Off-cycle payroll
An off-cycle payroll is a payroll run outside the normal schedule that pays an omitted or additional amount.
You use one when an employee was underpaid or omitted from a run. A final check due before the next pay date, or a bonus or commission that cannot wait, also fits. A small correction found shortly before the next run is usually simpler to fold into that run. Final pay is the most common deadline case, since state law can require payment within a set number of days after separation. Tax treatment follows the payment type and withholding method, not the fact that the run sits outside the schedule.
What decisions does an off-cycle run need?
Off-cycle settings should not be copied from the normal run. Benefit deductions are the usual trap: a full period of premiums taken from a small correction check creates a second problem. Suppressing them quietly leaves untracked arrears. A withholding order may or may not reach a supplemental payment, depending on the order and applicable law. Keep the request, the reason, and the approval as evidence.
- 01
Define the affected employee, the earning period, and the pay date.
- 02
Set the earning code and the tax calculation method under approved payroll behavior.
- 03
Decide which deductions apply and which are suppressed, and how benefits and garnishments are treated.
- 04
Set the payment method and the funding deadline.
- 05
Define the approval and the accounting allocation.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Apply current federal and state rules with qualified guidance.