This article is intended to close the 2025 year, in preparation for 2026 payrolls.

Year-End Checklist

Renewed your license for 2026
Reviewed accruals (Employee Year-to-Date Report and opening balances)
Reviewed your accruals if they reset at year-end
Processed all payrolls for 2025
Reviewed Employee Information (name, social security number (SSN)/social insurance number (SIN), address, etc.)
Reviewed Company Information (name, address, RCT #/EIN, etc.)
(Canada only) Review your employer (EI) rate (Payroll > Admin Settings > User-Defined Fields > "Employment Insurance (EI)" > "EI Group - Business Numbers")
Make a backup of your company data (Configuration > Tools > Company Backup)
Ensure that no other users are logged into Harmony at the time of your year-end process

If you are experiencing any difficulty, please email us at support@paymatesoftware.com with your customer ID, a brief description of your issue, and any screenshots that may help us resolve your issue. We are open Mondays through Fridays, 9am to 5pm (EST).

Closing Off Your Current Year

When you log into Harmony, ensure that you select the correct data year ("2025"). This is the year you would like to close.
Navigate to Payroll > Year End.
The steps to close off your year are laid out at the top of the page. Read the details of the process before clicking the arrow to proceed to the next step by clicking "Next >".
Note: Not all steps may apply to you, and Harmony will automatically skip the steps that do not apply.
1. Step 1 - Year-End Information: Read the details of the process before clicking the arrow to proceed to the next step by clicking "Next >".
2. Step 2 - Closing an Older Year (Year-End Prerequisite #1): This step will only occur if the current and next year have already been closed, and are attempting to close it again. You cannot close a previous year. If this does not apply to you, the system will skip this step automatically.
3. Step 3 - Closing the Year Again (Year-End Prerequisite #2): This step will only occur if you have already closed the current year once and are attempting to close it again, even though there is data in the new year. The system will ask you if you would like to close this year again. This will impact the data that you already have in the new year. If this does not apply to you, the system will skip this step automatically. If you would like to continue, type the prompted text (“CLOSE AGAIN”) into the field and click “Next >”.
4. Step 4 - Open/Unlocked Paycards (Year-End Prerequisite #3): This step will only occur if you have open/unlocked/unposted paycards in the current year that you’re trying to close. You may cancel the year-end process to close those paycards, or you may close anyway. If this does not apply to you, the system will skip this step automatically. If you would like to continue, type the prompted text (“CLOSE ANYWAY”) into the field and click “Next >”.
5. Step 5 - Accrual Balances: This step will only occur if you have accrual payroll categories that are supposed to reset at the end of the year. Select the payroll categories that you’d like to reset to zero for next year, then proceed to the next step by clicking "Next >".
  Note: If your deduction and accrual payroll categories do not have “Reset at Year End” checked, they will not appear in this list. Their values will automatically carry over to the next year.
6. Step 6 - Minimums & Maximums: This step will only occur if you have payroll categories (other than accruals) which have a minimum or maximum. The values for the employee and employer maximums and minimums are automatically entered. However, you can overwrite this value for year-end if needed. To do so, navigate to Payroll Setup > Payroll Categories, change these values, then return to this page. Once this is complete, proceed to the next step by clicking "Next >".
  Note: Workers' compensation maximums for Canadian provinces and territories will automatically be updated when you update your tax tables for the new year.
7. Step 7 - Closing the Year Again: This step will only occur if you have already closed the current year once and are attempting to close it again, even though there is data in the new year. The system will ask you if you would like to close this year again. This will impact the data that you already have in the new year. If this does not apply to you, the system will skip this step automatically. If you would like to continue, type the prompted text (“OVERWRITE 2026”) into the field and click “Next >”.
8. Step 8 & 9 - Backup: A backup of your data is strongly recommended. Click the “Backup” button. Click "Next >".
9. Step 10 - Remove Inactive Payroll Categories: If you have some payroll categories that will no longer be used in the new year, you may remove from employees during the year-end process. If the payroll category status is inactive, then it will be removed from all employees. Click “Next >”.
10. Step 11 - Final Steps: Harmony will prompt you to type in “CLOSE 2025” (the year you are closing). Enter this into the required field.
Once you’ve typed in the prompted text, click the “Process” button, and then “OK”. Harmony will automatically log you out of the system.
Log back into Harmony with the new data year ("2026"). This will be the year that you will begin processing payroll for after closing the year.

Review Your Holiday Calendars (optional)

This step is only required if you are using Harmony's Statutory Holiday Pay payroll category type or if you're using Harmony's Time & Attendance or Human Resources module with absence management. If you are not using this type of payroll category or the other modules, you can ignore this step. Pay special attention to the holidays that are not the same date each year, such as Good Friday or Thanksgiving Day.

Once you've logged into Harmony with the new data year, navigate to Configuration > Setup > Holiday Calendars.
Select your holiday calendar.
Review each holiday in the calendar to ensure that the dates are correct.
Click the save icon to save your changes if any changes were made.
Return to your list of holiday calendars and repeat steps 2 through 4 for each holiday calendar.

Review Your Payroll Groups and Pay Calendars

Once you’ve logged into Harmony with the new data year, navigate to Payroll Setup > Payroll Groups.
Select a payroll group.
Review the pay calendar to ensure that the pay periods and pay dates are correct.
1. If your pay frequency is 'weekly', you may have 52 or 53 pay periods this year. Be sure to update the pay frequency if you have a different number of pay periods this year.
2. If your pay frequency is 'bi-weekly', you may have 26 or 27 pay periods this year. Be sure to update the pay frequency if you have a different number of pay periods this year.
Click the save icon at the top-right of the page to save your changes.
Return to your list of payroll groups and repeat steps 2 through 4 for each payroll group you have.

Review Your Payroll Categories

You may want to review and update your payroll categories, such as the rates or maximums for payroll taxes. Note: If you have any payroll categories that are scripted with a maximum, please review and revise as required.

Navigate to Payroll > Payroll Setup > Payroll Categories.
Select a payroll category using the three (3) dots button.
Update the rates or maximums as required.
Click the save button to save your changes.
Return to your list of payroll categories and repeat steps 2 through 4 for each payroll category.

Review Your Employees' Taxation Information

Navigate to Payroll > Payroll Employees > Employee List.
Select an employee using the three (3) dots button.
At the bottom of the employee’s profile, navigate to the “Federal Tax” tab.
If you have any additional tax credits, it will be listed here. Make any changes as required.
Note: Additional tax credits will not carry forward from the previous year.
Click the save button to save your changes.
Return to your list of employees and repeat steps 2 through 5 for each employee, as well as the provincial/state/territory tax tabs.

Update Your Tax Tables

Navigate to Payroll > Admin Settings > Payroll Preferences.
Navigate to the ‘Tax Table Version’ tab.
Click “Upgrade” to update your tax tables.
Click “OK” after reading the warning message. You will automatically be logged out, but you may log back in to view the new tax tables.