Off-cycle, bonus & correction payrolls

This guide covers: When to use off-cycle, Start an off-cycle run, Bonus, Correction.

When to use off-cycle

What it does: Off-cycle activities exist because the regular payroll workflow refuses to pay an employee twice in the same period or pay a terminated employee. You need a separate path when that's the right thing to do.

Where: Client → Payroll (/clients/{clientId}/payroll) → click Off-Cycle Activities in the page header (takes you to /clients/{clientId}/payroll/off-cycle).

Steps:

Pick the activity that matches your case:

1. Bonus Payroll — one-time bonus payment outside the regular schedule (signing bonus, year-end, spot bonus).
2. Termination Payroll — final paycheck for an employee whose termination_date is on or before the period end. Regular runs exclude these employees automatically.
3. Correction Payroll — fix an error from a previous run (missed hours, wrong rate). Different from voiding a check.
4. Off-Cycle Payroll — generic unscheduled payment that doesn't fit any of the above.

Who: Accountant or SMB admin.

Notes: All four flows route into the same form (/clients/{clientId}/payroll/new?type=...) — the type changes labels, the badge color on the run, and (critically) whether terminated employees are included. Regular runs are the only ones that filter terminated employees by termination_date.

Start an off-cycle run

What it does: Opens the new-payroll form prefilled for the chosen off-cycle type.

Where: Off-Cycle Activities page → Start Extra Payroll card.

Steps:

1. Open the client and click Payroll in the sidebar, then click the Off-Cycle Activities button in the page header.
2. In the Start Extra Payroll card, click one of the four tiles: Bonus Payroll, Termination Payroll, Correction Payroll, or Off-Cycle Payroll.
3. The new-payroll form opens with the type badge in the header (e.g. BONUS, TERMINATION, OFF-CYCLE). All non-regular runs skip the "already paid" duplicate check, so employees with an existing regular payroll for the same period are NOT excluded.
4. Set period start/end and pay date, fill hours/earnings, calculate preview, save.

Who: Accountant or SMB admin.

Notes: Off-cycle runs follow the same approve → process pipeline as regular runs — they're not auto-approved. See Run a regular payroll for the approval and process steps; they're identical.

Bonus

What it does: Pays a flat bonus amount with the regular tax rules (federal supplemental rate 22%, state varies).

Where: Off-Cycle Activities → Bonus Payroll tile, or directly at /clients/{clientId}/payroll/new?type=bonus.

Steps:

1. Open the bonus form via the Off-Cycle Activities page.
2. Set the pay-period dates and the pay date (the supplemental rate applies regardless of whether you bundle the bonus into a regular check or run it standalone — Payrollix flags this run as bonus for accurate W-2 box wiring).
3. Leave hours at zero unless the bonus is being run alongside hourly time.
4. Enter the bonus amount in the Bonus column for each employee being paid.
5. Calculate Preview → save → approve → process.

Who: Accountant or SMB admin.

Notes: Bonuses are taxed at the IRS supplemental flat rate (22% federal) when paid separately from regular wages — this is what the bonus run produces. State supplemental rates vary; the engine resolves the per-state supplemental rate from the resident/work state. Add-Additional-Check (see below) is the alternative if you want to append a bonus check to an already-processed regular run.

Correction

What it does: Issues a separate payroll with adjusted amounts to fix a mistake on a previous run — without voiding the original.

Where: Off-Cycle Activities → Correction Payroll tile, or /clients/{clientId}/payroll/new?type=correction.

Steps:

1. Determine the correct amount the employee should have been paid for the prior period.
2. Subtract what was actually paid — the difference is the correction amount.
3. Open the correction form, enter the period dates of the ORIGINAL run (so the correction lands in the right quarter for 941 reporting), set the pay date as today (or any current-quarter date).
4. Enter the difference as Bonus, Commission, or hours as appropriate.
5. Calculate Preview → save → approve → process.

Who: Accountant or SMB admin.

Notes: If the original run had completely wrong tax calculations (not just missing hours) — for example, the wrong state was used — voiding the original via the detail page's Void Payroll and re-running is cleaner than a correction. Voiding cancels Moov debits, reverses items, and cancels scheduled tax payments; a correction overlays on top.

Void a check or add an additional check

What it does: Voids one employee's check from a completed payroll (with optional tax reversal), or appends a new check to an already-completed run.

Where: Off-Cycle Activities page → Void a Check and Add Additional Check sections.

Steps:

1. Under Void a Check, the most recent completed/approved payrolls show as pill cards per employee. Click the employee's pill to open the void modal — enter a reason, decide whether to create a reversal (recommended), submit.
2. Under Add Additional Check, click a payroll card. The modal asks for employee, regular hours, overtime, bonus, commission. Submit to append the check to that payroll.

Who: Accountant or SMB admin.

Notes: Voiding does NOT recall a direct deposit that's already settled — it marks the check as voided in our books for tax reporting, but the employee got the money. Use this when the employee will repay or the next check will be reduced by the overpayment. Adding an additional check to a processed payroll creates a new payroll item under that run and runs it through the same tax engine.

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Related: Run a regular payroll · Payroll history & edits · Terminate an employee.