Defining options amount

You can use the contribution type of options amount for employee, COBRA participant, and retiree contributions. For flex plans, you can define the amount of flex credits the company gives to employees for electing each benefit coverage option.

The contribution amount is calculated as a flat amount, percent of salary, or a flat percent.

Note: If the plan does not have unique contributions for specific employee groups, you are required only to define this form once for a plan by leaving the Employee Group field blank. If the plan has different contributions for different groups of employees, complete this form for each employee group with unique contributions. When you define the form for a plan leaving the Employee Group field blank, the application uses the contribution record for employees who do not meet the criteria for a specific employee group contribution record.

Access Benefit Plan (BN15.1).
Select the Company, Benefit Type, and Plan to define options amount.
Select the plan participants for the contribution record from the Coverage Type field.
Specify the start date for the contribution.
If you are defining contributions that are unique to a particular group of employees, select the employee group for which this contribution applies.

Note: If you leave this field blank, the application uses this contribution record for employees who do not meet the criteria for a specific employee group contribution record.

If you are defining contributions for COBRA participants, leave this field blank.

Note: If you define contributions by employee group, ensure that you define employee groups so each employee can belong to only one group at a time. If an employee belongs to more than one group for which contributions have been defined, benefit entry programs and benefit update reports show an error.
Define calculation attributes for this contribution. Specify this information:
Calculation Type
Select the method in which the contribution is calculated.

If every employee in a group pays the same amount for a coverage option, select Flat Amount.

If you are defining contributions for COBRA participants and retirees, select Flat Amount.

If the annual contribution is a percent of the employee's annual salary, select Percent of Salary.

If the contribution is a percent of the employee's pay period wages, select Flat Percent.
Note: The calculation type selected must match the calculation type defined on the deduction codes that are attached to the plan.
Contribution Tax Type
Select whether the employee contributions are pretax, after-tax or both.

If the plan does not allow for employee contributions, select No Employee Contribution.

If you are defining contributions for COBRA participants and retirees, select After-Tax.
Note: This field must match with the deductions attached to the plan.
Default Tax Type

If employees can select between pretax and after-tax contributions and you select a tax type to default on benefit entry forms, select the contribution tax type that you set as the default. You can override the default contribution tax type on benefit entry forms.

If you selected Pretax or After-Tax in the Contrib Tax Type field and you leave this field blank, this field defaults to the value in the Contrib Tax Type field.

If calculation type is percent of salary, select the salary type to use for the options amount calculation in the Type field. This table shows the different salary options:

Note: If you select a salary field other than the Employe Salary, for example, BN Salary 1, ensure that field is logged to history on Data Item Attributes (HR10.1).


Select	To use
Employee Salary	The employee's annualized rate of pay from Employee (HR11.1) or, if applicable, the employee's step and grade schedule.
Total Employee Salary	The employee's total salary from all positions.
Benefit Salary	The benefit salaries from the Benefit tab of HR11.1.
Flex Salary	The employee's salary from Employee Flex Credits (BN45.1).
Emp and Ben Sal	The employee's annualized rate of pay from HR11.1 plus a benefit salary. You can use this option if only some of your employees in this plan have a benefit salary amount maintained. For example, commissioned employees.
Total Emp and Sal	The employee's total salary from all positions plus a benefit salary.

If you selected a salary type, select the date to use to determine employee salaries in the Date field. This table shows the date options:


Select	To determine an employee's salary
Current	On the date the benefit begins.
First of Month	On the first of the month in which benefit begins.
As of Date	On a particular month and day. The application uses the month and day that you specify in the As of MMDD field.

Specify this information:
As of MMDD and Year
Specify the date to determine an employee's salary.
- If you selected As of Date in the Date field, specify the month and day.
- If you leave the Year field blank when you use the As of Date, you can calculate an employee's salary on the latest month and day specified.
- If you specify a Year, the employee's salary is determined on the exact month, day, and year you specify.
- If an employee does not have a salary history for the date specified, the application uses the current salary.
Minimum and Maximum

Specify the minimum and maximum salary amounts for calculating contributions. If an employee's salary is less or greater than these amounts, the application uses these amounts to calculate flex credits for the employee.

Method

This is a required field if you selected a salary type. If you do not use any rounding methods, select No Rounding.
Click Options. The Options Rates (BN19.1) is displayed. Define the annual employee, Cobra, retiree, and company contribution for the plan. The coverage options you defined for the plan on Coverage Options (BN17.1) is displayed.

Note: Select Add to access Options Amount (BN18.1). Options Rates (BN19.1) is displayed.
Click Add.

Related reports and inquiries


Function	Form
List benefit plan information.	Plan Parameter Listing (BN215)