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Pay out leave owing to a deceased employee's dependent or estate

Updated

Paying out leave owing to a deceased's dependent or estate can be a confusing process. As the article on Special Tax File Numbers indicates, you need to use the dependent's TFN, but it goes a little further than that - you will need to set the dependent up as an employee for the purposes of the payment, create a new pay category to pay the leave and use leave adjustments to reduce the balances for the deceased employee. The process is outlined below. Note this process is for non-ETP payouts - how to handle ETPs in regards to death benefits is referenced towards the end of this article.

  1. Set the dependent up as a new employee. The relevant details are the dependent's personal details, TFN and bank account details - employment type, pay rate and so on are irrelevant and any value can be entered. 
  2. Create a new pay category to pay out the leave (or two, if you want the leave to show on two lines ie Annual and Long Service Leave). Call it Leave Payout - Deceased or whatever will be relevant. The conditions of the category are:
    • Unit type is Fixed
    • Ticked to be PAYG exempt (you do not withhold from payments for unused annual leave, leave loading and unused long service leave made after the death of an employee)
    • Super rate is 0% (leave payouts are non superable)
    • Payment Classification is 'Exclude from Payment Summary (Income Statement).
  3. Run a Leave Balances report as of the date of the deceased employee's last pay to determine how many leave hours need to be paid out and the value of the leave. 
  4. Create an ad hoc pay run and add the deceased employee and the dependent. 
    • For the dependent:
      Select their Actions button > Add Earnings button and select the new pay category. Enter 1 into the unit field and the full value of the leave owing as per the Leave Balances report in the rate field (if you are using two categories to split between AL and LSL, repeat this action and enter in the other value in the second earnings line).
    • For the deceased:
      Select their Actions button > Adjust Leave and select Annual Leave. In the unit field, enter the total balance of AL hours as a negative figure. Do not tick the Apply Earnings Rules box. Do the same again to create another Leave Adjustment line, select Long Service Leave and enter the total balance of Long Service Leave hours as a negative figure, again ensuring you do not tick Apply Earnings Rules. This will reduce the balances for the deceased employee to 0.
  5. Once you have entered this, finalise the pay run and create the STP Pay event as per usual. Manually mark the deceased employee as Is Final by ticking this box on the far right, then lodge to the ATO. 
  6. Go into the deceased employee's record and mark them as terminated from their Employee Details page (section 2 of the linked article). Do the same for the dependent.

Handling Death Benefits ETPs

For Employment Termination Payments (ETPs) related to a deceased employee, the system now provides a dedicated interface within the pay run. Follow these steps to record the payment:

  • Trigger the Death Benefit Options: You must first terminate the employee within the pay run (or via their profile if paying in a later pay run) and select Deceased as the Termination Reason.
  • This action will reveal the Death Benefit Payments section within the pay run.
  • Select Payment Type: The system will display a dropdown menu labelled 'Add new Death Benefit Payment'. Select this to choose the appropriate ETP type:
    • Dependant (Type D): A death benefit payment made directly to a dependant of the deceased.
    • Non-Dependant (Type N): A death benefit payment made directly to a person who is not a dependant or a trustee.
    • Split ETP Type N (Type B): Used for multiple Type N payments for the same deceased person, paid in a subsequent financial year from the original payment.
    • Trustee of the Deceased Estate (Type T): A death benefit payment made directly to the executor or administrator of the estate.
  • Enter Payment Details: Once a type is selected, you must manually enter the Taxable Component, Tax Withheld, and Tax Free Component for that payment.
  • Add Comments: Optionally, use the Comments field to provide any necessary internal notes for the specific payment line.
  • Manage Multiple Payments: You can add multiple rows if you need to pay different types of death benefits by using the 'Add new Death Benefit Payment' dropdown again.
  • Remove Rows: If a row is added in error, hover your mouse over the specific row and click the red 'X' icon that appears on the right side to delete it.

Important Note on Calculations: Check with the estate, Employment Hero Payroll support and/or the ATO to determine which code to use. You will also need to perform the tax calculations manually (if relevant) and apply any required PAYG adjustments to the pay run as the functionality to calculate death benefits ETP automatically is not yet available.