How to pay bonuses, commissions and other variable amounts
What is it for?
It records an amount that does not repeat every month, such as a gratification, a commission or a profit share. The payslip for the month of the payment date picks it up automatically, on its own line.
The Nature says whether the amount is retribution. It is filled in automatically from what you enter, and it changes the Social Security base.
When to use it?
- When management decides to pay a gratification or a profit share.
- When there is a commission on sales or results.
- Do not use it for an amount in kind, such as the use of a car: that is a benefit in kind. Do not use it for a fixed amount paid every month: that goes in the pay item.
Where to find it?
- Payroll › Prepare › Variable payments
- Payroll › Configure › Collective regulation › Regularity criteria
- Payroll › Prepare › What is there to do this month?, group Situations and duties with a worker, for Decisions on regularity
- Payroll › Configure › Pay item setup › Bonus conditions
Before you start
- Your profile is Payroll Administrator.
- You have to hand the decision granting the amount (the minutes, for example) or, for a commission, the base and the percentage.
- The month's payslip has not been validated yet.
How to use it
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Open Payroll › Prepare › Variable payments and click New. With no records, the list says “The variable payments (bonuses, commissions and similar) granted to the workers appear here. Create one so that it counts in the payslip of the month.”
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Fill in Worker and choose the Type: Profit sharing, Gratification for good results or Commission. The following fields change with the type.
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In Date of the payment, choose a day in the month of the payslip that pays the amount.
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Fill in the fields for the type:
Type Fields Gratification for good results Value, Decision, Date of the decision, Basis and, where applicable, Due by contract or regular Profit sharing Value, Decision, Date of the decision, Adequate base retribution assured by the contract and, where applicable, Due by contract or regular Commission Sales or result, Percentage, Reference from and Reference until. Commission rule is optional. The Value is calculated automatically -
Check the Nature and save.
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On the month's payslip, click Calculate. The Gratification for good results, Commissions or Profit sharing line appears. Click Validate and Account, as for any payslip.
What changes the Nature
| Case | Nature |
|---|---|
| Commission | Retribution |
| Gratification for good results | Not retribution. With Due by contract or regular ticked, it becomes Retribution |
| Profit sharing | Retribution. With Adequate base retribution assured by the contract ticked, it becomes Not retribution |
Example. November 2026, with payslips made one by one:
| Gratification of 500.00 € | Commission of 2 % on 10,000.00 € | |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | Not retribution | Retribution |
| Base remuneration | 1,650.00 € | 1,900.00 € |
| Meal allowance | 129.15 € | 129.15 € |
| Variable amount | 500.00 € | 200.00 € |
| Employee's Social Security | 181.50 € (11 % of 1,650.00 €) | 231.00 € (11 % of 2,100.00 €) |
| IRS withheld | 174.00 € | 155.00 € |
| Net | 1,923.65 € | 1,843.15 € |
The gratification stays outside the Social Security base. The commission is inside it.
The gratification's journal entry, on clicking Account, dated 30/11/2026:
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| 632 Staff remuneration | 2,279.15 € | |
| 635 Charges on remuneration | 391.88 € | |
| 2312 To staff (net pay) | 1,923.65 € | |
| 242 Income tax withheld | 174.00 € | |
| 245 Social Security contributions | 573.38 € |
The same entry also shows account 231290 Remunerações em processamento (payroll in process), with 2,279.15 € on the debit and the credit side, which cancel each other out. Account 245 holds the employee's 181.50 € and the company's 391.88 €.
Pending validation by a certified accountant: the nature assigned to each type, the IRS and Social Security base in each case and the accounts in the journal entry (Labour Code (Código do Trabalho), art. 260.º).Regularity for holidays and allowances
A regular amount may count towards holiday pay and the allowances. These two screens record the company's criterion and the decision about an employee:
- Regularity criteria, in Payroll › Configure › Collective regulation: one line per pay item, with Set by (Collective agreement (IRCT) or Company rule), Months with the payment, Months considered, Clause and From. In the example: Gratification for good results, Company rule, 11 months out of 12, since 01/11/2026.
- Decisions on regularity: one line per employee and pay item, with Decision (Regular or Not regular), From and Reason. Open Payroll › Prepare › What is there to do this month? and, in the Situations and duties with a worker group, click Decisions on regularity.
Bonus conditions
In Payroll › Configure › Pay item setup › Bonus conditions, you record what allows a year's bonuses to be exempt: Year of the premiums, Determined on, Evidence, the percentage increases, Condition met and Mentioned in the declaration of income. Determined on and Evidence are required.
Pending validation on screen: the effect of a record, or the lack of one, on the year's bonuses. The example has no saved record. Pending validation by a certified accountant: the conditions for the exemption and the minimum increases the law requires each year.Expected result
- The payment appears in Variable payments, with the Nature filled in.
- The payslip for the month of the Date of the payment has the line with the amount.
- The payslip's Social Security only counts the amount if the Nature is Retribution.
Important notes
- The date decides. The amount goes on the payslip whose period includes the Date of the payment.
- Commission for an earlier period. The period in Reference from and Reference until says whether the commission is retroactive.
- Read the Nature before saving. One tick changes the treatment: confirm it with the certified accountant.
Common problems
The decision is missing
- Message: “A profit sharing or a gratification needs the decision that grants it (reference and date). What happened: without a deliberation the payment has no ground and its legal nature cannot be sustained (CT art. 260.º/1-b) and d)). How to fix it: fill in “Decision” and “Decision date”.”
- What to do: fill in both fields. The reference alone is not enough.
The basis of the gratification is missing
- Message: “A gratification needs its ground (the good results it rewards). How to fix it: fill in “Ground”.”
- What to do: enter the results the gratification rewards.
A commission detail is missing
- Message: “A commission needs the sales or result, the percentage and the reference period. What happened: the amount is base × percentage and the period tells whether it is retroactive. How to fix it: fill in the four.”
- What to do: fill in Sales or result, Percentage, Reference from and Reference until.
The amount must be positive
- Message: “The amount must be positive and the percentage between 0 and 100. What happened: a reversal is made in a corrective payslip, not with a negative amount. How to fix it: type the positive amount (commission: sales and percentage).”
- What to do: for a commission, fill in Sales or result and Percentage. In the example, the message appeared when saving a commission without either of these two values.