How to Generate Payroll in Excel VBA (with Easy Steps)

Are you an HR professional and know how to make an employee payroll in Excel? Then, look no further, because in the following tutorial, we’ll demonstrate a step-by-step guide on how to generate payroll in Excel VBA. In addition, we’ll also learn to automate payroll in Excel.

How to Generate Payroll in Excel VBA: with 2 Steps

First of all let’s consider the Employee Information dataset shown in the B4:H15 cells which contains the “Employee Name”, “Pay Rate”, “Total Work Time”, “Overtime Rate”, “Total Overtime”, “Health Insurance”, and “Other Deductions” columns respectively. So, let’s explore how to generate payroll in Excel VBA with the necessary illustrations.

Here, we have used the Microsoft Excel 365 version; you may use any other version according to your convenience.

📌 Step 01: Insert the VBA Code into a Module

• First, navigate to the Developer tab >> click the Visual Basic button.

Now, this opens the Visual Basic Editor in a new window.

• Second, go to the Insert tab >> select Module.

For your ease of reference, you can copy the code from here and paste it into the window as shown below.

Sub Calculate_Gross_Pay()

Worksheets("VBA Code").Range("I6:I15").Formula = "=(C6*D6)+(E6*F6)"
Range("I6:I15").NumberFormat = "$#,###"

End Sub

Sub Calculate_Tax()

Worksheets("VBA Code").Range("J6:J15").Formula = "=0.2*I6"
Range("J6:J15").NumberFormat = "$#,###"

End Sub

Sub Calculate_Net_Payment()

Worksheets("VBA Code").Range("K6:K15").Formula = "=I6-(J6+G6+H6)"
Range("K6:K15").NumberFormat = "$#,###"

End Sub

📌 Step 02: Run the VBA Macros

• Third, close the VBA window >> click the Macros button.

This opens the Macros dialog box.

• Following this, select the “Calculate_Gross_Pay” macro >> hit the Run button.

• In turn, choose the “Calculate_Tax” macro >> press Run.

• Last but not least, execute the “Calculate_Net_Payment” macro.

Subsequently, the results should appear in the animated GIF given below.

How to Automate Payroll in Excel

Alternatively, we can also automate payroll in Excel using the VLOOKUP function to pull in data from a source worksheet to calculate the employee payroll. Now, let’s assume the Employee Information of Wilbur and Company dataset shown in the B4:J14 cells which depicts the “Employee ID”,  “Name”, “Department”,  “Pay Rate”, “Total Work Time”, “Overtime Rate”, “Total Overtime”, “Health Insurance”, and “Other Deductions”.

📌 Steps: 

• At the very beginning, go to the C8 cell >> move to the Data tab and insert a Data Validation drop-down by following the steps shown in the GIF.

• Then, navigate to the C9 cell >> insert the expression below.

Here, the C8 cell refers to the “Employee ID”.

📃 Note: Please make sure to use Absolute Cell Reference by pressing the F4 key on your keyboard.

• In a similar style, use the VLOOKUP function to retrieve information related to “Max” and in each case specify the correct column number. For instance, the column number for “Department” is “3”, for “Pay Rate” is “4”, and so on.
• Not long after, apply the SUM function to calculate the “Total Deductions”.

In this case, the E11 and E12 cells indicate the deductions for “Health Insurance” and “Other Deductions”.

• Afterward, copy and paste the formula into the C16 to obtain the “Gross Pay”.

For example, the C11, C12, C13, and C14 cells represent the “Pay Rate”, “Total Work Time”, “Overtime Rate”, and “Total Overtime” respectively.

• Later, calculate the “Tax” using the following expression.

In this situation, the C16 and E13 cells point to the “Gross Payment” and “Tax Rate”.

• Consequently, insert the formula into the Formula Bar to compute the Net Payment.

For example, the C16 and C17 cells refer to the “Gross Payment” and “Tax Rate” whereas the E14 cell represents the “Total Deductions”.

Read More: Payroll Exercises in Excel

Things to Remember

There are a few things to keep in mind when running the VBA Code.

• In the first place, make sure to change the worksheet name to “VBA Code” or specify the correct worksheet name.

• Second, specify the appropriate range of cells where to return the calculated output.

Practice Section

We have provided a Practice section on the right side of each sheet so you can practice yourself. Please make sure to do it by yourself.

Download Practice Workbook

Conclusion

To sum up, we hope this article helps you understand how to generate payroll in Excel VBA. Now, if you have any queries, please leave a comment below.

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