The Council of EU Chambers of Commerce in India has organized a webinar on  “Unfolding The Nuances Of Payroll Processing” held on July 16, 2021 with Knowledge Partner Hasmukh Shah & Co. LLP

The speaker was CA Anuya Sawant, Partner at the Hasmukh Shah & Co. LLP

Dr Renu Shome, Director, EU Chambers welcomed the attendees and initiated the subject by stating the importance of topic as one of the biggest elements in HR policy.  Moreover, it largely goes to shape the goals of an organization.

Invariably all entities whether MNCs or SMEs, profit making or non-profit-making all are connected to payroll either as employer or as employee or both.

Moreover, the varied regulatory obligations inter-woven in it makes it even more interesting and sought-after topic of deliberations among the SMEs.

CA Anuya Sawant began by thanking the EU Chamber for organizing the webinar and gave  a brief introduction to the concept of payroll processing. She mentioned that she strongly believes in “Happy employees lead to happy customers which lead to more profits”. She explained what payroll is, sum of all the financial records of salaries of every employee; it also includes the wages, bonus and deductions. Payroll plays a major role in every company or establishment, because it refers to the amount paid to every employee of that certain company or establishment for services the employee provides during a certain period of time. Further, she bifurcated the payroll process into 3 parts, for the new hires, outgoing employees and existing employees. For new hires, she began with some of the key components like the CTC breakup, then the date of joining. She further stated that date of joining is very crucial as it is the day from which the newly hired employee gets all the perks and benefits. She also extensively elaborated and stated the importance of personal details of the newly hired employee like PAN, AADHAAR, Bank details in order to provide proper statutory benefits like PF, EF etc. All these documents are currently mandatory for a smooth process of payment and taxation.

The next part of the session was about the processes regarding the outgoing employee. The authenticity of the resignation letter and the last date of working is equivalently important as all benefits/ perks end on the last working day. Calculation of balance leave is important to process the leave encashment; likewise, gratuity is a major benefit after retirement. She then briefed about how important it is to update the investment proofs to calculate the TDS otherwise the shortfall in it will be a burden on the company.

For existing employees, the key processes like updating statutory records, recording overtime or excess leaves taken due some unprecedented factors were emphasized by her. She also mentioned few vital points to be kept in mind while reviewing payroll.

She further discussed the various deductions practiced in the payroll processing which are included in an employee’s Tax deductions. Then she further elaborated on the importance of annual activities. The TDS return form 24Q and Q4. Then the importance of form 16 (Part A and B).

After discussing the importance of annual activities she threw some light on the employee happiness index. Happy employees positively affect workplace operations. Statistics show that companies that foster employee happiness outperform their competitors by 20% . It’s no surprise, then, that some companies are taking more active measures to promote positive employee experiences.

She concluded the webinar by mentioning key takeaways. The Webinar ended by an interactive Q&A session.