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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2025-03-14
Calculate Retro Payroll

Calculate Retro Payroll

  • Set up retro processing.
  • Enter an event for a completed period such as a payroll input.
  • Ensure that no on-cycle payroll processes are running for any pay groups.
  • Security:
    Process: Run Batch Calculations (Retro Calculation)
     domain in the Core Payroll functional area.
When workers have supported retro events, you can calculate differences in earnings and deductions by running the retro pay calculation. Workday then forwards the retro differences to the next open regular pay period.
Workday recommends that you calculate retro payroll before every regular payroll calculation, including the initial payroll run (manual or scheduled). This practice maximizes the number of supported events Workday processes in a worker's regular payroll results. For best performance:
  • Consider the frequency for running retro when you enable continuous calculations, depending on the number of retro events to process.
  • You can limit the retro run to specific workers using the
    Employees to Calculate
     field.
  • Run smart retro or retro by calculation statuses once per period.
For Payroll for Canada, France, and the U.S., retro doesn't recalculate taxes in the prior period and applies the tax rate:
  • Effective for the target period in which you process the differences.
  • Of the regular run, including for bonus earnings that on-cycle pay calculations tax at a supplemental rate.
  1. Access the
    Run Retro Pay Calculation
     task.
  2. As you complete the task, consider:
    Option Description
    Smart Retro
    To process workers with supported or unsupported retro events since the last retro run, and workers who have results with the
    Requires Re-calculation
     status. The
    Requires Re-calculation
     status could be because of other pay results, and not just supported or unsupported events.
    Smart Retro by Events
    To process workers with 1 or more specific supported or unsupported retro event type.
    Calculation Statuses
    To process workers with specific statuses, or workers with no new event since the last retro run. Example: Select this option to process configuration changes.
    Not Yet Started
     is the only available status the first time you process a pay group.
    Workers
    To select specific workers by name or ID, including workers with no new event since the last retro run. Example: Select this option to process configuration changes.
    Comma Separated Employee IDs
    To process multiple workers by their employee IDs. This option only runs on valid IDs that you enter from the pay group that correspond to workers who have supported retro events.
    Smart retro calculations consider the events listed on the
    Payroll Retro Event Categories
     tab of
    View Payroll Event Categories
     report.
The retro pay calculation creates retro results for all workers with supported or unsupported events. However, Workday only generates differences for workers with supported retro events whose effective date is on or after the workers' No Retro Processing Prior To (NRPPT) date. Retro also sets the status of the workers' open payroll results to
Waiting to pick up Retro Difference
, and assigns the NRPPT date for:
  • Workers with unsupported events to 1 day after the last period with completed on- or off-cycle results.
  • New hires to the later of:
    • The start date of the first processing period of their pay group, and
    • The date determined by the
      Maximum Months Allowed For Retro Processing
       field on the
      Edit Tenant Setup - Payroll
       task.
  • All other workers to the later of the first pay period with completed results, and 24 months before you run retro.
When forwarding the retro differences to payroll results with gross-to-net proration, Workday forwards the differences to the first subperiod.
In January, you select the
Recalculate during Retro
 check box for the United Way deduction that Melissa has. You also add a 100 ongoing pay input override.
In March, you increase her deduction by adding a 30 pay input adjustment effective January 1. You process the retro event for the target period of March and run payroll. Retro processes a 30 difference for both January and February and 30 for the increased deduction.
January
February
March
YTD
Original United Way Deduction
100
100
100
300
Retro for January
30
30
Retro for February
30
30
Increased deduction
30
30
Total
100
100
190
390
  • Review retro results.
  • Rerun the retro pay calculation for 1 or more workers whenever you have more prior period changes. You can run retro for individual workers from the related actions menu of the worker or the result.