This guide explains Fiji payroll requirements and how to use the country-specific settings in SmoothPay. It covers tax, earnings from previous employment, payday filing, FNPF, leave, final pays, banking, classifications and migrating payroll data.
Use it alongside the employee's employment agreement, any applicable sectoral wages regulations and the relevant authority's requirements. SmoothPay supplies country defaults, but the employer remains responsible for using the correct employee information and payment classifications.
Tax
The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) administers Pay As You Earn (PAYE). The main framework is the Income Tax Act 2015 and its subsidiary legislation, including the Income Tax (Withholding Tax) Regulations 2013.
Employers need to register with FRCS, obtain employee declarations, deduct the required tax, submit returns and pay the deductions. FRCS describes registration within 30 days of becoming an employer, including employers of casual or seasonal staff. Refer to the FRCS employer information for registration requirements.
Set up the employee's tax declaration
Use the employee's declaration to establish their tax details before preparing their pay.
Go to the Staff screen.
Select the employee.
Select the Tax tab.
Click the Edit button beside Employee tax code declaration.
Complete the applicable fields:
Field | What to enter or select |
Tax ID number | Enter the employee's tax identification number. |
Permanent resident | Set this according to the employee's tax residency. Do not determine tax residency from citizenship alone. |
Declaration received | Select this when the employee has supplied the required declaration. Leaving it unselected applies the no-declaration treatment. |
Primary employment / Secondary employment | Select the employment status supported by the declaration. |
FNPF number | Enter the employee's FNPF membership number. |
Flat tax rate | Use only when FRCS has instructed a tax variation. Enter a decimal rate: 0.2 means 20%. This is not a routine way to adjust an unexpected tax deduction. |
Click Save and retain the declaration and any FRCS variation instructions with the employee's records.
SmoothPay applies the following treatment to the normal employment settings:
Employment and declaration | Tax treatment |
Primary employment, declaration received | Normal Regulation 6 calculation using the applicable residency rules. |
Secondary employment | Flat 20% treatment. |
Declaration not received | Flat 20% treatment, including primary employment. |
Secondary employment and no declaration | The same 20% treatment; the two conditions do not double the rate. |
Understand Regulation 6
SmoothPay calculates normal Fiji PAYE using Regulation 6. This considers the employee's earnings during the tax year, their position in the sequence of tax periods, and tax already withheld. Additional payments, such as bonuses, use their applicable treatment within the calculation.
For normal earnings, the calculation projects annual income by combining earlier normal earnings with the current normal pay applied to the current and remaining tax periods. It applies the relevant tax rules to that projection, works out the cumulative amount required at the current tax period and takes account of tax already withheld. Additional earnings are treated separately within Regulation 6.
The tax on a normal pay cannot always be judged by multiplying that pay by the number of pay periods in a year. Earlier earnings and actual withholding also matter. Two employees receiving the same current pay can have different deductions because their earlier earnings or tax differ.
Starting a job or changing payroll systems does not restart the tax year. Enter the relevant previous-employment earnings and this employer's earlier pays before assessing the first SmoothPay calculation.
The normal resident annual tax table has a $30,000 tax-free threshold. Non-resident income is taxable from the first dollar. These annual rules are separate from the secondary-employment and no-declaration settings above. The current brackets are published in the FRCS PAYE structure notice.
For example, a normal weekly pay of $1,000 at tax period 26 produces different projections depending on the earlier earnings:
Earlier normal earnings | Projected normal annual income |
No earlier earnings | $27,000: the current pay plus 26 remaining weekly pays. |
$25,000 earned in the earlier 25 periods | $52,000: the earlier earnings plus $27,000 for the current and remaining periods. |
This illustrates the normal-income projection in the FRCS Regulation 6 workbook. It assumes a weekly cycle with 52 periods and no additional earnings. The resulting deduction also depends on residency, actual prior withholding and any setting that replaces the normal calculation. Only use the no-earlier-earnings position when that is the employee's actual history. The workbook is available from FRCS PAYE resources.
SRT was integrated into PAYE from 1 January 2024. Current FRCS templates no longer use separate SRT and ECAL columns. Older history fields or report headings may remain visible in SmoothPay; their presence does not create a separate current deduction.
Record earnings from previous employment
Use this procedure when an employee earned income from another employer earlier in the current tax year. It also applies when your business already uses SmoothPay and hires someone partway through the year.
