Cost Estimates can be created at the assignment level in 2 ways thru:

The created Cost Estimate will have 5 parts:

The General Info tab collects basic information to proceed with cost estimate calculation. Most of these inputs are defaulted from other screens in the Equus Platform.

The default description is the cost estimate template name followed by creation date of the cost estimate. Clear the input field to input a unique description.

The cost estimate template selected from the Template lookup is defaulted to this input. Select from the available options to override.

The default effective date is the date of the cost estimate creation date.

The effective date is used to reference when reports for the cost estimate will be generated and allows cost estimates to be associated with each other based on the same or similar effective dates.

The effective date will appear on the employee documents screen in the cost estimate reports section, on the cost estimate batch screen, and cost estimate report batch screen.

This field defines the currency for cost estimate input. Select from up to three available currencies: company, home, or host currency. The currency of the Initial Base Salary input defaults to this input field.

Select from available options to override defaulted currency. This change clears the defaulted value for the Initial Base Salary input and changes the currency displayed beside the base salary input field.

Select from currencies available in Data-entry Currency lookup to determine the currency for inputs in the Cost Estimate screen. Up to three currencies can be available:

This is the currency used by the Company. Select Company tab, Company screen, Edit Company Details, and Base Currency field to define or change the Base Currency.

This currency is defined for the assignment. In the Employees tab and Assignment screen, select Edit Assignment. Under Location Information, define or change home currency in the From Currency field.

This currency is defined for the assignment. In the Employees tab and Assignment screen, select Edit Assignment. Under Location Information, define or change host currency in the To Currency field.

Input initial base salary amount and select relevant data entry currency.

If amount is entered for Base Pay input on the Compensation screen, the amount defaults to this input; provided that the base pay currency entered on the Compensation screen is the company, home or host currency of the assignment. A changed made to the Data-entry Currency inputs clears the Initial Base Salary default amount.

The Marital Status field updates the Filing Status input on the Tax Calc Input tab.

The only exception to this rule is when the Host Family value is equal to 1 and the Home and Host Country are different. If this is the case, the Host Country Filing Status value will default to Single.

Marital status is determined by the following search order:

The Home Family Size value updates the Dependents input on the Home Tax Estimator section of the Tax Calc Input tab. Additionally any calculations with home family size inputs will be updated.

A home family size of 1 and a single marital status defaults a filing status of single with no dependents. A home family size value of 2 and a marital status of married defaults a filing status of married and no dependents. Any home family size greater than 2 if single or 3 if married defaults the value in excess as the dependents input. (In Cost Estimate, spouse is counted as part of Filing Status and spouse is not counted as a dependent.)

The total home family size is defaulted for calculations with home family size inputs.

Home family size is determined by the maximum of following search order:

The Host Family Size value updates the Dependents and, in certain scenario, the Filing Status inputs on the Host Tax Estimator section of the Tax Calc Input tab. In addition, it updates any calculations with host family size inputs.

The default logic for host filing status and number of dependents follows the same method as home filing status and dependent, except if the host family size value is equal to 1 and the home and host country are different. In such scenario, the filing status on the Tax Calc Input tab displays single even if the assignee’s marital status is married.

The total host family size is defaulted for calculations with host family size inputs.

Host family size is determined by taking the values for items in the following sequential search order:

Select from lookup list for home and host locations.

If selections are made on the From Country and To Country inputs on the Assignment screen or Authorization screen, these selections are defaulted here. Select from lookup list to override defaulting.

If the home and/or host country is Canada or the United States, select from the state/province tax estimators to calculate sub-national taxes.

The report title is displayed on the Cost Estimate (Years 1 – 6) Report. Input a title to override the title defined on the Cost Estimate Template screen or the system default title of “INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENT COST ESTIMATE”.

The Type lookup is used to categorize Cost Estimates into groups so that they can be summarized through user reports. The standard selection is <Other>.

You can disable this feature, or add new selections using lookup maintenance.

Once

has been clicked, only the Description, Report Title, and Type input can be edited on this tab. Other inputs can be changed on other tabs of the wizard or on the advanced view. Alternatively, select

to proceed to advanced view, where all cost estimate sections are displayed on one screen.

Four additional tabs are now available: Calculation Inputs, Line Items, Tax Calc Input and Review and Reports.

The Calculations Inputs tab captures and displays currency details and additional inputs required for compensation, custom calculations and business rules.

