About Processing Insurance/Worker's Comp

When processing your payroll, the system determines the insurance or worker's comp liability based on values stored in the Insurance Accums table (PRIA).

They are as follows:

  • Earnings – Gross (earnings subject to the insurance liability)
  • Subject Amt – Earnings or hours, depending on the calculation method specified for the liability.
  • Eligible Amt – Subject amount up to a limit, if specified.
  • Basis Earnings – Earnings associated with the eligible amount.
  • Calc Basis – Amount used to calculate the actual value of the liability.

The 'Earnings' are updated with the gross earnings, including any earnings that are flagged as 'subject only' (e.g. cafeteria plan). This will allow you to tie insurance reports to the FICA taxable wages on the PR 941 report. The Subj Amount field on the insurance report represents the PRIA earnings

The 'Calc Basis' will be the same as the subject amount. If using straight time equivalent, the earnings will be the full gross (including premium pay), and the subject amount will be the straight time equivalent (excluding premium pay).

For example:

Earnings Amounts Descriptions
Employee Earnings $1,000.00 40 hours @ $25/hour
$37.50 1 hour OT
401(k) Contribution -$100.00 Not subject to Ins/WC
Cafeteria Plan -$50.00 Subject to Ins/WC, with Subject Only box checked in PR Deductions/Liabs
Gross $887.50

In the PRIA table, values would be stored as follows:

Liability Method Earnings Subject Amt Eligible Amt Basis Earnings Calc Basis
Rate of Gross $987.50 $987.50 $1,037.50 $1,037.50 $1,037.50
STE $987.50 $975.00 $1,025.00 $1,037.50 $1,025.00
Rate/Hour $987.50 $41.00 $41.00 $1,037.50 $41.00

All of the PR insurance reports include this information (PR Insurance Report, PR Insurance Report by Insurance Code, and PR Insurance Report by Job. Using the example above, for instance, the PR Insurance Report would display the following information for the STE liability method:

Report Field Displayed Amount PRIA Field that Determines Amount
Gross Amount $1,037.50 Basis Earnings
Subj Amount $987.50 Subject Amt
Basis $1,025.00 Calc Basis
Eligible $1,025.00 Eligible Amt

Additionally, the Subj Amount field on the report ties to the PR 940/941 Information report of FICA wages.

Note: When processing payroll (PR Payroll Process), the system stores hours in the PRIA table. This enables reporting hours along with worker’s compensation information to state authorities, if necessary. Run the PR Hours by State & Insurance Code report for reporting hours by insurance code.