Previous-employment information supplies inputs to the Regulation 6 calculation. It must be identified separately from pays made by your business.
Before entering it, obtain the employee's previous-employment earnings information, including the relevant income categories and tax actually withheld. Preserve any separately identified bonuses, approved lump sums, redundancy amounts and non-taxable allowances. Do not put the whole summary into Lump sum (FRCS approved) merely because you are entering one combined total.
Open the history entry
Go to the Staff screen.
Select the employee.
Select the History tab.
Click the + button beneath the Pays entered column.
The Edit take-on history window opens.
Enter the previous-employment information
Select Earnings from previous employment?.
Enter a Description that identifies the previous-employment information.
Set Period end and Pay day using the preceding pay cycle, as explained below.
Select the applicable Tax code for the history being recorded.
Enter the earnings in the corresponding fields.
Enter the Income tax actually withheld and the applicable contribution and deduction totals from the source records.
Check the entered amounts against the source information.
Click Save.
The summary is now recorded as previous-employment history. SmoothPay uses the relevant earnings and withholding when calculating subsequent normal pays.
The main amount fields include:
Field | Information to record |
Normal pay | Normal earnings from the previous employment. |
Bonuses etc. | Separately identified additional earnings belonging in that category. |
Lump sum (FRCS approved) | Only an amount belonging to this specifically approved category. |
Redundancy (FRCS approved) | The applicable approved redundancy amount. |
Contractual income | Income belonging to the contractual-income category. |
Non-taxable allowances | Qualifying non-taxable amounts identified in the source records. |
Income tax | The tax actually withheld, including where the previous calculation was incorrect. |
Employer FNPF contribution / Employee FNPF contribution | The corresponding contribution totals. |
Other deductions | Other deductions recorded in the source information. |
Do not replace actual historical tax with a recalculated amount simply to make a comparison match.
Choose the history dates
For the previous-employment summary, use the period end and payday of the preceding pay cycle. These dates establish the pay-number sequence for subsequent pays in SmoothPay.
For example, for a weekly employee:
Entry | Period end | Pay day |
First pay to be processed in SmoothPay | 20 September | 21 September |
Previous-employment summary | 13 September | 14 September |
The summary contains the earlier current-year earnings; its dates position that information before the first live pay. The seven-day difference in this example applies to a weekly cycle. Use the preceding cycle appropriate to the employee's actual pay frequency.
If your business is also migrating earlier pays for this employee, keep the two types of history separate. The Migrating payroll data section below explains the combined case.
When there are no earlier earnings
If the employee had no earlier earnings in the current tax year, complete their normal setup and begin processing their pays. Do not create an artificial zero-value previous-employment entry.
A missing history record is not evidence that there were no earlier earnings. Establish the employee's actual circumstances before relying on that position.
For more information about the shared history controls, refer to:
Check an unexpected tax deduction
After history is entered, a subsequent normal pay may have a higher or lower tax deduction as the cumulative calculation takes that information into account.
Before treating the result as an error:
Review the employee's Tax tab, including residency, Declaration received and primary or secondary employment.
Check the current pay's Period end, Pay day and the employee's pay cycle.
Check that actual previous-employment earnings have been entered with Earnings from previous employment? selected.
If you migrated this employer's payroll, check that every earlier current-year pay period has been entered separately with that checkbox unselected.
Check the earnings categories and tax actually withheld in those entries.
Review the classifications used for the current normal earnings, overtime, bonuses and other payments.
Correct any inaccurate input and review the recalculated pay before processing it.
A comparison with the FRCS Regulation 6 workbook needs comparable inputs. Its normal sequence of calculated pays may not reproduce a case containing previous-employment information or historical withholding that differs from the workbook's own results.
SmoothPay generally offsets excess withholding by reducing subsequent deductions where tax is available to offset. It does not guarantee that the entire difference clears in one pay or that an employee receives a cash refund through payroll. Excess withholding can remain at year end, particularly if later earnings produce little or no tax. The employee may then need to seek a refund from FRCS.
Fiji does not provide a discretionary pay-level tax-amount override. Once the underlying information is correct, refer questions about prescribed treatment or a refund to FRCS. Use Flat tax rate only for an FRCS-directed variation. A later payroll adjustment does not itself amend a return already submitted to FRCS.
