How to create and set up a pay item

What is it for?

A pay item is a possible line of the payslip: the base remuneration, a bonus, a deduction. The demo ships 38. Create a new one when the company pays or deducts something none of these covers, for example a gratification. The pay item says where the amount comes from, whether it is an earning or a deduction and how it is treated for Personal Income Tax (IRS), Social Security and the returns.

When to use it?

• The company starts paying gratifications, commissions or a benefit in kind, and the list of pay items does not have them.
• A pay item changes rules from a certain date: close the current version and create another.

Do not create a new pay item for a one-off amount of a pay item that already exists: add the line to the payslip. Do not change statutory pay items to adjust a payslip.

Where to find it?

• Payroll › Configure › Pay item setup › Pay items
• Payroll › Configure › Pay item setup › Pay item categories
• Payroll › Configure › Pay item setup › Salary structures

Before you start

• Your profile is Payroll Administrator: only this profile sees the Configure menu.
• The certified accountant has decided the tax treatment and the codes: Personal income tax (IRS), Social Security, DMR code and Social Security remuneration code.

How to use it

1. Open Payroll › Configure › Pay item setup › Pay items and click New.
2. Type the Name, for example Gratificação por bons resultados, and the Code, for example GRATIF. Save.
3. In the list of versions, click Add a line. The Create Versions window opens.
4. In Version label, type 2026.1. In Valid from, type 01/01/2026. In Source type, choose Company rule: the options are Legal rule, Collective agreement rule, Company rule, Contract rule and Employee rule.
5. In Type, choose Earning (allowance), Deduction, Employer cost or Informative. In Category, choose a category that the salary structure has, for example Allowances.
6. In Quantity source, choose where the amount comes from. For variable payments, choose Profit sharing, gratification or commission and, in Kind of variable payment, Gratification for good results. For amounts typed by hand, choose Input.
7. In Taxes and declarations, choose the Personal income tax (IRS), the Social Security, the DMR code and the Social Security remuneration code, and the Labour status. For IRS and Social Security, the options are Subject, Exempt and Partially subject. For the labour status, Remuneration (CT art. 258.º), Not remuneration (CT art. 260.º), Remuneration only above the normal amounts (CT art. 260.º) and To be decided. Also check Counts for the minimum wage, which decides whether the line is included in the comparison with the minimums. In Articles of the Labour Code, give the articles the pay item applies, for example 258: without this, it never appears in Pay rules to review. Save the window and then the pay item: the version is only stored when the pay item is saved.
8. In Posting templates, create the pay item's template (see How to post payroll to accounting). Without it, the batch cannot be posted.
9. On an open payslip, click Add a line, choose the pay item and click Calculate: the line brings the amount.

Example. With the GRATIF pay item and a gratification of €500.00 recorded, Bruno Miguel Teixeira's November 2026 payslip got the €500.00 line (see How to pay bonuses, commissions and other variable amounts).

Creating a pay item does not generate journal entries. The journal entry is created when the batch is posted, with the template's accounts: in the demo, debit to 632 Remunerações do pessoal and credit to the transit account 231290.

Pending validation by a certified accountant: the tax treatment, labour status and codes of each pay item created by the company.

Expected result

• The Pay items list shows the pay item with its Code, Name and Number of versions.
• On a pay item without a code, the version window warns: “Social Security code missing: this rule is subject to Social Security but has no remuneration code. A declaration cannot classify it (the month close is refused).” and “DMR code missing: this earning rule has no DMR code or split. …”
• The version applies from Valid from. The demo has one salary structure, Monthly salaried, with the categories Vencimento (salary), Allowances, Hours, Deductions, Employer costs and Informative.

Important notes

• History is not rewritten. A version that has already started cannot have its values edited. Close it with Valid until and create another, starting the next day (see “Common problems”).
• Statutory pay items. The data of the pay items fiscaldoo ships, with Legal rule, change through a legal update package. The name of a pay item can be changed and affects every payslip that shows it: do not change it without a reason.
• Methods and eligibility. The daily pay methods, the meal allowance eligibility and the seniority payment rules are in the same Pay item setup menu, and say how certain pay items are calculated.

Common problems

“Version(s) of “GRATIF” already started … and cannot be edited”

• Message: “Version(s) of “GRATIF” already started (from 2026-01-01) and cannot be edited: history is never rewritten. Close the current one with “Valid until” and create a new version starting the day after.”
• What to do: do what the message says. Old payslips stay as they are.

“A rule of a variable payment needs the kind of payment”

• Message: “A rule of a variable payment needs the kind of payment, is an earning and has no fixed amount; only a commission carries a percentage. How to fix it: fill in “Kind of payment” and clear the amounts.”
• What to do: choose the Kind of variable payment, the Type Earning (allowance) and clear Fixed amount.

“A rule of a benefit in kind needs the code of the benefit rule”

• Message: “A rule of a benefit in kind needs the code of the benefit rule, is an earning and has no fixed amount or percentage. How to fix it: fill in “Benefit rule” and clear the amounts.”
• What to do: fill in Benefit rule with the rule's code (see How to process benefits in kind and company car use).

“A rule of income in kind needs the kind”

• Message: “A rule of income in kind needs the kind and is an earning. How to fix it: fill in “Kind of income in kind”.”

I cannot delete a pay item

• Cause: the pay item is already used by a posting template or a payslip. The message appears in English: “Another model is using the record you are trying to delete. …”
• What to do: leave it and close the version with Valid until.