Complete glossary of 46 payroll terms for HR professionals

HR professionals are increasingly responsible for managing payroll operations and may find themselves navigating complex terminology: research reports that 50% of companies rely entirely on their HR teams for payroll.* Whether your company has a finance department, works with specialized providers, or the HR team processes payroll, ensuring timely and accurate compensation — and staying compliant with legal requirements — is critical.
This glossary is tailored for HR professionals working within the United States and includes essential payroll terms that every US-based HR professional should know. With this guide, you’ll gain a solid understanding of payroll terminology to streamline tasks, answer employee questions confidently, and manage payroll operations.
*Deloitte, 2020
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46 payroll terms every HR professional needs to know
Payroll preparation and management can be complex, and having the proper knowledge to handle it is essential. While you can use tools like Leapsome’s HRIS with payroll features to automate payroll operations, understanding these key terms will enhance your confidence in managing payroll effectively.
To make this glossary easier to navigate, we’ve organized terms into the following categories:
- Basic payroll terms
- Employee pay-related terms
- Tax-related terms
- Deduction-related terms
- Miscellaneous terms
Basic payroll terms
These foundational terms cover key payroll concepts, payment practices, and regulatory frameworks that every payroll professional should know.
- Accrual: Accumulated salaries and wages that employees have earned but haven’t yet received.
- Compensable time: The time hourly employees are paid for, including hours worked, public holidays, and approved paid absences within a pay period.
- Compensation: Total monetary and non-monetary rewards an employee earns, including hourly wages, salary, overtime pay, bonuses, commissions, fringe benefits, and stock options.
- EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System): Online system provided by the US Department of the Treasury that allows businesses and individuals to pay federal taxes electronically. Employers often use EFTPS for submitting payroll taxes, ensuring secure and timely payments.
- Employee benefits: Also called “fringe benefits,” these are non-salary perks that employers offer. Examples include insurance, wellness offerings, flexible work arrangements, home office stipends, and training resources.
- Minimum wage: The minimum hourly rate that employees can earn, as defined by federal, state, or local laws. In the United States, the federal minimum wage is currently US$7.25 an hour for covered nonexempt employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). However, many states and localities set their own minimum wage rates, which may be higher than the federal rate. When an employee is subject to both federal and state (or local) minimum wage laws, they are entitled to the higher rate.
For an up-to-date list of state minimum wage rates, visit the US Department of Labor’s website.
- Nonexempt employees & exempt employees
Nonexempt employees: Covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), these employees are entitled to overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. They are typically paid hourly, though some salaried employees can also be classified as nonexempt based on their earnings and job duties.
Exempt employees: Exempt from the FLSA’s overtime pay requirements, these employees must meet specific criteria related to their job duties, responsibilities, and earnings, including a minimum salary threshold. They are typically in executive, administrative, or professional roles.
- Off-cycle payroll: This may occur when you need to pay team members outside of standard payroll cycles, including for bonuses, commissions, or reimbursements.
- Paid time off (PTO): When employees take time off from work and continue to receive compensation.
- Payroll cycle: The period that employees are paid for, which most often includes weekly or biweekly pay periods. Team members receive their pay after the cycle ends.
- Payroll processing: The practice of carrying out payroll to compensate employees for their work. It includes reconciling work records, calculating and filing the necessary taxes, and paying team members.
- Payroll software: Tools that help companies automate payroll tasks. These systems may enable users to track employee hours, prepare and distribute payslips, calculate and withhold deductions, and transfer funds upon approval.
- Salary proration: The process of adjusting an employee’s salary based on the portion of time worked during a specific pay period. For example, in a monthly payroll system, proration may occur when an employee joins mid-month, resulting in a partial salary for that month. In weekly or biweekly payroll systems, proration typically applies when an employee starts or leaves partway through a week.

Miscellaneous payroll terms
This section includes other specialized terms essential for payroll management and compliance.
- Automated Clearing House (ACH): Employees receive payments directly into their bank accounts from an electronic network dedicated to credit and debit transfers in the United States. This allows team members to get paid via direct deposit.
- COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act): A federal law that allows employees and their families to maintain health insurance coverage after leaving a job, experiencing reduced work hours, or encountering other qualifying events. COBRA requires eligible employees to pay the full premium for continued coverage.
- Employer Identification Number (EIN): Also known as the Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) or the Federal Tax Identification Number (FTIN), this is a unique nine-digit number assigned by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to business entities operating in the United States for identification purposes.
- Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): Establishes multiple employment conditions for private businesses in the United States, including federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping practices, and youth employment standards. Some positions may be exempt from this act.
- Severance pay: The payout employees receive after being laid off. The amount of severance pay depends on the employment contract and other factors — such as length of employment, company policies, and cause of termination.
- Social Security Number (SSN): An identification number that the Social Security Administration provides to individuals in the United States. Having an employee’s SSN is essential to pay them.
- Workers’ compensation insurance: Insurance that provides cash benefits or medical care for employees who become ill or injured due to their work. In many parts of the United States, employers must pay for this insurance in full.
Unify payroll processes with people-centered HRIS software

Payroll terminology can be daunting, especially if you’re new to processing payroll or overseeing employees across different regions. Manual payroll processes only add to the complexity, making it hard to manage and error-prone. That’s where an intuitive, people-centered payroll tool can be transformative.
Comprehensive human resources information systems (HRIS) like Leapsome’s can help you tackle payroll tasks, take care of core HR processes, and carry out meaningful people enablement and engagement initiatives. It’s a people-centered platform that’s easy for both employees and HR team members to use and is ideal for businesses of all sizes.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and doesn’t offer legal, tax, or financial advice. While we’ve done our best to ensure accuracy and completeness, we can’t guarantee everything is up-to-date or error-free. For tailored advice, we recommend consulting a qualified lawyer or tax advisor.
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