Produce payday information
Completing a pay in SmoothPay generates PAYDAY outputs in CSV and Excel formats. These represent the same type of payday information; they are not two separate filing obligations.
To retrieve the output:
Prepare and review the pay using the normal pay process.
Check employee tax details, earnings classifications, dates and deductions.
Complete the pay process.
Go to the Files screen.
Locate the PAYDAY file for the completed pay.
Download the format required for your FRCS filing method.
Keep the file with your payroll records and check it against the completed payroll before uploading it. Generating or downloading a file does not lodge a return.
For more information about completing pays and retrieving files, refer to:
Prepare the monthly PAYE schedule
Use the monthly schedule to review the reporting period and reconcile its totals. The report selects pays by payday, rather than period-end date.
Go to the Reports screen.
Expand the Tax category.
Select PAYE employer monthly schedule.
Click Run report.
Select Month ending and the required month-end date.
Click OK.
Review the report against the pays whose paydays fall in that month.
The report also offers Six months ending and Year ending intervals.
Running the monthly schedule produces the following files in the Files screen:
Output | Contents |
EMS CSV and Excel | The shorter monthly employer summary. |
EMSPAYDAY CSV | Output in the PAYDAY column layout. |
The availability of several outputs does not mean each must be submitted separately. Use the output appropriate to the current FRCS filing method. Do not treat the FNPF deduction column in a tax file as an FNPF contribution schedule.
Upload payday information and submit the PAYE return
FRCS uses the Taxpayer Online Service (TPOS) for payday information and PAYE returns. Keep producing the payroll output, uploading payday information, submitting the return and paying tax as separate tasks.
For the normal monthly process:
Sign in to TPOS and open the employer's PAYE filing area for the required filing period.
Create the required payment periods using the period start date, period end date, date wages were paid and payment frequency.
Upload the corresponding payday information using the format required by TPOS.
Review any validation messages and reconcile the loaded amounts with the payroll records. Resolve errors before submission.
Ensure all payment periods belonging to the filing month have been included. This includes different pay frequencies where the employer has both weekly and monthly pays.
Click Submit to combine the loaded payday information into the monthly PAYE return.
Check that the return has been accepted and retain the submission record.
Arrange payment of the tax due using the employer's correct tax and payment references.
FRCS does not permit duplicate payment periods. Employers with multiple branches need to consolidate the employees for the same payment period instead of repeatedly creating that period for each branch. Refer to the FRCS payday reporting notice for its consolidation requirements.
Monthly PAYE reporting and payment are generally due by the end of the following month. FRCS also describes a six-monthly filing arrangement where all employees earn below $30,000. Check the filing obligation applying to your employer before choosing the reporting interval; the monthly steps above should not be used to change an FRCS-approved filing arrangement. See the FRCS Employer Guide and TPOS FAQs.
Loading payday information does not finish the monthly return until the submission step is completed. Submitting the return does not pay the tax. The presence of a separate EMS summary file in SmoothPay does not create an additional instruction to upload a second monthly return.
Other tax reports and employer-provided benefits
The Tax category in the Reports screen also contains PAYE payday report, IRS401 PAYE Annual Summary, IRS452 Earnings Certificates, PAYE reconciliation and Payroll analysis. Select the report appropriate to the information required and check its period and totals before use.
A cash allowance and an employer-provided benefit can have different tax and payment effects. Use the classification that describes the arrangement and apply the relevant FRCS valuation or exemption rules.
Employer fringe benefit tax is separate from employee PAYE. A benefit classified as non-taxable in payroll does not necessarily remove the employer's FBT obligation. FRCS describes FBT as an employer liability, with its own quarterly return and payment requirements. Refer to FRCS fringe benefit tax guidance.
FNPF
The Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) administers retirement contributions under the FNPF Act 2011, regulations and amendments. Eligible employees generally need to be registered from the first day of employment once aged 15. Compulsory contributions can continue beyond age 55 while the employee remains in compulsory employment. See the FNPF employer information and retirement guidance.
SmoothPay starts Fiji FNPF contributions automatically. There is no employee election or provider-selection step needed to activate ordinary contributions.
