Introduction to handling remaining vacation

This article describes the process for handling remaining vacation when the vacation year changes.

The process involves carrying over, paying out, or deleting remaining days.
Processed remaining vacation (carried over, deleted, or paid out) is used in several places in the system:
- in the calculation of the vacation balance
- in the report: Vacation – Remaining vacation – per selected month
- in the report: Vacation – Balance log
- in the employee’s calendar → View history

This article only describes how the process is carried out (Payroll Admin → Vacation left transfer). The mentioned reports show the result of the process.

Please note that remaining vacation can only be processed once the vacation year has ended.

An employee’s remaining vacation is sent for processing when a vacation year changes and is therefore dependent on the specific country’s holiday legislation, vacation year, and setup. See the relevant country-specific articles for more details.

Handling methods for remaining vacation at the end of the vacation year

Remaining vacation can be handled in three ways:

Carry over remaining vacation
Pay out remaining vacation
Delete remaining vacation

All carried-over and paid-out remaining days are recorded in the log:

Vacation balance → View history
Report → Vacation – Balance log
Report → Remaining vacation per selected month

1. Carry over remaining vacation

Remaining vacation is transferred to the next vacation period.

The employee retains their remaining days
The balance is added to the employee’s opening balance in the next period

2. Pay out remaining vacation

Remaining vacation is paid out via the payroll system.

The system first transfers the remaining days to the new vacation year
The payout reduces the balance and automatically sends the days for payment

3. Delete remaining vacation

Remaining vacation expires at the end of the period.

Days are automatically deleted
The employee loses the remaining days

How to process remaining vacation

As a Payroll Admin, you can handle remaining vacation under Payroll Admin → Vacation left transfer:

Select the employee(s) with remaining vacation to be processed
Click Process selected users
Choose the method for handling remaining vacation:
1. Delete
2. Pay out
  Enter the number of days to be paid out
3. Carry over to next period
  Enter the number of days to be carried over to the next period
Click Execute

Example: Payout of remaining vacation days

If you choose to pay out an employee’s remaining vacation and set a maximum of 5 days, the following happens:

The employee’s remaining vacation is paid out with a maximum of 5 days – if the employee has fewer than 5 days remaining, the full remaining amount is paid out
If the employee has more than 5 remaining vacation days, the excess days are automatically deleted
The employee’s balance is reduced using the Pay out method
Days reduced via payout are sent to the payroll file and can be transferred directly to your payroll system

FAQ

I mistakenly carried over too many remaining vacation days – what should I do?

If too many vacation days have been carried over during remaining vacation processing, the balance can be corrected manually via Calendar access by reducing the excess days.

Identify incorrect transfers
Go to:
HR Statistics → Report library → Vacation → Balance log
- Select Type = Transferred
- Select the start date of the new vacation period (e.g. 1/1)
Transferred vacation days are always registered with the start date of the new period – even if the transfer was made later.

Export the report to Excel to get an overview of affected employees.
Correct the vacation balance
Go to:
Payroll Admin → Calendar access

For each affected employee:
- Open the employee’s calendar
- Click Decrease on the vacation balance
- Reduce the number of days that were transferred in excess
- Add a note (e.g. “Incorrect transfer – manually corrected”)
The note is saved in View history and also appears in the balance log as documentation.

When the adjustment is saved, the vacation balance is automatically updated to the correct number of days.

Tip:
Use Calendar access only to make manual corrections for affected employees.
Use Balance log or View history for documentation of changes.

Can I transfer remaining vacation days more than once?

No. Remaining vacation can only be processed once per vacation period.

Once the remaining vacation has been processed (carried over, paid out, or deleted), the days are removed from the remaining vacation list and cannot be processed again.

How are employees handled if both carryover and payout of remaining vacation are required?

If an employee needs both carryover and payout of remaining vacation days, you should first carry over the total number of remaining days.

This means you carry over both:

the days to be retained
and the days that will later be paid out

After that, handle the payout manually:

Pay out the number of days that should not be carried over
The balance is reduced accordingly after the payout

The order is important: Always carry over first – then process the payout.

Why can’t I process remaining vacation?

This is typically due to one of the following reasons:

There is no remaining vacation to process
The remaining vacation has already been processed (carried over, paid out, or deleted)
The vacation year has not yet ended
You do not have the necessary permissions

Remaining vacation can only be processed once per employee per vacation period.

Why is an employee not shown in the vacation left transfer?

If an employee does not appear in the remaining vacation transfer, it is typically due to one of the following reasons:

The employee had no remaining vacation days at the end of the vacation year
The employee is assigned to a different vacation period
Manual adjustments have been made to the balance
Changes have been made to the policy after the period change

To investigate further, you should check the employee’s balance and history:

Go to: Payroll Admin → Calendar access → Open employee → Click “View history” under the vacation balance

In the history, you can see:

balance at the time of the period change
transferred days
all transactions

Calendar access is the primary place to investigate why an employee is not included in the remaining vacation transfer.

Remaining vacation days