Two ways to pay a bonus

Bonuses and one-time payments can be handled in two ways in Octal HR:

  • As a payroll adjustment — an extra earning line added to an employee on the current month's regular payroll run. The bonus appears as a separate line on that employee's standard payslip.
  • As an off-cycle payroll run — a separate payroll run outside the regular monthly cycle, producing a standalone payslip. Off-cycle runs are created for one employee at a time.

When to use adjustments (add to regular payroll)

Use this when the bonus is paid on the same date as the regular salary and you want it on a single payslip. Examples: annual performance bonus included in the June payslip, Eid bonus paid with the regular monthly salary.

When to use an off-cycle run

Use this when the bonus is paid on a different date from the regular payroll — for instance, a quarterly incentive paid on the 20th of the month while regular salary is paid on the 1st of the next month. Off-cycle runs have their own payslip and bank file.

Adding a bonus as a payroll adjustment

1
Open the draft or processed payroll run for the period, then go to its Adjustments tab.
2
Click Add Adjustment and select the employee from those included in the run.
3
Choose type Earning and give it a label (e.g., "Performance Bonus", "Eid Bonus").
4
Enter the amount and save.
5
Re-process the run so the adjustment is included, then submit it through the normal approval flow. The bonus appears as an earning line on that employee's payslip.
One employee per adjustment: Adjustments are added to a single employee at a time on the run. To give the same bonus to several people, add an adjustment for each.
Tax on bonus: Bonuses are fully taxable income. Octal HR adds the bonus to the projected annual income and recalculates WHT accordingly. The incremental WHT for the bonus month will appear higher than normal months — this is correct behaviour.

Running an off-cycle bonus payroll

1
Go to Payroll → Off-Cycle Run.
2
Choose the run type (for a bonus, use the general Off-Cycle type) and select the employee — one employee per off-cycle run.
3
Set the date range for the run and enter the bonus amount.
4
Preview the calculated figures (including WHT) and save. The off-cycle run is created already approved.
5
Export the bank file and distribute the payslip — same as a regular payroll run.
Paying many people a bonus? For a company-wide bonus, adding an earning adjustment to each employee on the regular monthly run is usually simpler than creating a separate off-cycle run per person.

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