Check the contribution rates
For wages paid from 1 August 2026 to 31 July 2027, the minimum contribution split is:
Contribution | Rate |
Employee | 8% |
Employer | 8% |
Total | 16% |
The employer rate is temporarily reduced from 10%; the employee rate remains 8%. The dates and transition treatment are explained in the FNPF contribution-rate notice and its FAQs.
Check both company defaults and existing employee rates for the applicable payment date. Do not reduce a higher agreed employer contribution merely because the statutory minimum is lower.
To review an employee:
Go to the Staff screen.
Select the employee.
Select the Super/FNPF tab.
Review their membership number, employee percentage, employer percentage and exemption setting.
If a change is required, click Edit, enter the correct values and click Save.
To review company defaults, go to the Settings screen and select the Super/FNPF tab. A change to a company default does not necessarily update all existing employees; use the applicable shared update procedure where existing records also need to change.
For more information about contribution settings and applying defaults, refer to:
Maintain contribution exemptions
Only apply an exemption where the employee's circumstances support it. Foreign citizenship alone does not establish exemption from FNPF.
Employees under 15 must be marked exempt manually in SmoothPay. The exemption does not automatically clear when they turn 15.
To maintain the setting:
Go to the Staff screen, select the employee, then select the Super/FNPF tab.
Click Edit.
Select the Permanent exemption from super option where a valid exemption applies.
Click Save.
Record the reason and any date on which eligibility needs to be reviewed.
When an under-15 employee reaches contribution age, review their eligibility and clear the exemption so contributions can apply. Despite the field's name, the employer must maintain an exemption whose basis changes.
The Fiji exemption setting does not use the statutory-declaration process described for PNG. Retain the actual evidence supporting the employee's exemption or FNPF approval.
Reconcile, report and pay contributions
Contributions depend on eligible employees and eligible earnings. Comparing FNPF solely with total company gross can give a misleading result where gross includes exempt employees or payments with different contribution treatment.
Before remitting contributions:
Review the employee and employer contributions in the payroll.
Check employee exemptions, membership numbers and applicable rates.
Go to the Reports screen and use the Super category to produce the required contribution schedule.
Select the reporting period required for the wages being reported.
Reconcile the schedule to employee deductions and employer contributions.
Submit the statement through the method required by FNPF and arrange payment.
Retain the statement and payment records.
Since January 2025, statement submission and payment have different deadlines. The schedule month follows the wages month: the statement is due by the 14th of the schedule month, and payment is due by that month's end.
For example, August wages are reported in the September contribution statement. The statement is due 14 September, and payment is due 30 September. See the FNPF employer notice FAQs.
A PAYDAY tax output is not an FNPF schedule, and producing a contribution report does not submit the statement or pay FNPF.
Leave
Fiji leave requirements arise under the Employment Relations Act 2007, its amendments, applicable sectoral provisions and employment terms. Check the provisions covering the employee before changing the supplied settings. More favourable employment terms may apply.
The tables below distinguish the statutory entitlement from SmoothPay's supplied configuration. A software balance does not by itself establish when an employee may take leave or whether a payment is legally due.
Annual Leave
The Act provides ten working days after a year's continuous service. It also provides for written accumulation arrangements of up to four years while requiring at least a week to be taken annually. See sections 59–60 of the Employment Relations Act.
Item | Fiji treatment |
Annual entitlement | Ten working days, subject to the applicable provisions and any more favourable terms. |
SmoothPay default | Days, 10 per year, uncapped. |
Waiting-period settings | Accrual starts after is blank; then receives full entitlement is unselected. |
Payment | Leave entered in hours is paid at the employee's hourly rate. |
Termination valuation | SmoothPay accrues Annual Leave daily and values it through the current pay-period end. |
The uncapped software setting does not remove the employer's responsibility to manage leave taking and any accumulation agreement. Do not enter a waiting period simply because the statutory entitlement is taken after qualifying service; that changes how the software accrues leave.
For more information about configuring leave and interpreting balances, refer to:
Sick Leave
The Act provides ten working days per year after more than three months' continuous service, subject to its notification and evidence requirements. Unused statutory Sick Leave lapses in the following year. See section 68 of the Employment Relations Act.
