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How do I pay a bonus, reimbursement, arrears or a loan deduction?

Queue one-off additions and deductions against an employee; the next run you process picks them up, and locking the run makes sure they are never paid twice.

~3 min read · For admin · Updated 7/17/2026

What adjustments are for

Salary structures cover what someone is paid every month. Adjustments cover the one-offs: a Diwali bonus, a travel reimbursement, arrears from a backdated increment, a loan instalment.

Add them at Payroll → Adjustments. Pick the employee, the type, a label the employee will actually recognise on their payslip, and the amount. The label is the line they see, so "Diwali bonus" beats "Adj 1".

Earnings — bonus, reimbursement, arrears, other earning — are added to pay. Deductions — loan deduction, other deduction — come off it.

Taxable or not

Earnings carry a taxable switch. A bonus is taxable; a reimbursement of money someone already spent usually is not. When auto TDS is on, taxable adjustments push up that month's income tax. Deductions are never treated as taxable.

When they get paid

An adjustment sits as pending until you process a run. Processing claims every pending adjustment for that month, and locking the run marks them applied.

That two-step is what stops double payment: once applied, an adjustment can never be picked up by a later run. Until the run locks you can still cancel a pending one and re-process.

If you add an adjustment after processing, re-process the run to pull it in — otherwise it waits for next month.

Corrections and arrears

A locked run is final and never edited. If you underpaid someone, don't reopen the month — add an arrears adjustment and let the next run carry it. That keeps the paid month matching what actually went to the bank and what you filed.

What it does not touch

Adjustments are flat amounts. They are not prorated for loss of pay, and they sit outside the PF/ESI and loss-of-pay calculations, which stay on regular wages. So a bonus does not change someone's PF for the month.