Glossary
Plain definitions of Philippine HR and payroll terms.
- 13th month pay
- A mandatory yearly benefit equal to one twelfth of an employee's total basic salary earned in the calendar year, due on or before December 24 under Presidential Decree No. 851.
- Alphalist
- The list of employees, with their compensation and the tax withheld from each, that an employer submits to the BIR together with the annual information return.
- BIR Form 2316
- The Certificate of Compensation Payment and Tax Withheld that an employer issues to each employee for a calendar year.
- Daily time record (DTR)
- The record of an employee's time in and time out for each working day, used as the basis for pay, tardiness, undertime and overtime.
- De minimis benefits
- Small benefits that the BIR treats as exempt from income tax, up to the limits its regulations set for each benefit type.
- Employees' Compensation (EC)
- A contribution paid by the employer alone to fund benefits for work-related sickness, injury and death, collected together with SSS contributions.
- Final pay
- The total amount owed to an employee who is leaving, including unpaid salary, prorated 13th month pay, the cash value of convertible unused leave and any other benefit due.
- Monthly salary credit (MSC)
- The salary bracket SSS uses to compute contributions. Each range of monthly compensation maps to one MSC, and the contribution is a percentage of it.
- Night shift differential
- An additional 10% of the regular hourly rate for each hour an employee works between 10 PM and 6 AM.
- Pay register
- The report for a pay period that lists every employee's earnings, deductions and net pay, reviewed and approved before payslips are released.
- Regular holiday
- A holiday on which employees are paid 100% of the daily wage even if they do not work, and 200% if they do.
- Rest day
- The weekly day off an employee is entitled to after six consecutive days of work. Work on a rest day is paid at a premium of at least 30% of the regular rate.
- Service incentive leave (SIL)
- Five days of paid leave a year for covered employees who have worked at least one year, convertible to cash if unused at year-end.
- Special non-working day
- A day on which the rule is no work, no pay unless company policy says otherwise. An employee who works is paid 130% of the daily wage, or 150% if it is also the rest day.
- Tardiness and undertime
- Tardiness is arriving after the scheduled start time. Undertime is leaving before the scheduled end time. Both reduce paid hours according to the company's policy.
- Withholding tax on compensation
- Income tax the employer deducts from an employee's pay each period and remits to the BIR, based on the employee's annualized taxable compensation.