Item | SmoothPay default and behaviour |
Units and annual entitlement | Days, 10. |
Cap | 10 days. |
Initial waiting period | 3 months, with then receives full entitlement selected. |
Available balance | The anniversary entitlement, rather than a progressively available portion before the waiting period. |
Renewal | The employee's original start-date anniversary. The three-month wait does not move the annual renewal date. |
Date used for the check | The current pay-period end, not payday. |
For example, SmoothPay makes the initial ten-day entitlement available at the three-month point for an employee starting on 1 January. The next renewal is 1 January, rather than the following April. Check statutory eligibility and the reason for the absence when approving leave; the software's three-month credit and the Act's qualifying wording serve different purposes.
Bereavement Leave
The Act provides three days per year after more than three months' continuous service, subject to its qualifying circumstances. This is an annual allowance, not a fresh three-day balance for every bereavement. See section 69 of the Employment Relations Act.
Item | SmoothPay default and behaviour |
Units and annual entitlement | Days, 3. |
Cap | 3 days. |
Initial waiting period | 3 months, with then receives full entitlement selected. |
Renewal | The employee's original start-date anniversary, as for Sick Leave. |
Date used for the check | The current pay-period end. |
Review the applicable circumstances before approving the absence. Keep the annual entitlement and the employee's leave usage accurate.
Public holidays
Use the declared Fiji holidays and the employee's applicable employment provisions to determine payment for a holiday not worked and any additional payment for working. Section 67 of the Employment Relations Act addresses public-holiday pay; applicable sectoral provisions or employment terms may provide more favourable treatment.
Situation | SmoothPay entry |
A payable public holiday not worked | Enter leave using the appropriately configured Public Holiday Leave code. |
Work performed on a public holiday | Enter the work using the appropriate Work code. |
Check the required payment before choosing the code. The public-holiday calendar is a reference; viewing a date in it does not create or approve a payroll entry.
For more information, refer to:
Maternity and other leave
The 2018 amendment increased statutory maternity leave to 98 consecutive days. This is an event-based entitlement, not an annual accrual. Paid eligibility and remuneration depend on the Act's qualifying conditions; the leave period alone does not establish the amount payable. Read section 101 of the Employment Relations Act with the 2018 amendment.
Where maternity leave needs to be recorded in SmoothPay, create an appropriate auto-balance Leave code. Establish the paid or unpaid treatment and the payable hours first. Do not enter 98 as paid working days merely because the statutory period is expressed in consecutive days.
For paternity, family-care, long-service or other specialised leave, establish the current statutory or contractual entitlement before configuring a code. The presence of a Leave classification does not establish that every Fiji employee has that entitlement. Likewise, a casual or piece-work label does not by itself settle an employee's leave rights.
For more information about creating the code and recording the absence, refer to:
Review leave settings and record leave
Use the Leave codes category in the Codes screen for company defaults. To adjust an individual employee's leave settings, select their record in the Staff screen, then open the Leave tab and its nested Entitlement tab.
Changes to a code's defaults and changes to existing employees are separate actions; use the shared configuration procedure when both need updating.
Keep the employee's original start date and One day equals value correct. These affect service checks and the conversion between entered hours and leave days.
Before completing a pay containing leave, check the selected Leave code, the dates and hours, the payment and the quantity consumed. Review the applicable balance using the shared procedures:
Final pays and termination payments
Establish what the employee is owed before using Terminate. Employment entitlements, the software's generated payout and FRCS approval for tax treatment are separate matters.
Under section 61 of the Employment Relations Act, proportionate Annual Leave payment on termination after more than one month is calculated using five-sixths of a day's wages for each completed month of service, subject to the applicable entitlement and leave already taken. Check more favourable employment terms where relevant. The exact one-month boundary should not be treated as more than one month.
SmoothPay generates an Annual Leave-related payout when Terminate is used, but it does not enforce that qualifying-service rule.
Prepare a separate final pay
A separate final pay allows the period end to match the employee's actual finish date. Otherwise, a pay ending after the employee finishes can include leave valuation through that later date.
Click the Pay dates button and set Period end to the employee's actual termination date.
Set Pay day to the date the final payment will be made.
Prepare the employee's final work, leave, allowances and deductions.
Select the employee in the Payrun screen.
Click Terminate on the Payrun control bar.
Open the Allowances tab and review the generated Lump sum to departing employee transaction.
Apply any approved tax-free split as described below.
Add any separately payable notice, redundancy or other final payment using the appropriate classification.
Review the final pay, including tax, FNPF and net pay, before completing processing.
