all subtotals to increase (+)
  8. Save

Then you can add the item to the individual:

  1. Go to Financials Main > Human Resources > Employee - Single View
  2. Look up the employee
  3. Open the Payroll tab
  4. Add Payroll Item
  5. Select the position to which you want to add the item
  6. Select the item you created
  7. Uncheck Use wage from position
  8. Enter the amount for the stipend
  9. If you expect this extra duty to be used on every pay period, you may check Regular Pay. However, you should remember not to over-use the Regular Pay option because time off data only imports for employees if all of their regular pay positions are on the payroll run (see Time Off Troubleshooting).
  10. In Illinois, add a TRS Payment Reason if needed
  11. Fill out the Expenditures with the account that the stipend will be paid from
  12. Update the Liability Account to use the same fund as the Expenditures account
  13. In Missouri, change the subtotals to match the employees’ retirement plan
  14. Save