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Payroll · Guide 3

Pay Components

Pay components are the building blocks of payroll calculation. They represent individual earnings, deductions, or employer contributions that make up an employee's pay.

  • Payroll and finance teams
  • Updated

In this guide

Component Categories

Category Direction Examples
Earning Adds to gross pay Basic Salary, Transport Allowance, Overtime, Lunch Allowance
Deduction Subtracts from gross pay Loan Repayment, Union Dues, Welfare Deduction
Employer Contribution Employer cost (not deducted from employee) Employer SSNIT, Tier 3 Employer Pension

Component Classes

Class Purpose
Standard Regular earning or deduction
Bonus Special tax treatment (first 15% of annual basic at 5% for residents)
Overtime Special tax treatment (varies by salary band and day type)
Benefit in Kind Non-cash benefit (e.g., housing) — taxable but does not affect net pay

Creating a Component

  1. Navigate to Components → Create.
  2. Enter a unique code (e.g., TRANSPORT, LOAN_REPAY).
  3. Enter a display name (e.g., "Transport Allowance").
  4. Select the category: Earning, Deduction, or Employer Contribution.
  5. Select the component class: Standard, Bonus, Overtime, or Benefit in Kind.
  6. Choose the calculation type: Fixed (set GHS amount) or Percentage (of base salary).
  7. Set the default amount or default percentage.
  8. Configure tax and pension flags:
    • Is Taxable — include in PAYE tax calculation
    • Is Pensionable — include in SSNIT/Tier 2 pension calculation
    • Affects Net — deduct from or add to the employee's net pay
  9. Set Is Default to auto-assign this component to newly created employees.
  10. Set the sort order to control display position on payslips.
  11. Click Save.

Pay Structure Templates

Templates let you pre-configure a standard set of components for quick employee onboarding:

  1. Create a template with a name, default pay basis, and tax category.
  2. Tick the components to include and enter their amounts/percentages. Unticked rows are not saved into the template. Turn off Active template to keep the template unavailable for assignment.
  3. On Add/Edit Employee > Pay package, select a template to populate its component amounts, percentages, calculation methods, and inclusion checkboxes. Existing or edited values require confirmation before replacement. Unrelated assignments remain unchanged.
  4. Review Configured package, separating cash earnings, non-cash benefits, deductions, and employer contributions. Base rate, pay basis, and statutory settings are not changed by selecting a template. The summary is before statutory calculations, loan recovery, proration, and assignment dates; the pay run remains authoritative.
  5. Adjust employee-specific amounts if needed, including deliberate zero amounts or excluded components, then save. Selecting No template retains the current assignments. Apply template reapplies its current defaults after review.

The last applied template is recorded on the employee profile with an audit snapshot. Future template changes do not update employee assignments or posted payroll automatically. If a template changed or became inactive before saving, reload the form and review it again. Validation errors retain your submitted values without reapplying defaults.

CSV imports use template_code to apply the same validated component configuration. Unknown/inactive codes and unavailable template components produce row errors instead of creating an incomplete package. For imports only, blank pay-basis and tax-category fields may use the template defaults; supplied values and employee base rate remain authoritative.

Assigning Components to Employees

Components are assigned to individual employees from the employee create/edit form. When assigning:

  • Toggle the component on or off for the employee
  • Override the amount or percentage if different from the default
  • Active components show a green highlight; inactive ones are dimmed

Archiving Components

Components that are no longer needed can be archived. Archived components are excluded from future calculations but remain in historical run data. Components with active assignments show an assignment count warning before archiving.