In Fiji, the generated payout is an Allowance transaction in the Allowances tab of the Payrun screen. It does not appear in the Leave taken tab. Deleting the generated allowance cancels the termination.
For more information about pay dates and the general termination process, refer to:
Terminate an employee when no Annual Leave payout is due
Use the Manual Termination method where no Annual Leave termination payment is due, including a short-service employee who does not qualify and has no more favourable contractual entitlement.
Process any ordinary wages or other amounts still owed as appropriate. Then mark the employee as terminated manually:
Go to the Staff screen and select the employee.
Select the Contract tab, then select the nested Employment tab.
Click Edit.
Select Terminated.
Enter the actual termination date and, where required, the reason.
Click Save.
This records the termination without using the automatic payout. Review any warning about remaining leave against the entitlement already established.
For the complete shared method, refer to Manual Termination in:
Apply an approved tax-free component
FRCS distinguishes departure lump sums, genuine retirement payments and redundancy. An exemption is not automatic for every final wage or leave payment. Obtain the required approval and use the treatment approved for the actual payment.
FRCS's TPOS FAQs direct applications for the listed lump-sum payments through the SRT Ring Fencing menu, accessed from the Request tile in TPOS. This retained portal name does not mean SRT is a separate current payroll deduction. See also the FRCS exemptions guidance.
The normal generated Lump sum to departing employee transaction is wholly taxable. Where FRCS has approved an exempt component:
Retain the generated transaction in the Allowances tab of the Payrun screen.
Edit its amount to the taxable portion.
Enter the FRCS approval reference in that taxable transaction's Payslip note, which displays the FRCS approval No. prompt.
Save the change.
Add a separate Allowance transaction using a code classified Tax-free lump sum component.
Enter the approved exempt amount and save the transaction.
Check that the two entries total the payment owed and that the taxable and exempt portions match the approval.
For example, if a $7,000 payout includes an approved $1,000 exempt component, amend the generated transaction to $6,000 taxable and add a separate $1,000 Allowance transaction using a code classified Tax-free lump sum component. This illustrates the entry method; it is not a standard exemption amount.
Create the separate allowance code first if it does not exist. Do not delete the generated taxable transaction to replace it with a new one, because deletion cancels the termination.
Use the distinct retirement and redundancy classifications only for the applicable payments and approved treatment. Do not use the departure split above as a general rule for every termination category.
For more information about creating the separate code and entering allowances, refer to:
Banking
SmoothPay can produce a bank payment file for the employer's banking service. Select the format agreed with your bank and check that the required company and recipient details are complete.
Select the bank system
Go to the Settings screen.
Select the Bank tab.
Edit Direct credit settings.
Select the required Bank system.
Complete the bank-supplied company account details and identifiers.
Click Save.
The Fiji menu includes:
Bank | Bank system options shown in SmoothPay |
ANZ | ANZ Diskpay, ANZ Transactive |
BSP | BSP BIB CSV, BSP QuickPay |
Westpac | Westpac Quickpay |
Bank service names and accepted upload formats can change. The menu option needs to match the service enabled for your employer; a visible option is not confirmation that the bank accepts that format for your account.
Enter account and SWIFT details
Fiji account entry uses a six-digit bank and branch prefix (BSB) followed by the account number. SmoothPay inserts the separator automatically when you enter the combined value. Retain leading zeros and use the bank-supplied details.
For an employee account:
Go to the Staff screen and select the employee.
Select the Bank tab.
Add or edit the required bank entry.
Enter Account name and BSB+account.
Enter the recipient bank's SWIFT code.
Complete the payment calculation and particulars, then save the entry.
Enter the SWIFT code even if SmoothPay permits the record to be saved without it. ANZ's Fiji payment-system guidance explains the SWIFT and account requirements for affected payments.
Generate the direct credit report and bank file, reconcile their totals to the payroll, and upload the file using the bank's service. Review the bank's acceptance and authorise the payment there.
For more information about account configuration and producing the outputs, refer to:
Available classifications
Classifications tell SmoothPay how to calculate and report a payment. Select the classification for the actual payment, rather than choosing a label solely to obtain a preferred tax result.
The tables describe Fiji payroll handling. Eligibility, tax approval and any employer reporting obligation still depend on the arrangement. A code's description can be customised; its classification determines the relevant treatment.
