P4 Software / cifraHQ

Periods & Runs

Periods & Runs

Payroll in CifraHQ is organized into periods and runs. A period defines the pay window (month, dates, payment date). A run is a calculation batch within that period - you can have multiple runs in a single period for different employee groups or pay types, but in most companies one run per period is standard.

Where to find it

  • Periods list: Go to Payroll > Periods
  • Runs list: Go to Payroll > Runs, or access runs from within a period's detail page
Payroll Periods and Runs page in CifraHQ.

Periods and Runs, the calendar of pay cycles and per-period Payroll runs.

Payroll period lifecycle

Draft → (Calculate preview) → Close Period → Closed → CssDeclared → DgiDeclared
State Meaning
Draft Period is open. Dates, type, and payment date can still be edited. Runs can be prepared.
Closed Period has been closed. Journal entry posted. SIPE and ACH Exports become available.
CssDeclared CSS planilla submitted to CSS online portal.
DgiDeclared ISR declared on DGI e-Tax 2.0 portal.

Creating a Payroll period

  1. Go to Payroll > Periods and click New.
  2. Fill in:
Field Description
Period Type Monthly, Bi-weekly, or Weekly
Year The fiscal year (e.g., 2026)
Month Calendar month (January-December)
Start Date First day of the pay period (dd/MM/yyyy)
End Date Last day of the pay period (dd/MM/yyyy)
Payment Date Date Employees receive net pay - used in the ACH file
  1. Save. The period is created in Draft state.

For monthly Payroll, Start Date is typically the 1st and End Date the last day of the month.

Preparing a Payroll run

A run must be prepared before any calculation can happen.

  1. Open a period in Draft state.
  2. In the Payroll Runs sidebar panel, click Prepare Run.
  3. CifraHQ creates a new run in Draft state and links it to the period.
  4. Click the run to open the run detail page.

You can prepare multiple runs within a single period - useful for supplemental payrolls or separate employee groups.

Payroll run detail page

The run detail page shows all lines for the run and lets you add manual lines before calculating.

Summary strip

KPI Description
Employees Number of distinct Employees with lines in this run
Total Earnings Sum of all earning-type lines
Total Deductions Sum of all deduction-type lines (CSS, SE, ISR, etc.)
Total Net Pay Earnings minus Deductions
Employer CSS Total employer CSS burden for this run

Run lines grid

Each row is one Payroll concept line for one employee.

Column Description
Employee Employee name
Concept Payroll concept name (Base Salary, CSS Employee, ISR, etc.)
Type Auto (generated by the engine) or Manual (added by you)
Qty Quantity (hours, days, or units) - editable on manual lines
Rate Rate per unit - editable on manual lines
Amount Qty × Rate - always read-only; computed field
Notes Free-text annotation - editable on manual lines

Auto lines are generated by the Payroll calculation engine and are read-only. Manual lines can be edited (Qty, Rate, Notes) and deleted while the run is in Draft.

Adding a manual line

  1. Click Add Line in the page header.
  2. Select the Employee.
  3. Select the Concept from the catalog.
  4. Enter Qty (e.g., days, hours, units) and Rate (amount per unit).
  5. Optionally add a Note for the payslip.
  6. Click Add.

Manual lines are visible immediately in the grid. They persist across calculations - the engine keeps manual lines and only regenerates automatic lines when you run Calculate.

Importing commissions into a run

If your company pays commissions to salespersons who are also Employees, use Import Commissions to move their open commission balances into the Payroll run before calculating. This ensures CSS, ISR, and Decimo benefit bases include the commission income correctly.

Prerequisites:

  • The salesperson must be a CifraHQ user with User Type = SalesPerson.
  • Their user account must be linked to an Employee record (set via Settings > Users > [User] > Employee field).
  • The employee must have an active contract whose dates overlap the period.
  • The salesperson must have a non-zero Commissions Balance (accrued from posted Invoices).

