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Initialize Employee Totals

Initialize Employee Totals prepares Avanti for the new calendar year. Initialize Employee Totals can only be done once per year after all pays for the year have been processed and updated.

Additional Information
Please ensure you have created a copy of your company before starting this process, as this process cannot be reversed or interrupted.

Go to Backup Your Company to a Test Company for more information on copying your company.

Overview

Initialize Employee Totals prepares employees and rates for the new payroll year. Additionally, you can choose to delete terminated employees from Avanti permanently. Initialize Employee Totals can only be done once per year after all payments for the current year are processed and updated.

During Year-End, Initialize Employee Totals will automatically:

  • Create new prior year records for each employee and set current year-to-date totals to zero:
    The previous year’s data for the employee will be removed and the current year’s data transfers to the previous year.

  • Update the Federal and Provincial Tax Factors for employees:
    All employee tax factors are set with the index factors for the new tax year. In jurisdictions with two Basic Personal Amounts, Avanti uses the higher amount. This may result in over-taxation for some employees. Employees should submit a new TD1 for 2024 if they need the lower Basic Personal Amount or if there are changes to their tax credit eligibility.

  • Set Regular CPP, QPP, EI, and QPIP to new rates:
    Sets all the rates for the New Year, except any reduced EI rates.

  • Copy WCB rates and maximum assessable earnings to the previous year: 
    The previous year’s data for WCB rates and maximum assessable earnings will be removed and the current year’s data will be transferred to the previous year.

In addition, you can choose to delete employees who were terminated more than six years ago. During this step, you can choose to:

  • Retain all employees

  • Delete all employees

  • Delete employees except those you want to retain based on Employment Status

Additional Information
For CRA compliance, an employee’s pay records must be retained for 7 years after their last pay. Provincial compliance for employee pay records varies by jurisdiction.

Want more information on which employees are terminated? Go to Reviewing Terminated Employees.

Before Initializing Employee Totals

Initialize Employee Totals finalizes payroll for the current year and makes adjustments to prepare for the upcoming payroll year.

Before running Initialize Employee Totals, please ensure: 

  • All 2023 payroll batches are processed and updated.

  • All payroll batches are set to incomplete.

  • All 2023 entitlements have been paid out (if applicable).

  • All 2023 manual and cancelled payments are processed and updated.

  • All 2023 payrolls are processed and updated, including adjustments and off-cycles.

  • A copy of your company has been made.

  • You have exclusive use of Avanti, including the Avanti Self-Service Portal, if applicable. No other process can run during Initialize Employee Totals and all other Avanti users should be logged out.

Please go to the Year-End Prep Checklist for more information.

Initialize Employee Totals

Step 1: Open Initialize Employee Totals.
By default, this can be found in Canadian Payroll >> Year-End.

Step 2: Determine whether you want to delete terminated employees from Avanti permanently.

Additional Information
If Remove employee Terminated on or before is not displayed, skip to Step 5.

The option to Remove employee Terminated on or before may not display based on your setup. For more information, go to Reviewing Terminated Employees.

Step 3: Select a date to Remove employees Terminated on or before, if you want to remove terminated employees. Only employees terminated on or before this date are deleted from Avanti.

Additional Information
If you want to retain all employees, please adjust the Remove employee Terminated on or before to December 31, 1900, and skip to Step 5
.

Additional Information
For CRA compliance, employee pay records must be retained for 7 years after the employee was last paid. Provincial compliance for employee pay records varies by jurisdiction.

Step 4: Select the Employment Status of employees to remain in Avanti.

Additional Information 
Unsure which employment status is assigned to an employee? Go to Reviewing Terminated Employees for a report that can display terminated employees and their employment status.
 

Step 5: Select OK.

Additional Information
No other programs can run in Avanti while this process is being completed. This process may take a while, depending on the size of the company and the number of employees you’re deleting.

Step 6: A message will appear to confirm that you want to Initialize Employee Totals. This is the final opportunity to cancel the process:

  • Select No to cancel the initialization

  • Select Yes to proceed with the initialization

Step 7: Once Yes has been selected, the process will commence and the results listing will indicate:

  • When the initialization process was started and finished.

  • Any employees that were deleted.

  • Any Federal/Provincial TD1 values that are not updated.

We recommend printing or saving the results if any employee information is displayed. You can only Initialize Employee Totals once a year, but if you open it again, you can print the results listing.

Additional Information
In jurisdictions with two Basic Personal Amounts, we’ve used the higher amount. This may result in over-taxation for some employees. These employees should submit a new TD1 for 2024.

Congratulations, your employees are now ready for 2024! The next step in the year-end process is to Initialize Entitlements and Vacation.


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