In these tables, superable means included in the earnings used for FNPF contributions, subject to the employee's contribution status.
Work classifications
Classification | Purpose and treatment |
Ordinary time | Normal work earnings. Taxable and included in FNPF-liable earnings. |
Overtime | Overtime work earnings. Taxable and included in FNPF-liable earnings. Fiji treats overtime as extra pay for the relevant tax calculation. The Work code's multiplier determines the payment multiple. |
For more information, refer to:
Allowance and special-payment classifications
Classification | Purpose and payroll treatment |
Taxable | Generic regular-income allowance. Taxable and superable. |
Non-taxable (Reimbursement) | Qualifying non-taxable reimbursement. Selecting the classification does not establish that an expense payment qualifies. |
Extra Pay | Backpay, bonuses and irregular allowances outside normal regular income. Taxable and superable; included in the Regulation 6 bonus treatment. |
Lump sum to departing employee | Unused leave and other departure payments, excluding the distinct retirement and redundancy categories. Taxable and superable. Used by the generated Fiji termination allowance. |
Retirement lump sum | A qualifying, FRCS-approved retirement payment. Taxable and not superable under this classification. Establish approval and the applicable tax treatment before using it. |
Redundancy | A redundancy payment requiring the applicable FRCS treatment. The product identifies it as taxable and superable. Use the current approval and tax rules for any exempt and taxable portions. |
Contractual income | The applicable contractual or provisional-tax income category, identified as taxable and superable. Establish that the payment belongs in this category. A commission paid to an agent who also receives regular employee salary is treated as Extra Pay under the product guidance. |
Tax-free lump sum component | The approved exempt component of a qualifying departure lump sum. Enter separately from the taxable generated transaction. |
Tax-free redundancy component | The approved exempt component of a qualifying redundancy payment. |
Directors fees | Directors' fee payments. Identified as taxable and superable, with separate reporting classification. |
Management fees | Management-fee payments. Identified as taxable and superable, with separate reporting classification. |
Cash-up annual leave | Annual Leave cashed up during employment. Taxable and superable, using Regulation 6 bonus treatment. Processing consumes the corresponding leave units; establish that the cash-up is permitted before use. |
The tax-free classifications do not grant an exemption. Apply only the amount supported by the relevant FRCS approval and conditions.
Benefit classifications
The following classifications distinguish employer-provided benefits. Most are recorded as non-taxable for employee payroll purposes; that does not determine the employer's separate FBT liability.
Classification | Employee payroll treatment |
Benefit - quarters, board, rations or residence | Non-taxable benefit classification. |
Benefit - private use of car | Non-taxable benefit classification. |
Benefit - Rent subsidy | Non-taxable benefit classification. |
Benefit - club fees | Non-taxable benefit classification. |
Benefit - travel benefit | Non-taxable benefit classification. |
Benefit - Interest benefit | Non-taxable benefit classification. |
Benefit - Electricity, water, telephone or other utilities | Added as a taxable allowance and automatically deducted after tax so the benefit value is not paid again as cash. |
Benefit - Medical insurance cover benefit | Non-taxable benefit classification. |
Benefit - Excess FNPF or superannuation | Non-taxable benefit classification for the relevant excess contribution. Configure ordinary contributions through the FNPF settings. |
Benefit - other | Non-taxable benefit classification for a benefit outside the named categories. |
Apply the appropriate value and FRCS rules to the actual arrangement. Do not substitute a benefit classification for a cash allowance without checking the difference in treatment.
For more information about creating and entering allowances, refer to:
Leave classifications
Classification | Purpose |
Annual leave | Annual Leave. |
Personal (Sick) Leave | Sick Leave. |
Long Service Leave | Applicable long-service leave under the employee's terms. Its availability does not establish a general statutory entitlement. |
Workers compensation (not worked) | The relevant workers' compensation absence; establish the required payment treatment first. |
Public Holiday Leave | Payable public-holiday absence. |
Rostered Day Off | Applicable rostered-day-off or time-banking arrangements. |
Other Leave | Bereavement and other appropriately configured absences. |
The Fiji paid Leave classifications are identified as taxable and superable. An unpaid absence needs the corresponding unpaid configuration; the classification alone does not make it unpaid.
