Skip to main content
Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2025-07-25
Concept: What Payroll History to Load

Concept: What Payroll History to Load

Workday uses historical data to establish starting balances for workers and uses these starting balances in:
  • Calculations based on pay balances.
  • Year-to-date and other reporting.
The data to load depends on the specific situation of your company. Workday recommends that you only load the historical data required for current payroll calculations and reporting.

Data Aggregations and Scope

Payroll for Australia
The payroll history that you need to load is dependent on the capabilities of the system you are transferring from, and the details you want to show on your payslips. If your legacy system can't zero out Single Touch Payroll (STP):
  • You can't load the YTD amounts for STP or payslips.
  • You need to add pay inputs for the average gross pay for Unused Leave Marginal Tax (ULMT).
  • You need to pay inputs for the average gross for PAYG on bonus commissions and back pay.
  • Working Holiday Makers won't be taxed on their YTD.
If your legacy system can zero out STP and you don't want to display YTD on payslips:
  • Don't zero out the STP in the legacy system.
  • Don't load the STP or payslip YTD.
  • Override the ULMT periods with a pay input to override the
    Number of Periods
    related calculation on the
    AUS PAYG Withholding - Unused Leave Marginal Tax
    deduction.
  • Override the PAYG BCBP with a pay input to override the
    Number of Periods
    related calculation on the
    AUS PAYG Withholding - Bonus, Commission, Back Pay Tax
    deduction.
If your legacy system can zero out STP and you do want to display YTD on payslips:
  • Load the STP, PAYG Taxable Wages YTD, and the payslip YTD.
  • Load the Super Choices for the tax year YTD. The YTD values need to be split by Super Choice and Loaded.
  • If you are doing a single YTD load, override the number of periods in ULMT for employees being terminated in the go-live year.
  • Consider loading YTD data for employees terminated in the tax year, but prior to go live, so that you have the complete YTD records in Workday for the current financial year..
If your superannuation is capped at MSCB, or you pay excess to gross, and you aren't going live at the start of a quarter, then the MSCB remaining for workers who are likely to exceed the cap needs to be loaded as a special input for each pay cycle until the end of the quarter. Use the related calculation
Quarter Converted MSCB Remaining
.
Payroll for Canada
Workday recommends that you aggregate historical earnings and deductions for a worker by payroll account number and province. Then load:
  • Payroll history for the current tax year only.
  • Year-to-date history for completed periods.
Load the aggregated year-to-date amounts into the period immediately preceding the first pay period you’ll process in Workday Payroll. Example: The pay period is semimonthly and your Workday implementation date is July 1. Load the year-to-date payroll history amounts into the pay period ending June 30th.
To issue ROEs from Workday, enter ROE insurable amounts and hours from historical pay periods through the
Import ROE Prior Period History Results
web service.
Payroll for France
Load data for all workers who are:
  • Active or on leave the month of the effective date of your first Workday Payroll transactions.
  • Terminated before that effective date but still eligible for pay calculations, such as complementary pay.
When possible, instead of loading monthly indicators for each pay component, load 1 aggregated balance for either the:
  • Calendar year.
  • Time off accumulation period or other balance periods.
Example: If the effective date of your first Workday Payroll transaction is in September:
  • Create historical pay periods starting from September of the previous year.
  • For statutory contribution calculations load 1 aggregated, enter the year-to-date value of the URSSAF contribution bases (January-August) in the
    Memo - Reference Values for URSSAF [FRA]
    deduction.
Payroll for the UK
  • Load history for the current tax year only.
  • When possible, instead of loading monthly indicators, load 1 aggregated balance for each pay component in the historical pay period immediately preceding the first processing period.
  • Load data for all workers who have payroll results in the current tax year, including terminated employees.
Payroll for the U.S.
  • Load payroll history for the current tax year only.
  • Load by quarter for completed quarters.
  • Load by pay period for partial quarters.
When loading by quarter, if the pay period is semimonthly, you can define:
  • Quarterly periods for any full quarters before the effective date of your first Workday Payroll transactions.
  • Semimonthly periods after that effective date.
Example: The effective date is July 1, so you load payroll history for:
  • January 1 - March 31
  • April 1 - June 30
You then set up these period schedule dates for payroll calculations after the effective date of your first Workday Payroll transactions:
  • July 1 - July 15
  • July 16 - July 31

Types of Data to Load

When determining what data to load, consider which pay components contribute to:
  • Year-to-date reporting.