Select Refresh Rates Automatically to use foreign exchange rates available from Exchange Rate Import. Un-select the box to manually input foreign exchange rate.

This section displays additional inputs for compensation and custom calculations that are configured on the cost estimate template.

This section displays inputs required for Compensation Calculations configured on the Cost Estimate Template. The inputs displayed vary based on the Compensation Calculations and are listed only when Compensation Calculations are configured for the Line Item on the Cost Estimate Template.

A warning message displays when data necessary to compute the Compensation Calculation is missing.

Click

to proceed past the message and a zero value will populate the corresponding Line Item input.

If the Compensation Calculation configured on the Cost Estimate Template is not required for a specific Cost Estimate, you can uncheck the Calculation box of the Line Item to disable the warning message.

Below are inputs that can be automatically defaulted. If these inputs are required in a Custom Calculation, manual re-entry or selection from lookup list is not necessary.

This tab displays line items defined on the cost estimate template. The tax line items are expected to be blank until calculated in the Tax Calc Input tab

Certain line item values are defaulted. Base salary defaults from the General Info tab and others line items may default from the Compensation/Custom Calculation or the Default features configured on the Cost Estimate Template.

Change the defaulted Number of Columns value by selecting from the lookup list. Up to 6 columns can be created for a cost estimate. Select Post Assignment Year to display the post assignment column. Select

for changes to take effect.

Select Calculate? to label columns. Year 1 defaults from the year of the Assignment Start Date input on the Assignment screen. Deselect Calculate? and input a year for Year 1 to override the default column labels.

Input the actual work days for home and host country. Total Work Days is defined on the cost estimate template, or if undefined, is defaulted to 240. Work days are used primarily to calculate foreign tax credits but may also be used for other country specific tax calculations.

The following formulas summarize the defaulting logic in calculating Host and Home Work Days:

Host Work Days = Months in Host / 12 * Total Work Days

Home Work Days = Total Work Days – Host Work Days

Input the number of months in host country. The Months in Host defaults to 12 months. This input is used to prorate or annualize line items as defined in the template. In addition, inputs may be used for country specific tax calculations, such as tax deduction.

When the cost estimate template is set to use Calendar Year, the assignment duration in months is allocated based on calendar year. The months for the first and last year are rounded to the nearest half-month.

When Rolling 12 months is selected on the cost estimate template, each year is 12 months, except the last year is any remaining months rounded to the nearest half-month.

The Total Work Time Months field in cost estimates shows the full length of an assignment, including time in both the home and host countries. It helps make sure cost calculations match the employee’s actual work schedule.

When Work Time Split is enabled in the mobility record, this field helps adjust the Months in Host, which affects tax calculations and cost planning. Unlike Months in Host, which only counts time in the host country, Total Work Time Months gives a full picture of the assignment, making cost estimates more accurate and useful.

Note, when the Use Decimal Months checkbox is enabled in the Cost Estimate Template, the Months in Host and Total Work Time Months fields will display values with decimal points instead of rounding to whole numbers. This allows for more precise cost estimates, prorated line items, and tax calculations based on actual work distribution between the home and host countries.

Assignment line items are displayed, categorized and summed as defined in the template.

In a multi-year assignment, select the calculate box and input the first year assignment cost. Assignment costs for subsequent years will be automatically calculated. If the pro-rate, annual increase, or default amount features are defined in the cost estimate template, the calculate box is automatically selected.

Cost Estimates and Compensation Calculations now include troubleshooting messages for line items backed by Business Rules when table lookups or functions return no results.

This tab displays the Tax Estimator inputs for the authorities selected on the General Info tab.

Certain tax inputs can be defaulted from the cost estimate template. Review, change and save selections before performing any calculation.

The Filing Status fields will automatically be defaulted to the value designated in the assignment's marital status field.

However, the Filing Status fields under the Home - Country and Host - Country sections in this tab can also be automatically overwritten depending on the values that are inputted in the Home and Host Tax Filing Status fields found on the Assignment screen. If these fields are not populated, then the Filing Status fields will use the value from the employee's Marital Status.

To change tax authorities, use the lookup list from the Tax Estimator input to select the tax authorities relevant to the assignment. Select states and provinces tax estimators when the assignment includes Canada, Switzerland, or the United States. The appearance and layout of tax estimators can be configured on the Tax Estimator Availability Section of the Cost Estimate Templates screen.

The Home Tax Estimator will default to United States (only supported country) for Cost Estimates using Third Country National and will default to the Home Country Tax Estimator Override and Home State/Province/Canton Tax Estimator Override for Cost Estimates designed to include the General Employment Company.

After changing the tax estimators for home and host country, and states and provinces where applicable; select

to bring up the relevant tax inputs for the tax authorities.

Note: In the Advanced view, Show Tax Inputs button is the functional equivalent of Refresh Tax Inputs.

There are three types of tax inputs: assignment, policy, or country specific.

Assignment related tax inputs provide information about the assignee (i.e. filing status) and assignment (i.e. duration) and are automatically defaulted from available information from the Assignee or Assignment profile screens.

Policy related inputs relate to the company’s policy, which can be set at the Calculation Details & Default Section of the Cost Estimate Template configuration screen.

Click

for the populated values to be used in tax cost estimate.

Required fields are preceded by an asterisk (*). The Qualifies for Short Term Exemption, Calculate Social Taxes, and Tax Calculation Method tax inputs are discussed below. Information about other tax inputs is available by selecting beside the specific tax input on screen. Generic help information is also available by selecting Tax Estimator Help at the top of the screen.

Use this feature to calculate income tax treaty exemption, typically for assignments with duration of less than 183 days. The Tax Estimator evaluates five criteria in determining whether assignment income can be exempted from host country income tax.

You are affirming two of the treaty conditions are met by selecting <Yes> to this feature: assignee is not paid by host country payroll and assignment costs are not recharged to host country entity.

The Tax Estimator evaluates the three remaining criteria:

Follow the evaluation criteria flow chart to understand the home and host country income tax calculation results.

Select <Yes> or <No> from the lookup list to choose whether to calculate social tax. A <Hypo Only> option is also available for home country social tax calculation.

Select <Automatic> for the Tax Estimator to determine the social taxes to calculate. For temporary Assignment Types (i.e. Long Term, Short Term with Deductions and Short Term without Deductions), applicable social security agreements and social security requirements of the home and host countries criteria are considered. For the Permanent Assignment Type, only social security requirements and home country tax residency criteria are considered.

Follow the evaluation criteria flow chart to understand the home, host, and hypothetical social tax calculation results.

The Tax Estimator supports four calculation methods: <Equalization>, <Grossup Only>, <No Equalization>, and <Gross to Net>.

Equalization is typically used for long-term assignments to include tax reimbursements. Select <Equalization> to calculate hypothetical taxes, and home and host actual taxes.

Grossup Only is typically used for short term or localization assignments to gross up taxes on allowances paid. Taxes are calculated for assignment income with allowances, and for assignment income without allowances. The difference between these two calculations (With-Without) is the tax grossup and is displayed on the bottom of the home or host country calculation detail page of the Cost Estimate Calculation Details report when <Gross Up Only> is selected as the calculation method.

On the Cost Estimate screen, set the Tax Payment Method to <Current Year Grossup>.

Refer to the Tax Estimator subsection for the Tax Estimator Output lines to select for the cost estimate template to display calculated gross up taxes on the Cost Estimate screen and report.

No Equalization calculates actual home and host taxes without tax reimbursements or gross up taxes. Hypothetical taxes are not calculated.

This calculation method can be used with the equalization method to support the Tax Protection policy as follows:

The cost estimate with the lower tax costs is the result under a tax protection approach.

Gross to Net calculates home country net salary based on the home country gross salary and adjustments for home and host country allowances and taxes. The Equus Sample – Gross to Net cost estimate template is available to support this calculation.

Inputs for salary and allowances, and tax outputs must be categorized to one of four Gross to Net sections from the Sections lookup on the Cost Estimate Template screen.

The display name for these sections can be changed on the Configuration tab, Lookup Maintenance screen and Cost Estimate Section lookup field. The four Gross to Net section names are:

Additional Line Items can be added or removed from each section on the Cost Estimate Template. In general, Home Gross Compensation should include base salary, bonus and other home based income. Home Net Salary should include hypothetical taxes, additional pension or insurance contributions, and home housing norm to reduce home gross salary. Host Net Salary should include cost of living and other adjustment to attain spending parity in the host country. Host Tax should include host country income tax and home or host country social tax to gross up the host net salary.

Generate the Cost Estimate Gross To Net report to display results in home and host country currency columns.

