Re: [SL] Payroll

[Jeff V. <jv...@ch...>]

On Sun, 2004-10-10 at 23:06, Chris Travers wrote:
> William Hamilton wrote:
> <snip>
> 
> >
> > It does seem to be a common request/requirement.  As I see it, Payroll 
> > is so varied and complex when dealing wityh multiple countries and 
> > their respective laws and taxes.  It would most likely take a lot of 
> > effort to get to the level of internationalisation that SL has to 
> > date.  This is not to say that it is an impossible task.
> >
> I will need payroll by January 1...  currently I am considering rolling 
> my own solution.  I live in Washington State, so we have no state income 
> tax and that simplifes things a bit.
> 
> I am neither an accountant nor an attourney, but I am willing to 
> contribute what expertise I can to this project.
> 
> I agree that it is unlikely that a single person could make a generic 
> payroll module which will be all things to all people due to the varying 
> regulations...
> 
> > I suggest, if people want payroll, raise your hand and offer 
> > time/expertise/resources/funds and see if we can make it happen.  I 
> > would be happy to help out, if it were a realistic project.
> 

Just from my limited experience in doing payroll for one company, in the
US there are things like medicare, ssa, FUTA, SUTA, state income,
federal income, local taxes, and probably others I have missed. 
There are also withholdings for IRAs, stock purchase plans,
garnishments, medical savings plans, insurance plans, etc.

This will be a very complex issue even if only addressed for one
country, and making it multinational will be even more.

My approach would be to do this for one country at a time and then add
additional countries as the need arises and time permits.  A separate
payroll module for each country, with the processing output being
plugged into the GL is likely required in order to make it flexible
enough for all environments.

A complete knowledge of the requirements for each country/state will be
needed and the ability to do updates to the calculations (percentages,
etc.) as changes occur will be mandatory. 

> >
> > Could an alternative solution be the integration of a more specialised 
> > application?
> >
> I would vote for this if there was a reasonably functional American 
> payroll app that might integrate with SQL-Ledger.  Unfortunately there 
> is not.  The apps I have been able to find are either proprietary or too 
> immature to be used for production.  The closest application I have 
> found is pcxpayroll but I have not had time to look at it in depth.
> 
> I actually don't think that it will be too hard to write something which 
> can handle US federal payroll taxes...
> 
> The harder part is again to make something general enough to work.
> 
> I will attach my database schemas/functions when they are written for 
> review on this list.
> 
> Best Wishes,
> Chris Travers
> Metatron Technology Consulting
> 
> > my 2c worth
> >
> > W
> >