Entering the expenses associated with an assignment can be accomplished through the Vouchers menu item. The Voucher Entry screen is used to create, edit, view and delete vouchers that contain expenses associated with a specific assignment.
The expenses entered into each voucher will be considered in the tax calculation for that assignment. How each expense is handled in the calculation is dependent on whether or not the expense has been denied, the US Taxability of the expense and the tax policy assigned to the assignment.
Editing Calculated and/or Reported Expenses
Once an expense has been included in a Batch Tax Calculation and/or has been included on a Payroll Report the expense can no longer be edited. The system will stop a user from editing a calculated and/or reported expense by not allowing the Voucher in which that expense resides to be moved below an Approved Voucher status.
If an expense that has been included in a Batch Tax Calculation needs to be modified then the Batch Tax Calculation for the expense must be undone first.
If an expense that has been included on a Payroll Report needs to be modified then the expense must first be removed from the Tax Calc Payroll Report.
If an expense that has been included in a Batch Tax Calculation and on a Payroll Report needs to be modified then the expense must first be removed from the Tax Calc Payroll Report and then the Batch Tax Calculation for the expense must be undone.
Tax Year and Report Date Fields
The Expense Entry screen includes a Tax Year field and a Report Date field. Normally, the visibility and required status of these fields is determined by the “Show Report Date and Tax Year for Expense Entry?” system preference (ENTRYSTAX1). These fields are always required when Gross Up is turned on for an Assignment; the system preference setting is ignored.
The “Show & Utilize Voucher Entry Payroll Calendar?” system preference (PYRVOCHCAL) determines if the Payroll System Calendar is used to select the Report Date field. When this system preference is true, a Primary Payroll System (assigned on the Assignment screen) is required to enter expenses. When this system preference is false, the Report Date can be entered free-form (without having to select it from a drop-down list of possible dates.)
When expenses are entered through the Employee Expense Entry screen on the portal, the Tax Year and Report Date fields are defaulted behind the screens. When Gross Up is turned on for an Assignment or the ENTRYSTAX1 system preference is true, these fields will be required to approve the voucher internally. The PYRVOCHCAL system preference should be true so that the Tax Year and Report Date can be defaulted correctly.
Expenses in a non-USD or non-CAD currency
The system will use the following logic for determining the Tax Calc Amount of each expense.
The system will first use the submitted amount of the expense if it is in USD (for intra-US moves) or CAD (for intra-Canadian moves)
If the submitted amount of the expense is not USD or CAD than the system will use the requested payment amount of the expense if it is in USD (for intra-US moves) or CAD (for intra-Canadian moves)
If neither the submitted amount nor the requested payment amount is in USD or CAD than the system will use Company Exchange Rate Settings and the Exch. Rate Date from expense entry to determine an exchange between the submitted currency and either USD or CAD (depending on the country the Assignment is associated with) in order to determine that Tax Calc Amount that should be used in the tax calculation
Utilizing Cost Currency for the Tax Calc Amount
The system can be configured, via a system preference (TAXAMTCOST), to use the Total Cost Amount of the expense as the Tax Calc Amount if the Cost Currency for the Assignment is USD (for intra-US moves) or CAD (for intra-Canadian moves).
When this system preference is enabled the system will use the following logic for determining the Tax Calc Amount of each expense at Payroll or Year End.
The system will first look at and use the Total Cost Amount of the expense if the Cost Currency set for the Assignment is the appropriate currency (USD or CAD).
If the Cost Currency of the Assignment is not USD or CAD or no Total Cost Amount has been provided for the expense the system will then use the submitted amount of the if the submitted currency is USD (for intra-US moves) or CAD (for intra-Canadian moves).
If the submitted currency of the expense is not USD or CAD than the system will use the requested payment amount of the expense if the requested payment currency is USD (for intra-US moves) or CAD (for intra-Canadian moves).
If neither the submitted currency nor the requested payment currency is USD or CAD than the system will use Company Exchange Rate Settings and the Exch. Rate Date from expense entry to determine an exchange rate between the submitted currency and either USD or CAD (depending on the country the Assignment is associated with) in order to determine the Tax Calc Amount that should be used in the tax calculation.
