To get started on Collage Payroll, you'll need to start with the basics: Business and Bank Information, Pay Schedules, Add Employees, Create Presets and how to run a payroll.
To launch Collage Payroll, click on $ Payroll on the left menu --> Get Started!
First, you will be directed to complete the Business Info, including:
Display name, legal name and preferred language
CRA payroll account number & remittance type
For Quebec-based employers - NEQ #
Corporation registration number
Address and main contact information used for business entity verification
Click Save. If you have multiple entities, select Create Another.
Note: If “I will be migrating this year’s data” remains checked, your platform will stay in Preview Mode even if you are not migrating data. Preview Mode lets you run historical or test payrolls without moving real funds.
Enter Banking Information
This is the account that will be debited to fund your payroll, including net pay and government remittances (CRA/RQ)
Read and sign PAD agreement
Next, you'll need to create Pay Schedule(s)
Name your pay schedule, choose pay frequency and enter Anchor Dates:
Choose the last day of the first pay period you intend to process in Collage Payroll
Select the corresponding pay date
Pay Day Movement Settings determine how to adjust a pay date if it falls on a weekend or holiday
Create Another, if necessary.
Note: All subsequent pay periods are determined by your anchor dates.
Now that you've added employees, you can customize the payroll items required to process payroll by creating Presets.
By default, Salary, Wage, Tax, CPP, EI, QPIP, QPP do not require a preset
Presets should be created for any payroll item you plan to use on a recurring (per employee, per payroll) basis or as a one-time payment in a pay run
Click Create Preset
Name: what payroll admins will see when selecting presets
Type: choose between Earning, Allowance, Reimbursement, Benefit - Employee Contribution, Benefit - Employer Contribution or Deduction
Sub-Type: pick from a defined list of preset options, determined by Type (b), to create the most appropriate payroll preset
Line Item Title: what employees will see on their pay stub. If left blank, Sub-Type will appear on pay stub.
Considerations
Line Item Title locks the preset name; it cannot be edited during payroll.
GL Codes should only be assigned at the preset level if they require unique mapping.
More details on GL Codes can be found here.
To review the Payroll & Tax Implications of the payroll items you create, you can expand the window once you've selected a sub-type:
Add Employees to Payroll
First, review Employee set up in Collage:
Ensure Locations in Collage have complete addresses
Ensure employees have been invited to the platform, OR
Ensure employee information is complete, including address, rate of pay (annual or hourly), banking information and SIN#
Include employees who have earnings in the tax year, if applicable
Add Employees to desired pay schedules, one by one or batch add:
Resolve any errors flagged in the red box:
Common errors include missing bank information, missing SIN
Bank accounts with “-” or spaces
Missing standard hours worked per week
Rates of pay other than Annual or Hourly
Missing address on Locations
Now you can move into Employee profiles to set up recurring payroll items, including (if desired) vacation accruals or payouts, allowances, reimbursements, benefit contributions and deductions. You can also configure Workers' Compensation, Statutory Holiday Pay and override select tax details.
Vacation Pay
% Accrual or payout
Recurring Presets
Recurring earnings, benefit contributions, deductions, allowances or reimbursements can be set up on employee profiles
Repeat as required for each recurring preset and employee
Example: Setting up an Employee Benefit Contribution
Employee Name → Benefits → Create Benefit
Choose Benefit from Preset dropdown
Enter Amount or %
Income basis for % contributions can customized
Include annual maximum, if applicable
Map GL codes, if applicable
Select Frequency:
Per Payroll: same amount each pay period
Per Month: splits amount entered in contribution line by number of pay periods beginning in a calendar month
Effective From: use the beginning of the pay period you want the code to start
Effective To: only if the recurring item has an end date, otherwise leave blank
Workers' Compensation
Set up rate per employee and review Workers' Compensation Report under main navigation --> Reports
Considerations
Rate is per $100, displayed as a dollar amount, not a percentage
Industry and Code should be available on your WCB statement
Historical Renumeration is required when migrating mid-year and when moving provinces
Default WCB province is determined by POE
Stat Holiday Pay
For hourly employees, you can customize stat holiday pay calculations using one of three calculation methods.
Create Stat Pay Configuration and choose between three calculation methods:
Do Not Calculate --> It will show as a line item in a the payroll that a stat falls, based on province of employment --> as a reminder to enter $/hrs.
Provincial Rules Only --> Defaults to employee's current POE --> Option to choose lookback period used in calculating stat pay --> Using Day or Week before requires some estimation (using % calculation) while Previous Pay Period is more straightforward (ie. Stat in PP4 will look at earnings in PP3 and PP2).
Fixed number of hours --> Enter fixed amount of hours for each stat pay --> Select Highest rate (we only allow for 1 rate, so even if they pick something different, it won't impact the calc). This works best for employers who want to pay a set amount each stat regardless of average earnings.
Tax Details
Tax Override options exist for the following reasons:
CPP/QPP Exempt
QI/QPIP Exempt
First Nation Exemptions
Outside Canada Surtax Exemption
Federal Annual Deduction at Source
Now you're ready to run your first payroll!
On the payroll dashboard, verify pay period dates and pay date, click Run:
Review Earnings
Add any additional items by clicking on three black dots to the right of employee name, OR customize your column view by clicking the column icon in top right corner
Click Next - Benefits & Deductions
Review Benefits & Deductions
Review employee benefit, deduction and tax amounts
Make one-time additions to benefits or deductions --> Add Benefit/Add Deduction
Preview Pay Slip by clicking the three black dots to the right of the employee name
Click Next - Review
Review Payroll Summary
Download Preliminary Register to see complete employee payroll data
Once satisfied, hit Approve
You can Revert to Draft up until the final approval deadline
Payroll will display as processing until pay day, then move to Previous section on Payroll Dashboard
Export or download payroll registers, liability report and journal entry:
