North America: Archiving Payroll Results

Archiving date and retroactive accounting limit

When payroll results are archived for the USA and Canada, the general information on the archiving date and retroactive accounting limit applies.

Irrespective of the statutory regulations and technical requirements you must observe, you can set the retroactive accounting limit to meet the requirements of your enterprise or collective agreement.

Interval between archiving date and retroactive accounting limit

The interval between the archiving date and the retroactive accounting limit is determined by the following factors:

  • Retroactive accounting limit

For potential retroactive accounting, the payroll results from the current year and the year before must be available in the system. This also means that W-2 printing can be carried out at any time.

Example Example

You want to archive on June 20, 2000. The latest possible retroactive accounting limit is in this case January 1, 1999. You can, however, also choose an earlier retroactive accounting limit, if you want to allow retroactive accounting further in the past.

End of the example.

  • Reports

For reports, the system also needs the payroll results of a complete calendar year before the retroactive accounting limit. For this period, it is also possible to print W-2c.

Example Example

You want to archive on June 20, 2000. As the retroactive accounting limit, you choose January 1, 1999. The latest possible archiving date is therefore December 31, 1997. If, on the other hand, you enter as the retroactive accounting limit any date in the year 1998, the latest possible archiving date is December 31, 1996. You can also choose an even earlier archiving date, if you need to keep the payroll results in the system for a longer period of time, for example so that you can run reports.

End of the example.

  • Valuation of averages

When the system calculates the interval between the archiving date and the retroactive accounting limit, it also takes into account whether you want to make valuations of averages. Depending on the period that you need for the valuation of averages, you can archive payroll results only up to a certain time. The more averages periods you need, the further in the past you must put the archiving date.

The System Checks your Entries

When creating an archiving group , you can specify the retroactive accounting limit or the archiving date. The system checks your entries and responds:

You choose

The system

a retroactive accounting limit in the current year x, or after January 1 in the year x-1

asks you to select a retroactive accounting limit on January 1 of year x-1 or earlier

a retroactive accounting limit on January 1 of the year x-1 or earlier

calculates the latest possible archiving date that allows reports and, if required, valuation of averages to take place correctly.

a retroactive accounting limit in the current year x, in the year x-1 or in the year x-2

asks you to enter an archiving date from which it can calculate a retroactive accounting limit that lies on January 1 in the year x-1 or earlier

an archiving date in the year x-3 or earlier

suggests the earliest possible retroactive accounting limit that leaves a full calendar year between the archiving date and the retroactive accounting limit. The interval between the archiving date and the retroactive accounting limit can also be much longer than one year, since

  • reports always require a full calendar year (January 1 to December 31)

  • the system may also have to take into account the period that you need for the calculation of intervals