Agency classifications
Classification | Purpose |
Deduction | A general deduction without a more specific classification. |
Union or Professional Association fees | Identifies the relevant membership deduction. |
Workplace Giving | Identifies giving amounts within deductions. |
Superannuation | Identifies contribution-related Agencies. Use the FNPF controls for ordinary statutory contributions. |
Salary Packaging | The applicable pre-tax packaging arrangement, using the shared employee-payment setup. Establish the permitted tax treatment before use. |
Savings and Loans may appear in the menu, but those internal classifications are deprecated and unavailable. Use the supported Agency and reducing-balance deduction procedure where an employee repayment is required.
For more information, refer to:
Migrating payroll data
When this employer moves to SmoothPay partway through a tax year, bring across the actual history needed to continue Regulation 6, contributions, leave and reporting. Keep this employer's pays separate from earnings from previous employment.
Enter each current-employer pay period separately
Fiji requires an individual history entry for every earlier pay period in the current tax year processed by this employer. A single year-to-date or month-to-date summary is not sufficient for the Regulation 6 history sequence.
These entries contain the totals for each pay period. They do not require you to recreate every underlying Work, Leave or Allowance transaction.
Make a backup before entering or importing migration information. To enter a historical pay period:
Go to the Staff screen and select the employee.
Select the History tab.
Click the + button beneath the Pays entered column.
Leave Earnings from previous employment? unselected.
Enter that pay's actual Period end and Pay day.
Enter the applicable Tax code, earnings categories, tax actually withheld, FNPF contributions and other deduction totals.
Reconcile the entry to the original payroll record and click Save.
Repeat for every earlier current-year pay period up to the point at which SmoothPay processing begins.
You can also edit the description in the box displaying Take-on pay to identify the historical entry.
Exclude pays that will be processed live in SmoothPay. Do not duplicate the same pay in both history and the current payrun.
For more information about the controls and backups, refer to:
When both kinds of history apply
An employee may have worked for another employer before joining your business, and your business may then move payroll systems later in the same year.
For example, an employee joins your business in March and you move to SmoothPay in September:
History | How to record it |
Current-year earnings with a previous employer before joining your business | Previous-employment summary, with Earnings from previous employment? selected. Follow the Tax section's procedure and date guidance. |
Pays made by your business from March to the changeover | A separate history entry for each actual pay period, with Earnings from previous employment? unselected. |
Pays processed in SmoothPay after the changeover | Normal live pay processing. |
Both history types contribute relevant information to the tax calculation. Recording one does not remove the need for the other.
If the employee worked for your business throughout the year, bring across its pays from the start of the year. Do not create previous-employment history where no such earnings exist.
Bring across employee, leave and contribution information
Information | Why it matters |
Original start date and recognised service | Supports the correct leave waiting periods, anniversaries and entitlement review. |
Pay cycle, hours per day and working pattern | Supports pay-period positioning and conversion between leave hours and days. |
Annual, Sick and Bereavement Leave balances and usage | Establishes the opening position without losing or duplicating leave. Keep units, credits and relevant anniversaries consistent. |
Individual leave settings | Preserves any entitlement differing from the supplied default. |
Tax declaration and previous-employment information | Supplies the appropriate tax settings and cumulative inputs. |
FNPF number, rates, exemptions and contribution history | Supports contribution calculations and reconciliation. |
Bank and SWIFT details | Supports the correct payment output. |
Recurring deductions and remaining balances | Allows repayments and other ongoing deductions to continue correctly. |
Use the shared leave-adjustment methods to establish the balances. Avoid adding leave usage twice where it has already been reflected in the opening position.
For more information, refer to:
Flexi-CSV, where an appropriate import method is being used.
Before the first live pay, reconcile the imported or entered history, leave balances, contributions and deductions to the original records. Keep records of returns already filed and amounts already remitted. Entering history in SmoothPay does not re-file those returns or reproduce every detail of the original transactions.
FNU employer levy
The Fiji National University (FNU) levy is separate from employee FNPF deductions. FNU describes an employer levy of 1% of gross emoluments, subject to its exemptions, with half-year payment dates of 30 September and 31 March. Use its Levy and Grants guidance to establish the employer's obligation and the relevant reporting period.
To produce the FNU report, go to the Reports screen, expand the Tax category and select FNU Report. Run the report for the required period, reconcile its totals and complete the required FNU return and payment separately.