This article covers the most common payroll errors you may encounter in COINS ERP+ and the steps to resolve them. For expenses-specific payroll issues, see Expenses Payments – Payroll.
Payroll calculation fails with an SY99 error
An SY99 error during payroll calculation is caused by running the Calculation function two or more times in quick succession. When the second run starts before the first has finished, the system tries to access the same tables twice and locks itself out.
Go to the relevant payroll frequency.
Select Reset to reset the payroll run.
Wait for the reset to complete before starting any other payroll functions.
Select Calculation and run it once, then wait for it to complete fully before starting any further actions.
⚠️Important: Only run one payroll function at a time. Starting a second function — such as Calculation, Reset or Accept — while another is still running can cause table lock errors. Always wait for a process to complete before starting the next one.
Payroll calculation report shows a Warning status
The payroll Calculation report returns either OK or Warning for each employee. A Warning status does not prevent you from accepting payroll, but you should review the detail before proceeding.
Common causes of a Warning status include:
A tax variance in the employee's salary — for example, their taxable pay has changed significantly from the previous period.
The employee has been automatically enrolled into a pension scheme during this run.
The employee is new and has no previous taxable pay on record, so the variance cannot be calculated.
Open the Calculation report in Report Status.
Review the message detail for each employee showing a Warning status.
Confirm whether the warning is expected based on the employee's circumstances.
If the warning is unexpected, reset payroll for the affected employee and investigate their timesheet and pay item configuration before recalculating.
📌Note: To reset payroll for a single employee rather than the whole payroll run, go to Reset and use the Employee Selection tab to filter by employee number. This is faster than resetting the entire period.
Expenses not appearing in the payroll calculation
If an employee is owed expenses but the amount is not showing in their payroll calculation, work through the following checks.
Check the External Payments status
Go to Employee Maintenance, then Other, then External Payments.
Check the Status column for the employee.
If the status is not Pending, the expenses have not been queued for this payroll cycle.
Check the Claims batch status in Expenses
Go to the Expenses module and locate the relevant Claims batch.
Check the batch status. The batch must be Posted for expenses to filter through to payroll.
If the batch status is Frozen or Unfrozen, the Expenses process has not been fully completed. Complete the posting process in the Expenses module before running payroll.
If the batch status is Posting, there may be a costing issue or the batch is trying to post in a closed financial period — investigate before proceeding.
Check the batch Route setting
In the Expenses module, select the Posted batch.
Check the Route field.
If the Route shows Expenses instead of Payroll, the Expenses parameter is incorrectly configured.
Go to the Expenses POP App under Setup and correct the route parameter.
⚠️Important: Do not delete expense lines from the employee's timesheet in Payroll. If timesheet data is deleted and payroll is processed, the expense data will disappear and create a costing imbalance. Any adjustments must be made in the Expenses module.
For a full walkthrough of the expenses-to-payroll flow, see Expenses Payments – Payroll.
Reset payroll after an error
If you need to correct a timesheet or resolve an error after payroll has been calculated or accepted, you must reset payroll first.
Go to the relevant payroll frequency.
Select Reset.
To reset a specific employee only, select the Employee Selection tab and filter by employee number before clicking Next.
To reset all employees in the run, click Next on the main screen.
Review the reset report — a status of OK confirms the selected employees have been returned to START status.
Make the required corrections to the timesheet.
Run the Calculation again.
📌Note: If the timesheet has not updated after a reset, go to Maintenance, then Clear Timesheets. You can clear timesheets for specific employees or for the whole run. After clearing, the timesheet should repopulate correctly — re-enter any manual adjustments that were on the original timesheet.
Benefits in Kind and P11D data not appearing correctly
If Benefits in Kind (BIK) pay items are not appearing correctly in reports, or you are having difficulty gathering data for P11D reporting, use the following reports in COINS ERP+.
Selected Item Report
Go to Payroll, then Selected Item Report. This report can be run for the full tax year and filtered by specific pay items — for example, Motor Vehicles, Mileage, Entertainment or Medical Insurance. It can be filtered for individual employees or all employees including leavers.
Single or Multi-Contract Detail Enquiry
Go to Contract Status, then Single or Multi-Contract Detail Enquiry. This shows totals for the financial year broken down by individual cost heads and cost codes.
General Ledger reports
If GL codes or overhead codes are used for expenses, run the relevant reports from the General Ledger module. The Cost Code Detail History Report also shows cost code details for the financial year.
📌Note: You can also export expense details directly from the Expenses POP App. Go to the Expenses Claim Items grid and use the export function to produce a spreadsheet suitable for P11D reconciliation.
Deduction not calculating correctly
If a recurring deduction — such as a loan repayment — is not calculating or appearing as expected, check the following before raising a support ticket:
Confirm the deduction is configured on the employee's record in Employee Maintenance under Pay Calculations.
Check that the pay calculation is not set to Dormant.
If the deduction should apply automatically each period, confirm the autoflow type is set to Timesheet on the pay calculation record.
Reset payroll for the affected employee and recalculate to see if the deduction now appears.
Raise a support ticket
Raise a support ticket if:
An SY99 error persists after resetting and recalculating payroll.
Expenses remain missing from the payroll calculation after completing all checks above.
A deduction is not calculating correctly and the pay calculation configuration appears correct.
P11D or BIK data cannot be reconciled using the available reports.
Include the payroll frequency, the employee number, the exact error message and a screenshot of the relevant screen or report.