Salary Structure

A Salary Structure is a reusable template that defines how an employee's pay is calculated — listing earnings, deductions, and formulas that produce each line on a Salary Slip. Structures are assigned to employees via Salary Structure Assignment and are the single source of truth for compensation logic in Smooth HR Payroll.

Help URL: smoothhiring.com/help/hrms/payroll/salary-structure

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Where to find it
3. Salary Components first
4. Creating a Salary Structure
5. Structure rows explained
6. Formulas and conditions
7. Assigning to employees
8. Key fields reference
9. Common structure patterns
10. Tips
11. Troubleshooting
12. Related guides

Overview

Think of Salary Structure as a recipe: Salary Components are ingredients; the structure defines how much of each goes into every payslip for employees assigned to it.

Where to find it

Related paths:

Salary Components first

Before creating a structure, ensure Salary Components exist at /app/salary-component:

Create components for every distinct line on your payslip: Basic, HRA, Special Allowance, Employee PF, Professional Tax, TDS, etc.

Creating a Salary Structure

Step 1: New structure

1. Salary Structure → Add Salary Structure.
2. Enter Name — e.g., "Staff Grade A – Monthly" or "Hourly Warehouse".
3. Select Company.
4. Choose Payroll Frequency — must match how you run Payroll Entry (Monthly, etc.).
5. Set Currency.
6. Enable Is Active (or Is Default if one structure applies broadly).

Step 2: Add earnings rows

In the Earnings table, click Add Row for each earning component:

1. Select Salary Component (e.g., Basic).
2. Enter Amount (fixed) OR check Formula Based and enter Formula.
3. Set Depends on Payment Days if amount should prorate (almost always yes for Basic).

Repeat for HRA, conveyance, and other allowances.

Step 3: Add deductions rows

In the Deductions table, add PF, PT, TDS, loan recovery, etc. Deductions can also be formula-based (e.g., 12% of Basic for PF).

Step 4: Save and validate

1. Save the structure.
2. Optionally use Preview Salary Slip (if available) with a test employee assignment to validate amounts.

Structure rows explained

Order matters for formulas — components referenced in formulas must appear above the row that references them, or use abbreviations of already-defined rows.

Formulas and conditions

Smooth HR supports safe formula expressions on structure rows:

Condition examples:

Use Condition sparingly — prefer separate structures when rules diverge significantly.

Assigning to employees

A structure alone does not pay anyone. Create Salary Structure Assignment:

1. Go to /app/salary-structure-assignment.
2. Select Employee, Salary Structure, From Date.
3. Optional To Date for temporary assignments.
4. Enter Base if structure uses variable base (some formulas reference base).
5. Submit the assignment.

For bulk onboarding, use Bulk Salary Structure Assignment at /app/bulk-salary-structure-assignment.

Key fields reference

Header:

Per row (Earnings / Deductions):

Common structure patterns

Standard salaried (India example)

Hourly worker

Link hourly rate via Additional Salary or custom field on assignment.

Executive with variable pay

Base structure + Additional Salary for quarterly bonus — keeps structure stable, variable pay separate.

Tips

• Use abbreviations consistently — document B, HRA, SA in an internal wiki.
• Minimize structures — one per grade/role, not one per employee.
• Mark statistical components — employer PF should not inflate net pay display incorrectly.
• Test with edge cases — join mid-month, exit mid-month, full LWP month.
• Version by name — "Grade A v2026" when changing formulas mid-year with care.
• Map accounts early — finance needs GL mapping before first payroll post.

Troubleshooting

Related guides

• Payroll overview
• Payroll Entry
• Salary Slip
• Tax & Benefits overview

Last updated: May 2026