Answer
When migrating an employee partway through the tax year, you need to record the YTD totals from the previous payroll so that payslips, end-of-year totals, and payday filing returns include the full year.
Where to enter YTD totals
In the desktop app: YTD totals for NZ employees are entered during the Add New Employee wizard. On the introduction page, tick Does the employee have existing year-to-date figures?, then work through the wizard pages. The last step, New Employee - Year To Date Settings, presents the NZ-specific YTD fields listed below.
In the online (web/mobile) app: there is no separate YTD entry step when adding an employee manually. Instead, include YTD columns in the employee setup CSV and use Import Employees / Historic Gross CSV from the Employees screen. See How Do I Import Employee Records And Pay History Into Lightning Payroll? for the full field reference.
Once an employee is set up, you can review the resulting YTD figures under Employees >> YTD >> Year To Date Summary.
What to record
- Gross: total taxable earnings since 1 April.
- PAYE: tax deducted, including the ACC earner levy component.
- Net: take-home pay after PAYE and other deductions.
- Student Loan: student loan deductions, if the employee has one.
- KiwiSaver Employee: employee KiwiSaver contributions.
- KiwiSaver Employer: employer KiwiSaver contributions before ESCT.
- KiwiSaver ESCT: employer superannuation contribution tax deducted from the employer's KiwiSaver contribution.
Things to check
- The figures should match what the previous payroll reported to Inland Revenue for the same period.
- Do not enter YTD totals if the employee has no prior earnings this tax year.
- YTD totals are separate from opening leave balances and historic gross earnings - all three may need to be set for a mid-year migration.
- Historic gross earnings (the per-pay record used for the 52-week average) do not affect YTD totals and must be imported separately. See Why Should I Import Employees' Historic Gross Earnings?
Once entered, YTD totals appear on the payslip and are included in end-of-year reporting.