  • Pay balances used in payroll calculations.
Incomplete payroll history can result in incorrect pay balances for workers, and adversely impact payroll calculations or reporting relying on those balances.
The examples in the following tables provide suggestions for types of historical data to load for different countries. Ensure that you've identified all payroll calculations that rely on historical data.
For Payroll for the U.S., to ensure correct reporting for jurisdictions that tax work and resident amounts, always include both Work City and Resident City when you load payroll. Example: To report the Political Subdivision (PSD) code for Pennsylvania resident and work cities accurately, always include both Work City and Resident City.
Payroll for Australia
Data for
Examples of the Types of Data to Load
Payslip
Loading payslip YTD isn't required. However, if you choose to load YTD history, you also need to load the values for the PAYG and Superannuation Guarantee pay components, so that the taxable gross and ordinary time earnings are displayed correctly on the payslip.
Superannuation
Load the YTD for these calculations:
  • AUS Superannuation Additional Employer Reportable (SV) [AUS]
  • AUS Superannuation Employee Post Tax Member (SM) [AUS]
  • AUS Superannuation Employee Pre Tax Salary Sacrifice (SS) [AUS]
  • AUS Superannuation Guarantee (SG) [AUS]
Tax calculations
Load the YTD PAYG taxable amount for each worker, to calculate tax for back pays related to prior tax years, bonuses, commissions, and other lump sum payments.
Payroll for Canada
Data for
Examples of the Types of Data to Load
Bonus wages paid before your Workday implementation
Load the
Bonus Taxable Wages
related calculation for these pay components:
  • Federal Income Tax (FIT) [CAN]
  • Province Income Tax (PIT) [CAN]
  • Province Income Tax (QC-PIT) [CAN]
Bonus year-to-date earnings
To calculate the K2, K2P, and K2Q credits properly, load the
Bonus Subject Wages
related calculation for these pay components:
  • Canada Pension Plan (CPP) [CAN]
  • Employment Insurance - EI [CAN]
  • Quebec Parental Insurance Plan - QPIP [CAN]
  • Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) [CAN]
Loans and withholding orders
Workday recommends that you create withholding orders and loans with the current balance for the month. Ensure that the balance corresponds to the effective date of your first Workday Payroll transactions. In this case, don't load historical data for loans and withholding orders.
Payslip
The tax year-to-date amount of all earnings that contribute to:
  • Gross pay.
  • Taxable pay.
Workers compensation reporting
All of the pay component-related calculations for the
Province Workers Compensation - (PWC) - ER [CAN]
and
Province Workers Compensation - (QC-PWC) - ER [CAN]
pay component.
Year-end tax reporting: Quebec parental insurance
Load the
Tax Amount
related calculation for the
Quebec Parental Insurance Plan - QPIP [CAN]
pay component.
Load these related calculations for the
Employment Insurance - EI [CAN]
pay component:
  • Exempt Wages
  • Taxable Wages
  • Tax Amount
Load for the pay components of the employer as well.
Year-end tax reporting: Income tax
Some external payroll applications don’t split out federal and provincial income tax. In those cases, it’s sufficient to report only federal income tax.
Load the
Deduction for Employment Income
related calculation for the
Federal Income Tax (FIT) [CAN]
pay component.
Load these related calculations for the
Federal Income Tax (FIT) [CAN]
pay component.
  • Bonus Tax
  • Lump Sum Tax - T4
  • Lump Sum Tax - T4A
    (only applicable when loading history prior to 2022)
  • Regular Tax
  • Regular Tax - T4A
    (only applicable when loading history prior to 2022)
  • Subject Wages
Load the
Deduction for Employment Income
related calculation for the
Federal Income Tax (FIT T4A) [CAN]
pay component.
  • Subject Wage
  • Regular Tax
  • Lump Sum Tax
Load the
Deduction for Employment Income
related calculation for the
Province Income Tax (QC-PIT) [CAN]
pay component.
Load these related calculations for the
Province Income Tax (QC-PIT) [CAN]
pay component.
  • Bonus Tax
  • Lump Sum Tax - RL-1
  • Regular Tax
  • Regular Tax - RL-2
    (only applicable when loading history prior to 2022)
  • Subject Wages
Load the
Deduction for Employment Income
related calculation for the
Province Income Tax (QC-PIT RL-2) [CAN]
pay component.