Steps:

  1. Open a draft Payroll run.
  2. Click Import Commissions in the run header.
  3. The dialog shows all eligible salesperson-Employees with their open balance. Employees already imported into this run are shown as "Already imported" and cannot be selected again.
  4. Check the Employees to include (all eligible are pre-selected by default). The Total updates as you change the selection.
  5. Click Import N lines.

CifraHQ creates one COMMISSION concept line per employee (Type: Manual, Qty: 1, Rate: balance amount) and immediately zeros each employee's commission balance. A tracing Commission Transaction entry is written to the salesperson's ledger with Reference type "Payroll" and a link back to this run.

  1. Run Calculate on the period. The engine incorporates the commission lines into the cotizable salary base for CSS, ISR, Decimo, vacation, and cessation calculations.

Importing is idempotent - running Import Commissions again on the same run skips Employees already imported. Salespersons without an Employee link or without an active contract appear in the Skipped section of the dialog with the reason.

The non-Payroll payout path (for contractors not enrolled in Payroll) is the Pay button on the user's Commissions tab. See Commission Rules for details on both paths.

Calculating the period

The Calculate button on the period detail page runs the PanamaPack 2026 engine across all runs in the period.

What happens during calculation:

  1. For each active employee with a contract, the engine reads the active contract's BaseSalary and PayFrequency.
  2. It prorates the base salary for the period dates.
  3. It adds any manual lines you've entered.
  4. It calculates CSS employee (9.75%), SE employee (1.25%), and ISR (annualized bracket method) based on the cotizable salary.
  5. It calculates CSS employer (12.25%), SE employer (1.50%), and Occupational Risk premium.
  6. All generated lines are written back into the run.

Calculate preview

Calculate runs in preview mode first - it shows projected totals without permanently writing lines. The preview panel appears at the top of the period detail page with:

  • Employee count
  • Total Earnings
  • Total Deductions
  • Total Net Pay
  • Employer CSS and SE

If the preview has errors (e.g., missing SSN, inactive contract), a warning appears. Fix the underlying data and recalculate.

You can run Calculate as many times as needed while the period is in Draft. Each calculation regenerates all automatic lines based on current employee/contract data.

Closing a period

When the Payroll figures are final:

  1. Open the period in Draft state.
  2. Review the preview one last time.
  3. Click Close Period.

Closing the period:

  • Finalizes all run lines (no further editing).
  • Creates a Journal Entry in the General Ledger - debiting Payroll expense accounts and crediting the CSS, SE, ISR, and net pay payable accounts.
  • Stamps ClosedAt and ClosedBy on the period record.
  • Transitions the period state to Closed.
  • Enables the SIPE and ACH export buttons.

Closing is irreversible. If you discover an error after closing, you must create a correction run in the same or following period.

After closing - Exports

Once a period is Closed, you can download:

Export Button Purpose
SIPE planilla SIPE 24-column XLSX for CSS monthly submission
ACH payment file ACH Bank-formatted file to transfer net pay to employee accounts

See Exports for full details on each file format.

Declaring to CSS and DGI

After submitting the SIPE to the CSS portal, return to the period in CifraHQ and advance the state:

  1. From Closed → CSS Declared after submitting the SIPE planilla.
  2. From CSS Declared → DGI Declared after declaring ISR withholding in DGI e-Tax 2.0.

These state transitions are record-keeping steps - they track your compliance status without modifying any financial figures.

Tips

  • Calculate before you close. Closing without calculating will produce a period with no automatic lines and a zero journal entry.
  • Manual lines survive recalculation. You can add manual corrections (advances, bonuses, loan repayments) before calculating - they will appear alongside the engine-generated lines.
  • One journal entry per period. Closing writes a single GL entry that aggregates all runs. The entry cannot be broken down per run in the GL view.
  • Payment Date drives the ACH file. The payment date on the period is the value date in the bank file - confirm it matches your bank's processing cut-off.

Related: Payroll Concepts · Employees · Décimo Tercer Mes · Form 03 Annual ISR · Bank Transactions · Audit Trail · Account Priming

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