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Timing of bonus checks

At year-end, many companies pay additional bonus wages to their employees. Bonus wages can be issued:
  • On the same check as regular wages for a scheduled pay date.
  • On a separate check for your scheduled pay date or an unscheduled pay date.
All payroll needs to be submitted by 2pm ET at least 3 business days before the pay date.

On the same check

You can enter bonus wages on the same check as regular wages for a scheduled pay date.
With this option, the bonus wages are combined with the regular wages for a standard pay period, and the combined net will be issued to the employees on the standard pay date with the standard method of deposit. The bonus wages are listed as a separate line item on the check stubs.
There aren't any additional processing fees with this option.

On a separate check

You should use this method if you want the bonus wages to meet at least 1 of the following criteria:
  • Paid on a separate check or on a separate pay date different from your regular pay date.
    note
    If you choose this option, contact your Payroll Specialist before you submit payroll and ask them to wait for both the regular and bonus submissions before they finalize the payroll checks.
  • Paid on a separate check with direct deposit disabled (force a paper check).
  • Issued with special tax calculations or overrides.
  • Grossed up (where you enter a target net pay for the bonus wages and the system will calculate the taxes and gross taxable wages)
There aren't any additional processing fees if payroll is processed for the same check date. The only additional cost is the per-check charges for the extra checks.