Payroll settings

In Setup, open Payroll Settings. People who can manage pay periods can change these settings; others can view them. Payroll is an add-on: without it these settings do not appear (see Payroll is an add-on).

Pay schedule#

• Pay frequency is weekly, every two weeks, twice a month (the 1st to the 15th and the 16th to the end of the month) or monthly.

• First day of the first period is where the schedule starts. Twice-a-month schedules start on the 1st or the 16th; monthly schedules start on day 1 to 28.

• Pay date (days after the period ends) sets each period's pay date: this many days after its last day (5 by default). The pay date shows on the pay periods list, statements and invoices, and goes in payroll files.

• Move weekend pay dates to the Friday before moves a pay date that lands on a Saturday or Sunday back to Friday.

NeatPractice creates periods from the first day through the next upcoming period. Visits that became payable before the first day are not paid through payroll.

Changing the pay date rule moves the pay date of every period that is not closed yet. To move one period's pay date for a holiday, open the period and choose Move Pay Date (see Moving a pay date).

Once a period holds pay, the schedule can change only from a later date. The help next to the first day shows the earliest date you can choose, and the calendar does not offer earlier days.

Calculation#

• Pay a visit once it is is Signed by default (and co-signed when that is required). Stricter choices wait for the payer's billable condition (caregiver signature or analyst review), the first claim the visit went out on, or the first payment applied to it, dated by the deposit that payment belongs to; the visit is then paid in the period of that date.
• Place pay in the period of is the date the visit became payable by default, so a closed period never changes. Choose the date of service to pay visits in the period they happened; a visit that becomes payable after that period closed goes to the next open period.
• Pay each overlapping treatment is off by default, so when one provider's hourly visits overlap, the shared minutes are paid once. Turn it on to pay every visit in full. Group sessions are always paid once for their time.
• Ask for break attestation on timesheets is off by default. Turn it on to have providers say, each time they submit a timesheet, whether they took every required meal and rest break.

Group sessions on per-visit rates#

A per-visit rate pays a group session once by default. On the provider's Pay rates tab, set Group sessions to Once per patient to pay the rate for every patient in the group (see Providers).

Pay beyond visits#

• Pay a documentation allowance adds the Minutes per visit you enter, at the provider's hourly rate, for every payable visit. Providers without an hourly rate get no allowance.
• Reimburse mileage pays the miles a provider enters on a visit at a patient's home or school, and the confirmed miles of drive time between sessions, at the Rate per mile (USD). Mileage is a reimbursement, not part of gross pay.
• A visit with no billable line (supervision, for example) pays at the provider's hourly rate even when their default rate is per unit.

Paid time blocks are set on each appointment type and missed-visit pay on each pay rate; see Payroll.

Overtime#

Choose the Overtime rule your clinic follows and the day each Workweek starts on:

Use Custom thresholds for a state law the other rules do not cover, such as daily overtime past 8 hours. Leave a daily threshold empty to turn it off.

Hours worked are the hours on visits, paid time blocks, documentation allowances and approved timesheets. Straight time is already in those items, so NeatPractice adds an Overtime item per provider and workweek for the overtime premium (half the regular rate for each overtime hour) and a separate Double time item for the double-time premium (the full regular rate for each double-time hour). The regular rate is the week's earnings divided by its hours, so per-visit and per-unit pay count too. The items land in the period that holds the week's last day; open one to see the hours and the rate. Their hours are not added to hours worked again, and payroll files report each premium under its own earning code (see Payroll files). Ask your payroll provider or employment counsel which rule applies to you.

The rule here applies to work at locations in states without a state rule. Exempt employees and contractors never get overtime (see Workers).

State rules#

The State rules panel holds the overtime and break rules of each state your clinic works in. Work follows the rule of the state its location is in (the state on the location's address in Setup). A badge names the states your locations are in that have no rule yet; those locations use the clinic's overtime rule above and have no break rules.

Click New State Rule, enter the two-letter State, choose its Overtime rule, then turn on what applies:

• Meal periods: a meal period is owed once a day runs past Owed after (hours) worked, and a second one past Second owed after (hours). It counts as taken when a break of at least the Meal length (minutes) starts before then.
• Rest periods: one rest period is owed for every One per (hours) worked, or major fraction of it. A gap of at least the Rest length (minutes) counts as one.
• Pay a premium for missed breaks: when on, each day with a missed meal period, and each day with a missed rest period, pays one hour at the week's regular rate. When off, missed breaks are only flagged.

For example, California owes a 30-minute meal past 5 hours and a second past 10, and a 10-minute rest for every 4 hours; Oregon owes a 30-minute meal past 6 hours and a 10-minute rest for every 4 hours. Confirm the values with your employment counsel.

How missed breaks are found#

NeatPractice reads a provider's day from their visits, paid time blocks and approved timesheet entries: a gap between them is a break, and the unpaid break on a timesheet entry counts as a meal or rest period taken. When a week has a missed break, the period shows one Break premium item for the provider and week. Open it to see each day and what was missed. The schedule cannot see a break taken inside a session, so check flagged days with the provider; when the break was taken, exclude the item with a reason (see Holds and exclusions). Only non-exempt employees are checked.

When a week moves past its period's close, a changed rule or a late visit pays the difference as a correction in the next open period, like any other change.

Payroll files#

People whose role can export payroll files see the Payroll files panel: the export profiles that write the file for Gusto, ADP, QuickBooks Online, Paychex, Paycor, Paycom, Paylocity or a generic CSV. See Payroll files.