  • Subject Wages
  • Regular Tax
Load the
Regular Tax
and
Lump Sum Tax
related calculations for these pay components (if applicable):
  • Federal Income Tax T4A-RCA
  • Province Income Tax T4A-RCA
Year-end tax reporting: Pension
Load the
Exempt Wages
and
Tax Amount
related calculations for these pay components:
  • Canada Pension Plan (CPP) [CAN]
  • Canada Pension Plan Second Contribution (CPP2) [CAN]
  • Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) [CAN]
  • Quebec Pension Plan Second Contribution (QPP2) [CAN]
Load for the pay components of the employer as well.
Year-to-date wage limit calculation
Load the
Insurable Wages
related calculation for these pay components:
  • Province Workers Compensation - (PWC) - ER [CAN]
  • Province Workers Compensation (QC-PWC) - ER
Load the
Taxable Wages
related calculation for these pay components:
  • Canada Pension Plan (CPP) [CAN]
  • Canada Pension Plan Second Contribution (CPP2) [CAN]
  • Employment Insurance - EI [CAN]
  • Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) [CAN]
  • Quebec Pension Plan Second Contribution (QPP2) [CAN]
  • Quebec Parental Insurance Plan - QPIP [CAN]
Load for the pay components of the employer as well.
Payroll for France
Data for
Examples of the Types of Data to Load
Year-end compensation, and periodic bonuses
  • Basis for 13th month calculation.
  • Basis for year-end bonuses.
  • Basis for annual leave 10th rate calculation.
Termination allowances
  • Basis for fixed-term contract allowances.
  • Nonmonthly bonuses for the calculation of legal severance allowances, loaded month by month.
Statutory contributions
Reference values for statutory contributions.
Basis and values for all statutory contributions, including the ceilings and gross wages stored as pay component related calculations in these memo deductions:
  • Memo - Reference Values for all Contributions - No Retro [FRA]
  • Memo - Reference Values for all Contributions [FRA]
  • Memo - Reference Values for Pôle Emploi [FRA]
  • Memo - Reference Values for AGIRC-ARRCO [FRA]
  • Memo - Reference Values for URSSAF [FRA]
  • Memo - Reference Values for URSSAF - No Retro [FRA]
The value of the
CSG Exempt Wages above Limit
pay component related calculation, stored in these memo deductions:
  • Memo - Reference Values for URSSAF - No Retro [FRA]
  • Memo - Reference Values for URSSAF [FRA]
When preparing payroll history for workers with individual standard reductions, consider:
  • Enter a value for
    Memo – Reference Values for all Contributions – No Retro [FRA] - General Contribution Reduction Taxable Wages without Impact of Professional Expenses
    when a worker has an individual standard deduction for the current contract.
  • Enter a value for
    Memo – Reference Values for all Contributions – No Retro [FRA] - General Contribution Reduction Taxable Wages
    for all cases.
General Contribution Reduction (Réduction générale), family welfare allowances
The pay component related calculations in these memo deductions:
  • Memo - Reference Values for All Contributions [FRA]
  • Memo - Reference Values for All Contributions - No Retro [FRA]
Load calculations that represent the SMIC and taxable wages for the General Contribution Reduction, and Additional Family Allowances.
Health and contingency fund contributions in excess
The pay component related calculations of these memo deductions:
  • Memo – Social Contributions in Excess
  • Memo – Taxable Contributions in Excess
The value of pay components for health and contingency funds or supplementary retirement funds in these pay component groups:
  • FRA Contributions to Health Care Funds ER [FRA]
  • FRA Contributions to Contingency Funds ER [FRA]
  • FRA Contributions to Health Care Funds EE [FRA]
  • FRA Contributions to Contingency Funds EE [FRA]
  • FRA Contributions to Supplementary Retirement Funds EE [FRA]
  • FRA Contributions to Supplementary Retirement Funds ER [FRA]
Year-to-date totals displayed on a payslip
  • Previous statutory EE and ER contributions.
  • Net deductions.
  • Gross earnings.
Negative net pay
Negative net pay to reimburse, such as the
Negative Net Pay Advance [FRA]
pay component.
Loans and withholding orders
Workday recommends that you create withholding orders and loans with the current balance for the month. Ensure that the current balance corresponds to the effective date of your first Workday Payroll transactions. In this case, don't load historical data for loans and withholding orders.
Payroll for the UK
Data for
Examples of the Types of Data to Load
Tax calculations
The tax year-to-date tax amount, in the
GBR Tax [GBR]
pay component.
When you've a carryover amount from the prior period, also load the
Tax Owing to Regulatory Limit
related calculation of the
GBR Tax [GBR]
pay component.
