A flexible benefits plan (FBP) means customizing the salary breakup of the employees to achieve maximum tax benefits. Under a flexible arrangement, an organization allocates a specified amount to each employee to avail of benefits. The employees can also select HRA as part of their FBP.

The FBP Planner page in the greytHR Admin portal allows you to create and release the FBP plan. The page displays the Create & Release, View Plan, Release, Lock/Consider, and Considered Plans tabs.

To view the FBP Planner page, click Payroll > Admin > FBP Planner.

You can perform the following actions on the FBP Planner page:

Create and release a new FBP plan.
View FBP plans.
Release FBP plan for declaration.
Consider the FBP plan of the employee.
View the plan history of an employee.
Edit a considered plan.

Create and release a new FBP plan

The Create & Release tab allows you to create a new FBP plan for the employees. To create and release an FBP plan, perform the following actions:

On the FBP Planner page, click Create & Release tab. The list of employees appears.
Using the FBP Status, Employee, and Joining Date filters, customize the employee list.
Select the employees from the list using the checkbox.
Click Create Plan button to create a new FBP plan. You can also click Create & Release plan to release the plan to employees for declaration.
Note: The Create Plan button allows you to create a new plan on behalf of the employee. The employee doesn't get an option to declare the plan in their ESS portal. The Create & Release button allows you to create a plan and release it to the employee's ESS portal. The employee gets the option to declare the plan from their portal.

You can also release the specific component of FBP by selecting the Enable FBP Item-wise release option. To enable the item-wise release, perform the following actions:

From the greytHR Admin portal, navigate to the Settings icon > System Settings > Miscellaneous > Advanced Options. The Advance Options page opens.
From the Section dropdown list, select the FBP option.
From the Search box, search and select the Enable FBP Item-wise release option.
Click Save to enable the item-wise FBP release.

View FBP plans

The View Plan tab displays the list of employees for whom a plan is created appears. To view the FBP plans, perform the following actions:

On the FBP Planner page, click the View Plan tab. The list of employees appears for whom a plan is available.
To view the history of the FBP plan created for the employee, click the View icon available in the View column. The FBP History pop-up appears.
From the Plan dropdown list, select the required plan year. The selected year's plan appears.

Note: You can delete the plan of the selected employee from the View Plan tab by clicking the Delete Plan button.

Release FBP plan for declaration

The Release tab displays the list of employees for whom you have already released the FBP plan from the Create & Release tab. The tab also lets you release the plan for a declaration to the employees.

To release the plan for declaration, perform the following actions:

On the FBP Planner page, click the Release tab. The list of employees appears for whom the plan is available.
Using the Employee and Status dropdown filters, customize the employee list.
Select the employees from the list using the checkbox.
Click Release for Declaration button to release the plan of selected employees.

Note: You can also delete the plan of the selected employee from the Release tab by clicking the Delete Plan button.

As an admin, you have the option to restrict the declaration of lesser value than the previous declarations in the same Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF) year. However, the same is allowed in the next VPF year. Once you restrict the declaration, the employee cannot declare a lesser value than the previous year.
To restrict the declaration of lesser value, perform the following actions:

From the greytHR Admin portal, navigate to the Settings icon > System Settings > Payroll > FBP Policy. The FBP Policy page opens.
Click the Edit Policy icon on created policy. The list of existing FBP components appears, such as FBP Fuel, FBP LTA, FBP Medical, and FBP Telephone.
Click the required component and select the Value should not be less than the previous declaration option.
From the Change over month dropdown list, select the required month.
Click Save to restrict the declaration of lesser value.

Consider the employees' FBP plan

The Lock/Consider tab displays the list of employees who have submitted the FBP plan. The tab allows you to consider the employees' plans.

To consider the employees' plan, perform the following actions:

On the FBP Planner page, click the Lock/Consider tab. The list of employees appears.
From the Employee dropdown search box, search for the employee if you want to consider a plan for a single employee.
You can also select multiple employees from the list using the checkbox.
Click the Lock and Consider for payroll button to consider the FBP plan of the selected employees for payroll.
Note: Once the FBP declaration is locked and considered, the employee cannot submit the declaration.

View the plan history of an employee

The Considered Plans tab displays the list of employees whose plan is considered for the payroll. The tab allows you to view history, edit a plan, or delete the plan of a selected employee.

To view the plan history of an employee, perform the following actions:

On the FBP Planner page, click the Considered Plans tab. The list of employees appears whose plan is considered for payroll.
Click the View icon available in the View column for the required employee. The FBP History pop-up appears.
On the pop-up, from the Plan dropdown list, select the required plan year. The selected year plan appears.

Edit a considered plan

To edit a considered FBP plan, perform the following actions:

On the FBP Planner page, click the Considered Plans tab. The list of employees appears whose plan is considered for payroll.
Click the Edit icon available in the Edit column for the required employee. The FBP Edit pop-up appears and displays FBP Item, Limit, Full Allocation, Comments, Declared by Employees, and Annual Values details.
In the pop-up, double-click the cell under the Full Allocation column to enter the new amount of the component.
Note: This step is necessary if you want to modify the FBP plan declared by the employee. You can modify the full allocation value on behalf of the employee.
Click Save to save the changes. A success message appears.

Note: You can also delete the plan by clicking the Delete icon available under the Delete column. After deleting the plan from the Considered Plan tab, ensure to delete the plan from the View Plan tab also. If you do not perform this action, you will be unable to re-release the employee's FBP plan.

Exclude specific FBP components

You can exclude specific FBP components from the special allowance computation. The exclusion of the FBP component will help you in collecting the declarations of non-CTC items without disturbing the existing declarations.

To exclude a specific FBP component, perform the following actions:

From your greytHR Admin portal, navigate to the Payroll > Setup > Payroll Repository. The Payroll Repository page opens.
From the Search Component dropdown list or search box, search or select the required FBP component.
Click the Agent Info tab. A form appears.
Under the Output Type section, select the Exclude from Special Allowance calculation option using the check box.
Click the Save Changes button to exclude the selected component from the special allowance components.

Other related links:

Was this article helpful?

More resources:

▶ Video - Watch our how-to videos to learn more about greytHR.

❓ FAQs - Solve your queries using FAQs.

📢 Product Update - Read about the product updates.