Alliance Forums / Merchant Support / Payroll Processors

Resubmit vs Copy to New

Jessica Benzakein — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:59:17 GMT

When you use the Resubmit button, the Alliance Gateway automatically places a note in the history that a new item was created. In the history of the new item, another note is automatically placed that lists the old transaction ID - essentially creating a clear "paper" trail.

When you use the Copy to New button, you are simply creating a new transaction. There is nothing that automatically links the new transaction to the old transactions.

Some hesitate to use the Resubmit button because the transaction information such as bank account number or amount might need to be changed. When you hit Resubmit, the system creates a duplicate of the original item, but allows you to edit the new item and make whatever changes are needed.

Additional Payroll FAQ

Jessica Benzakein — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:35:46 GMT

What is Alliance's policy on credit transactions?

Alliance requires pre-funding of all credits. The standard account setting is that transactions must be imported by Wednesday if pay day is a Friday.

What is Alliance's position regarding "sweeping" funds into and out of an impound or central bank account controlled by the payroll processing company?

Alliance does not encourage the use of "sweeping" funds into a central account and then paying payroll out of that account. Due to our prefunding policy, additional days need to be incorporated to the processing calendar to allow for the credit to the impound account to take place no later than the same day as the debit out. Also, unless the funds are in the impound account overnight, there is no real benefit to the merchant who uses the "sweep" process.

When do I need to have my payroll files uploaded/imported into Alliance's Gateway?

For merchants who are not sweeping funds into or out of a central impound account, the general answer is 2 business days. So if pay day was Friday, then the cut off would be Wednesday by 5pm pacific.

An example of a non-sweep time line would be:

Wednesday by 5pm pacific - upload and import file containing debits to employers and credits to employees all dated for Friday's date. Upon file importation, the date of the debit will be adjusted so that the debit is transmitted Wednesday night.

Thursday - the debit posts to the employers' accounts and that night the credits are transmitted to the employees.

Friday - the credits post to the employees' accounts.

Ok, but what if we'd like to continue sweeping funds into a central impound account?

If you plan to sweep funds into a central account or impound account, then you need to add additional day(s) (1 additional day is required although 2 is suggested) to the above schedule. The minimal requirement would look like the following:

Tuesday by 5pm pacific - upload and import file containing debits to employers and credits to payroll impound account all dated for Thursday AND debits to the impound account and credits to the employees that are dated for Friday's pay date. Upon file importation, the date of the debit will be adjusted so that the debit to the employer is transmitted Tuesday night and the debit to the impound account will be transmitted on Wednesday night.

Wednesday - the debit posts to the employers' accounts and that night the credits are transmitted to the impound account.

Wednesday - the credits post to the impound account and the debit posts to the impound account. BE WARNED - banks are not required to post the credit first and then the debit. If your bank - for whatever reason - posts the debit first and funds are not available, it is possible that they would return the debit as R01 Insufficient Funds and then post the credit. If a debt from the impound account is returned R01 (Insufficient Funds), the merchant account with Alliance would be cancelled. This is a "one strike and you’re out" policy. It is for this reason that we strongly suggest doing a Monday import for a Friday pay date if you intend to sweep funds.

Thursday - the credits to the employees' accounts would be transmitted.

Friday - the credits post to the employees' accounts.

How come some of the credits to our own account seem to be held while others process as expected?

It is our policy to place all "next day credits" on hold when they are being credited directly to the payroll company. A next day credit occurs when a merchant uploads a file on Thursday with a Friday pay date (a clear violation of the prefund policy) and that file has a debit to xyz and a credit to the payroll company or a credit directly to the employee. Since this is currently a manual process, it is possible that sometimes a next day credit is or will be overlooked. However, please be advised that our standard policy is that when we see credits that violate the prefund requirement, those credits will be placed on hold. This means that if you upload and import a file on Thursday with a debit to yourself and a credit to yourself within the same file all dated for Friday, the credit to yourself is going to be placed on hold until Friday night.

In the past, we have allowed next day payroll credits - credits to the employees - process uninterrupted. A call was made to the payroll processer informing them of the violation, but we did not hold the outgoing credits. Be advised, due to risk assement, all next day credits will be placed on hold unless prior approval has been granted. This means that payroll could be delayed.

Ok, I followed your sweep time-line and on Wednesday when I should have had a debit and a credit to my impound account, we received only the debit and it bounced!