On the Cost Estimate screen, the Tax Payment Method should be set to <Current Year Grossup>, and Tax Resident should be set as <No>.

Select

for the Tax Estimator to perform the tax calculation. Each click of Calculate Taxes decreases the license calculations counter by one. The [Calculate Taxes & Next] button is only available on this tab. Click [Calculate Taxes & Next] to calculate tax costs and jump to the Review & Reports tab.

Click

to save changes made to the Tax Estimate, or

to save changes and proceed to the Review & Reports tab. Tax calculation is not updated and license calculation counter is not decreased.

Note, review all inputs on all tabs of the wizard before selecting [Calculate Taxes & Next]. Taxes is calculated even when certain inputs are missing from previous tabs. Calculation counters decreases by one on each click of Calculate Taxes.

In this example, the USD is the Data-entry Currency. Therefore the USD-CAD exchange rate is applied for the home country calculation and USD-CNY is applied for the host country calculation. Select Refresh Rate for the Estimator to find the latest applicable rate. De-select Refresh Rate to manually input exchange rate amount in the Exchange Rate field.

If Refresh Rate is selected and the exchange rate is not found, the last rate in the Exchange Rate field will be applied for the assignment. If the field is blank, no currency conversion will be performed.

This tab provides a read-only view of the calculation inputs and tax results.

Navigate to prior tabs to make changes and click

on the Tax Calc Inputs tab to recalculate taxes.

Note, if changes that impact tax calculations are made in any tab, the tax costs only update after

is selected and a recalculation is performed. If changes are made and the tax costs are not recalculated, the Cost Estimate Calculation Detail report, when generated, displays a blank page.

Generate reports by selecting from available reports displayed. Five standard costs estimate reports are available. You can define additional reports to display on the Cost Estimate screen in Production Reports in the Configuration tab.

This report lists all help information input by users for the cost estimate template selected.

This report lists all assumptions input on the Cost Estimate or Cost Estimate Template screen. The assumption inputs on the Cost Estimate screen override assumption inputs in the company or system level template screens.

This report may also be displayed as Cost Estimate (Years 1-6) Report. This is the output to provide estimated assignment costs to end-users. This report allows for 2 header options, the ability to hide blank rows, the ability to show or hide assumption text for lines on the template, and the ability to display Incremental Costs with or without Net Excess Tax Costs.

You can generate this report in the following currencies:

This report displays a standard header with specific information captured on the Assignment screen.

Contact your Equus client representative to create a custom header for the report. Additional information that can be displayed on the header includes:

The Estimate vs. Actuals report compares assignment costs in the cost estimate with actual expenses. Use Expense Account Mappings in the Cost Estimate Templates screen to link input line items with accounts in the expense management module. Check with your Equus Representatives for more information.

This report displays Cost Estimates in fiscal periods based on the Fiscal Period Start Month selection.

This report displays the Cost Allocation total amounts for the each line item as well as each Allocation column. This report allows for 2 header options, the ability to hide blank rows, and the ability to show or hide assumption text for lines on the template. You can generate this report in the following currencies:

This report displays a standard header with specific information captured on the Assignment screen.

Contact your Equus client representative to create a custom header for the report.

Use this report to review home and host country tax calculations. It details the home and host country actual and home country hypothetical tax calculations for a cost estimate. Other information on the report includes:

This report is generated by assignment year and amounts can be reported in base, or home and host country currencies.

In addition to these five standard reports, the Gross to Net Report is available to display the results from a gross to net calculation.

This tab allows users to view the the cost estimate details by the configured Fiscal Year. The data will follow the Fiscal Period Start Month and Reporting Allocation fields on Cost Estimate Templates. It will return information if all the below conditions are met:

The information on this tab is similar when running the report: Cost Estimate Fiscal Period Report and can be accessed via a User Report with the User Report Type "Cost Estimate Fiscal Years (view)".

This tab allows users to indicate where and how much of a line item’s total cost is allocated. Showing this tab is configured on the associated cost estimate template.

Depending on the templates configuration, two or three locations will appear (Home, Host and Other). Each line item’s total allocation must equal 100% or the line item’s total cost depending on method used. When editing a line item’s allocation values, only one location can be left blank in order for the remainder to be automatically allocated into blank location. A value of 0 is treated as a 0 and will not automatically update with the remainder.

Selecting the method will allow users to specify if the allocation will be specified in percentage (%) or fixed amount ($).