Employees - Default Pay

Pay Items on your employee's Default Pay tab will be added into any pay the employee is included in. Some will be added to the Default Pay automatically based on other employee settings, such as KiwiSaver or Student Loan deductions, while others can be added and customised to suit.

Pay items should only be assigned here if they will regularly be included in the employee's pay. For one-off or very irregular payments you can simply add them to the relevant pay at the time you process it.

To edit your existing employee's default pay details select People > Employees. Click on the employee you want to edit and go to the Default Pay tab.

See our Pay Items Overview article for more information about the pay items you can apply, and details on creating your own pay items.

If your employee is set up with a salary (on the Employment tab) the Salary pay item will be applied by default. This will allocate their annual salary amount evenly with each pay, based on the pay period.

Use the button to add any other default earnings pay items.

Employees who are recording timesheets will have their hours added to their pay as earnings automatically, so you don't need to add those earnings codes to their Default Pay.

Add regular reimbursements here. If the amount per pay will be constant you can specify it here, or for variable amounts you can manually add the amount when you process the pay. For items that will be reimbursed based on submitted Expense Claims, the pay item doesn't need to be included in the Default Pay.

Tax is assigned by default for all employees. This pay item calculates PAYE and allocates it to IRD with each pay.

If the employee is set up as a KiwiSaver member, KiwiSaver Employee Deduction will appear here with their designated contribution rate from their Employment tab, and employees with a Student Loan tax code will have Student Loan added by default.

Use the button to add any other default deductions. You can add compulsory deductions that are set up by default such as Child Support, Fines in Default, IRD Arrears. Alternatively, you can add any custom deductions you may have created.

If the employee is set up as a KiwiSaver member, KiwiSaver Employer Deduction will appear here with the designated contribution rate from their Employment tab.

If you have created additional superannuation pay items for other complying funds, you will be able to apply them here.

The Direct Credit pay item is here by default to assign your employee's take home pay to their bank account number.

You can add the Cash pay item if you will regularly pay the employee cash. Designate a $ amount if it will be constant, or you can manually add the amount when you process the pay.

If your employee has requested regular payments to other bank accounts, learn more about setting that up here: Payments and Deductions to Multiple Bank Accounts.