Currently, the process of reviewing the next day credits is done manually. (Programming will be implemented soon that will eliminate the need to manually review these items.) Because it is done manually, there is more room for error. Due to the sheer amount of next day credits that we have to sift through each pay period, it is possible that when looking through the file, what will be seen is two transactions with the same date (what appears to be a violation) all set to take place at the same time. And per the policy, the credit will be placed on hold until the following day’s file transmission. To avoid that, we suggest 1.) no sweep or 2.) if you must sweep, then follow the Monday for Friday time-line as this ensures that the credit to your impound account takes place one full day prior to the debit out or 3.) continue to create the sweep transactions but void out the interrum debit/credit to your own account.

Can you go over the Monday for Friday time-line?

Monday by 5pm pacific - upload and import file containing debits to employers and credits to payroll impound account all dated for Wednesday AND debits to the impound account and credits to the employees that are dated for Friday's pay date. Upon file importation, the date of the debit will be adjusted so that the debit to the employer is transmitted Monday night and the debit to the impound account will be transmitted on Wednesday night.

Tuesday - the debit posts to the employers' accounts and that night the credit is transmitted to the impound account.

Wednesday - the credit posts to the impound account and that night the debit to the impound account is transmitted.

Thursday - the debit to the impound account posts and the credits to the employees' accounts would be transmitted.

Friday - the credits post to the employees' accounts.

If the credit is held by mistake, will Alliance reimburse us for any NSF/Overdraft fees that result?

No. The risk has been explained and by processing Tuesday for Friday, using a sweep method, you accept the risks that could be involved.

Topics and User Group Forums

Paul — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 08:02:49 GMT

Some discussions seem to be specific to the Software you use. We may have a forum just for your group.

User group forums are private and cannot be seen unless you have permissions to them. Please ask if we have one for your group using the forum email or instant message feature.

If we don't have one and there are enough users in your group that are interested we can start one.

I am interested in using sub-merchant accounts for settlement and tracking purposes...

Jessica Benzakein — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 18:42:07 GMT

Sub-merchant accounts are very useful for all merchants but especially for payroll processors. A sub-merchant account allows the “parent merchant” to track different aspects or layers of your business. For instance, if you are selling TVs, Radios and Cell Phones, you may want to track how much money you are making from TV sales vs how much money you are making from Cell Phone cells. Or if you are a payroll processor, you may want to track the different employers you process for – keeping their debits and credits grouped together by sub-merchant code. Remember, that when you, the payroll processor, send over a file, the gateway creates an individual transaction for each item but it does not automaticly keep those items or future items in "batches." By using sub-merchant, we can incorporate information already sent over on the batch header (or 5200 line) that would allow us to label each debit and credit with a specific code. That code can then be used for reporting and settlement purposes.

Not only can you track items, but you can opt to have the settlements for your sub-merchants deposited into or withdrawn from bank information you specify - your company bank account (escrow or holding) or directly from the employer's bank account. This is especially important if you have opted for a 1 day prefund requirement rather than the standard 2 day prefund requirement.

To set up a sub-merchant account, you will need to either manually input the information or if you have a large amount to input, you can send Support an email containing the sub-merchant code, company name, and bank information.

When it comes to the sub-merchant code, the information on your file must match the code you enter in our system. If the information does not match, or if you forget to add a sub-merchant prior to uploading transactions for them, the items will be defaulted to the parent account. This means that settlements for those items will be made to the bank information listed for the parent.

When establishing the sub-merchant code, the Gateway looks for whatever appears immediately after the 5200 but before the first space in the line. So an example would be:

5200DANDY DOG PET GROOMERS000000 0000000000PPDPAYROLL 075395070605 1063114700000001

52004001 DANDY DOG PET GROOMERS00 0000000000PPDPAYROLL 075395070605 1063114700000001

In the first example, the sub-merchant code must be DANDY because that is what appears immediately after the 5200 and before the first space in the line. It should be noted that if you have clients with the same first word, then the use of sub-merchants will be ineffective for those clients unless you altered the NACHA file prior to uploading it.

In the second example, the sub-merchant code must be 4001 because that is what appears immediately after the 5200 and before the first space in the line.

Also, please note that the the 5200 line also contains the pay date which we are going to use as the effective date for all the transactions in that batch. In the examples above, the date of the items is in red.

