Tie-out tool / Semi-monthly payroll

Code TT with semi-monthly payroll

Build Code TT from workweeks, not pay periods. A workweek that straddles two semi-monthly periods is still one workweek, and its overtime belongs to the payday for the period in which the workweek ends.

The three rules

Each workweek stands alone. "[I]f an employee works 30 hours one week and 50 hours the next, he must receive overtime compensation for the overtime hours worked beyond the applicable maximum in the second week", whether paid "on a daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly or other basis." (29 CFR 778.104)
Overtime is paid with the period in which the workweek ends. "[O]vertime compensation earned in a particular workweek must be paid on the regular pay day for the period in which such workweek ends." (29 CFR 778.106)
Code TT follows the payday. The same timing that applies to wages for withholding decides when qualified overtime is paid. (IRS FS-2026-13, Q3)

Example: the pay period ending January 15, 2026

January 15, 2026 is a Thursday. With a Sunday workweek, the week of January 11 to 17 is cut in two: 5 days in the first period, 2 in the next. If the employee works 9 hours a day Monday to Friday, the first period shows 36 hours for that week and the second shows 9. Neither period shows more than 40, but the workweek has 45 hours worked and 5 overtime hours.

Where the register goes wrong

Overtime counted over 80 hours per biweekly period or 86.67 per semi-monthly period, instead of over 40 per workweek.
Overtime for a split week paid one period late, which matters only at year end.
The last workweek of 2026 (December 27 to January 2 with a Sunday start) paid in January 2027: that overtime belongs on the 2027 form.

In 2026, 21 of the 53 Sunday-start workweeks contain a semi-monthly boundary. See the 2026 workweek calendar.

Do the whole year from a file

Drop a timesheet CSV, paste the register overtime totals, and get a worksheet per employee with the reason for every difference.

Open the tie-out tool

Runs in your browser. Payroll data is never uploaded.

Questions

Can I compute overtime over 80 hours in a biweekly period?

Not for FLSA overtime, except under special plans such as the hospital 8-and-80 method. The standard is 40 hours per workweek, each week alone.

December overtime paid in January: which W-2?

The year it was paid. FS-2026-13, Q3 applies the wage timing rules for withholding.

Sources

Fetched 2026-11-10. Regulation text was checked against the federal annual edition; links open the current online version.

Updated 2026-11-10. Tickfoot is an information tool, not tax, legal or professional advice.