Please Note: The system will only look at Total Cost Amount for Payroll or Year End calculation time. For Voucher Entry calculations the system will always follow the logic in the ‘Expenses in non-USD or non-CAD currency’ section.
Please Note: The system will make use of the Total Cost Amount of the expense on the very first Batch Tax Calculation run on the expense. For example,
The expense has been updated with a Total Cost Amount after the Voucher Entry calculation but prior to the Payroll Batch Tax calculation. When the Payroll Batch Tax Calculation is run (if the system preference has been enabled) the system will use the Total Cost Amount for the expense.
If the first Batch Tax Calculation run on an expense is a Year End calculation than the Total Cost Amount of the expense will be used in that calculation.
If the Total Cost Amount for the expense is either provided or updated after a Batch Tax Calculation has been run the expense the system will not use the newly updated Total Cost Amount.
Entries Tab
The Entries tab displays the expense information in a summary fashion. This tab also includes a Taxes/Reported column. The Reported side of the column will display the Payroll Date that the expense has been tagged with, if any, if the expense has been not yet been tagged with a Payroll Date then the value that will be seen in this column is No. The Taxes side of the column will display a Yes or No value. The value in the Taxes column indicates whether or not taxes have been calculated for this expense. If taxability has been calculated on the expense the Yes or No value will become a link. If selected this link will launch the Expense Entry Taxes (Popup) which will display the calculated tax detail for the particular expense and will also for the entry of manual adjustments to withholding.
Expense Entry Taxes (Popup)
The Expense Entry Taxes (Popup) screen will display all the tax calculations that have been calculated for the given expense. This screen will also allow for the entry of manual adjustments to Withholding. In order to make these manual adjustments the voucher must be in a editable status and the user must have edit rights to this screen.
Tax Results Tab
The Tax Results tab displays basic assignment information, expense information for the expenses included in the voucher and, if applicable, a summary of the Tax Assistance and Withholding information for each Tax Authority for the voucher.
Note: To recalculate taxes at time of voucher entry the voucher must be in an editable status. Vouchers that have been locked down, are in an un-editable status, will not be recalculated.
Note: If the Tax Results Tab is not part of the voucher entry wizard please contact Equus to enable to this feature.
Assignment Information
This section provides information about the assignment. Also, if tax calculations have been done on this voucher this information can be used to assist in the analysis of the tax results displayed below.
Expense Information
This section provides information for each expense in the voucher. For each expense you will see the account associated with the expense, the submitted amount, the submitted currency, the exchange rate used, if any, to determine the payment amount, requested payment currency, expense date, exchange rate used to determine the US dollar amount, US dollar amount that will be used in the tax calculation and also the contents of the expense reference field, if any.
Tax Calc Results
Reimb. (Reimbursable) Total
This field displays the total amount of reimbursable expenses for the voucher.
Tax Assistance
If applicable, this field displays the total amount of tax assistance calculated on all of the reimbursable expenses for the voucher.
Withholding
If applicable, this field displays the total amount of withholding calculated on all of the reimbursable expenses for the voucher.
After Tax Amount
This field displays the sum of the five fields above it. It represents the net (after tax) amount of the reimbursable expenses.
Tax Calc Results Summary Grid
Results will only be seen in this grid if the voucher entry tax policy for the assignment associated with this voucher is set to calculate.
Tax Authority
Each of the assignment’s tax authorities will be listed in this column.
Tax Assistance
This is the total amount of tax assistance the system calculated for each specific tax authority on all expenses for the voucher.
TA%
This is the percentage of tax assistance for the specific authority. It is arrived at by dividing the tax assistance amount for that authority, by the sum of the reimbursable expenses and the total amount of tax assistance.
Withholding
This is the total amount of withholding the system calculated for each specific tax authority on all of the expenses for the voucher.
WH%
This is the percentage of withholding for a specific authority. It is arrived at by dividing the withholding amount for that authority, by the sum of the reimbursable expenses and the total amount of tax assistance.
For more information on expense and voucher entry please see the Voucher Entry User Manual.