Calculate gross and net pay in a payroll
A payroll row is a useful place to practise arithmetic with cell references. Gross pay adds basic salary and allowances; total deductions add loan repayments and damages; net pay subtracts those deductions from gross pay.
Write the formulas for the first employee and fill them down. A formula keeps each row tied to its own input cells, so a changed allowance updates the answer without somebody having to recalculate it by hand.
In D2, work out gross pay, and in F2 net pay. Fill both down to row 6.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Employee | Basic | Transport | Other | Gross | Loan | Damages | Deductions | Net |
| 2 | Ada | 800 | 100 | 50 | 40 | 10 | |||
| 3 | Ben | 900 | 110 | 30 | 0 | 20 | |||
| 4 | Cleo | 750 | 80 | 20 | 25 | 0 | |||
| 5 | Dev | 1000 | 120 | 60 | 50 | 15 | |||
| 6 | |||||||||
| 7 | |||||||||
| 8 |
Click a cell and type. Enter commits, Tab moves right, F2 edits in place, Ctrl+Z undoes. Drag the small square at the corner of a cell to fill. Ctrl+Enter checks your answer.
Adapted from Excel Beginners Practice Lab by Muhammad Auwal Abdulaziz (MIT).