If you assign unique company ID numbers and wish to use those as the sub-merchant codes, you will either need to contact your software provider to ensure that they can make that change on your file or you will have to manually edit the entries prior to uploading to the Gateway.

Once you have added the submerchant, you are immediately taken to the "merchant summary page" of that sub. Before going back to the parent account to create additional subs, you will need to edit the bank information listed for the newly created sub if you intend for settlements to go directly to the sub rather than to your own company bank account. Once you have made this change, you can go back to your parent account (using the Go To Parent link in the Merchant Information box on the summary page) and create additional subs.

As always, if you have ANY questions regarding account set up, please contact our merchant support department.

I understand the prefund policy, but I want to still sweep the funds into my escrow account...

Jessica Benzakein — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 11:57:36 GMT

With the automatic prefund policy in place, it is ill-advised to attempt to sweep debit funds into an escrow or holding account for use on payday. Using the example below, one can clearly see why the time needed to process the transactions makes this type of set up impractical. (To earn interest on the funds, they would need to be in the payroll processor's account overnight.)

XYZ Payroll Services is set for a 1 day prefund requirement. They wish to debit the employer and credit their own account 1 day prior to payroll. In order for this to happen, the following time line must be followed:

Friday is targetted pay date.

Monday - XYZ Payroll Services uploads a file with a debit to the employer and a credit to themselves. Both items are to be dated for Wednesday. AllianceACH Gateway changes the date of the debit so that it is sent out Monday night. Additionally, the uploaded file will contain a debit to XYZ Payroll Services for the amount of payroll and credits to the employees - all of which are to be dated for Friday's pay date. (Note: If the debit to XYZ Payroll Services and credits to the employees is not in this file, it can be uploaded as a seperate file no later than Wednesday at 5pm pst.)

Tuesday - Debit to employer hits account. Tuesday evening credit to XYZ Payroll Services is sent out.

Wednesday - Credit to XYZ Payroll Services is received. Debit to XYZ Payroll Services to cover employee credits is sent out that evening.

Thursday - Debit to XYZ Payroll Services hits account. That evening, credits to employees are sent out.

Friday - Employee credits are received.

As you can see, this example would require that the employer get XYZ Payroll Services his hours or total of payroll on a Monday for an upcoming Friday pay date.

Some might suggest that the debit and the credit could both be sent to XYZ Payroll Service's account on Thursday - allowing for the time line to begin on Tuesday rather than Monday. It should be noted, however, that there is no guarantee to how a bank will process incoming items - the debit could post before the credit which might result in an overdraft charge. Also, the point of sweeping funds into your own operating account would be to earn interest. Unless the funds sit in the account overnight, no interest is earned.

It is for these reasons that we do not advise attempting to sweep funds into or out of your own operating account.

Why do can I no longer backdate (-1, -2) the debit to the employer?

Jessica Benzakein — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 11:38:26 GMT

Payroll merchants should not set their software to prefund or back date the debit. (-1, -2, etc) The reason for this is that our policy states that all credits must be prefunded. Because of this requirement, the AllianceACH Gateway will automatically change the date of a debit by either 1 day or 2 day - depending on what the prefund requirement is for that payroll merchant.

As an example (XYZ Payroll Services is set to a 1 day prefund requirement):

XYZ Payroll Services uploads and imports a file containing debits and credits to take place over the next week. They have the following time line set up for a few of the merchants:

a. Debit Dandy Dog Pet Groomers $1500 on June 14th

b. Credit XYZ Payroll Services $1500 on June 14th

c. Debit XYZ Payroll Services $1500 on June 15th

d. Credit 3 employees a total of $1500 on June 15th

What will really happen is (note that Alliance has changed the date of the debit):

a. Debit Dandy Dog Pet Groomers $1500 on June 13th

b. Credit XYZ Payroll Services $1500 on June 14th

c. Debit XYZ Payroll Services $1500 on June 14th

d. Credit 3 employees a total of $1500 on June 15th

The employer will see the credit come out of his account sooner than he was expecting and depending on XYZ Payroll Services' bank, the debit from their account may take place prior to the credit to their account on the 14th.

Payroll Providers - What Software do you use?

Paul — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 10:18:57 GMT

Knowing the various software programs our clients use helps us to provide better service and support your needs.

Please help us out by telling us what software you use today, and if you are planning a change, tell us what programs you are considering.