Payslip
The tax year-to-date amount of all earnings that contribute to:
  • Gross pay.
  • NIable earnings.
  • Taxable pay.
Employee National Insurance contributions
The tax year-to-date National Insurance contribution amount in the
GBR NI - Employee NICs [GBR]
pay component.
NIable earnings stored as
GBR NI - Employee NICs [GBR]
related calculations:
  • GBR NIable Earnings
    .
  • GBR NI: Earnings within the LEL
    : Earnings within the lower earnings limit.
  • GBR NI: Earnings with the PT
    : Earnings within the primary threshold.
  • GBR NI: Earnings within the ST
    : Earnings within the secondary threshold.
  • GBR NI: Earnings within the UEL/USTs
    : Earnings within the upper earnings limit or upper secondary threshold.
  • GBR NI: Earnings above the UEL/USTs
    : Earnings above the upper earnings limit or upper secondary threshold.
To ensure accurate RTI reporting, also load these related calculations on the
GBR NI - Employee NICs [GBR]
deduction:
  • GBR NI: Earnings at the LEL (Reporting)
  • GBR NIable Pay Earnings (Reporting)
Employer National Insurance contributions
The tax year-to-date National Insurance contribution amount in the
GBR NI - Employer NICs [GBR]
pay component.
Student Loan calculations
Student loan amount in the
GBR Student Loan [GBR]
pay component.
Postgraduate Loan calculations
Postgraduate loan amount in the
GBR Postgraduate Loan [GBR]
pay component.
Statutory Pay
Tax year-to-date amounts for:
  • Statutory additional paternity pay.
  • Statutory adoption pay.
  • Statutory maternity leave.
  • Statutory ordinary paternity pay.
  • Statutory parental bereavement pay.
  • Statutory shared paternity pay.
  • Statutory sick pay.
Payroll for the U.S.
Data for
Examples of the Types of Data to Load
Tax calculations
Quarterly earnings for the employees.
When applicable, load the pay component related calculation values for:
  • Hours
  • Wages for 401k deductions.
Include the state and local codes of the employees.
Withholding orders
Quarter-to-date balance for withholding orders.
Federal year-end tax documents
The year-to-date value for all withheld employee tax and all paid employer tax including, but not limited to:
  • Additional Medicare Tax [USA]
  • Earned Income Credit [USA]
  • Federal Withholding [USA]
  • Federal Withholding (Income Code 15) [USA]
  • FUI (ER) [USA]
  • Medicare [USA]
  • Medicare (ER) [USA]
  • OASDI [USA]
  • OASDI (ER) [USA]
  • Tip taxes (
    Federal Withholding Tip Tax [USA]
    ,
    Additional Medicare Tip Tax [USA]
    )
For each deduction, load the pay component amount and the related calculation values for:
  • Gross Wages
  • Subject Wages
  • Taxable Wages
When applicable, load the pay component related calculation values for:
  • Regular Tax
  • Regular Taxable Wages
  • Supplemental Taxable Wages
Load all values by quarters.
State year-end tax documents
The year-to-date value for all withheld employee tax and all paid employer tax including, but not limited to:
  • FUI (ER) Credit Reduction [USA]
  • State Earned Income Credit (Residence) [USA]
  • State Withholding (Resident) [USA]
  • State Withholding (Work) [USA]
  • SUI (ER) [USA]
  • SUI [USA]
  • Tip taxes (
    State Withholding Tip Tax (Resident) [USA]
    ,
    State Withholding Tip Tax (Work) [USA]
For each deduction, load the pay component amount and the related calculation values for:
  • Gross Wages
  • Subject Wages
  • Taxable Wages
Load all values by quarter and include the state codes of the employees.
When applicable load the pay component related calculation values for
Total Hours
.
Local year-end tax calculations and documents
The year-to-date value for all withheld employee tax and all paid employer tax including, but not limited to:
  • Local City Withholding (Resident) [USA]
  • Local City Withholding (Work) [USA]
  • Local County Withholding (Resident) [USA]
  • Local County Withholding (Work) [USA]
  • Local School District Withholding (Resident) [USA]
  • Tip taxes (
    Local County Withholding Tip Tax (Work) [USA]
    ,
    Local County Withholding Tip Tax (Resident) [USA]
When possible, Workday recommends that you load resident and work taxes separately.
Load all values by quarters. Include the local codes of the employees.
When applicable load the pay component related calculation values for
NYC W-2 Wages
.