Partner Draws
The Partner Draws ledger is a first-class module for partnership principals on T5013. It records each partner's monthly (or ad-hoc) draw, computes YTD totals against a per-partner annual target, and hands you a T5013-friendly CSV for tax-season handoff to your tax-prep software.
Access: Admin only. Managers and employees don't see this page.
[Screenshot: Partner Draws ledger showing per-partner cards with YTD totals, headroom, and policy badges]
Who this is for
Firms with at least one partner drawing on a T5013 partnership. Draws are not T4 payroll. They are equity distributions on a partnership return, and the accounting treatment is completely different.
Hibiscus HR keeps draws in a separate ledger from payroll for exactly that reason: they don't flow into T4 XML, they don't accumulate CPP or EI, and they don't touch CRA remittance.
Setting up a partner
Every partner is an employee record with employment type set to Partner in Employees.
Two fields drive the ledger:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| annualDrawTarget | The partner's target draw for the fiscal year. Used to compute ratio-against-target and remaining headroom |
| SIN | Stored encrypted. Masked to ***-***-### on the T5013 CSV export |
Set the annual target once at the start of the fiscal year. Adjust mid-year if the partners agree to change the target.
Employees without employment type = Partner do not appear in the Partner Draws ledger.
Fiscal year
By default the ledger totals draws by calendar year. Firms on a non-calendar fiscal year (July, April, October, etc.) can override via Settings → Company → partnership_fiscal_year_start_month.
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
1 | Calendar year (Jan to Dec) — default |
4 | April to March fiscal year |
7 | July to June fiscal year |
10 | October to September fiscal year |
Every YTD total, ratio, and headroom calculation on this page is computed against the partnership fiscal year, not the calendar year.
Recording a draw
Click + Record Draw in the toolbar.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Partner | Select from partners on file |
| Draw Date | The date the draw was paid |
| Amount | Draw amount |
| Payment Method | Direct deposit, cheque, wire transfer, or other |
| Reference / Notes | Optional — cheque number, wire reference, etc. |
Click Save Draw. The ledger updates immediately. Every mutation (add, edit, delete) is audit-logged.
The per-partner card
Each partner has a card showing:
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Partner | Name and avatar |
| YTD Draws | Total draws in the current fiscal year |
| Annual Target | Their annualDrawTarget for the year |
| Ratio | YTD / target as a percentage |
| Remaining Headroom | Target minus YTD (dollar amount) |
| Draw Count | Number of draws recorded this fiscal year |
| First / Last Draw | Date of the first and most recent draw |
| Policy Status | Over-drawn / On-track / Under-drawn / No-target |
Click the card to open the full draw history for that partner.
Policy math
Two firm-level settings drive the policy status (from Settings → Payroll):
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| drawPolicyPct | 75 | Target-draw threshold |
| drawTolerancePct | 10 | Wiggle room around the policy line |
Status bands:
| Ratio (YTD / target) | Status | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| >= drawPolicyPct + drawTolerancePct | Over-drawn | Above policy — over the target for this point in the year |
| drawPolicyPct to drawPolicyPct + drawTolerancePct | On-track | At or above policy, within tolerance |
| drawPolicyPct - drawTolerancePct to drawPolicyPct | Under-drawn (watch) | Below policy, within tolerance |
| < drawPolicyPct - drawTolerancePct | Under-drawn | Materially below policy |
| No annualDrawTarget set | No-target | Set an annualDrawTarget on the partner profile |
With defaults, that means:
- Under 65% -> Under-drawn
- 65% to 75% -> Under-drawn (watch)
- 75% to 85% -> On-track
- Above 85% -> Over-drawn
Adjust the two settings to fit how your partnership actually thinks about draws.
Over-drawn partners feed the Partner Health widget on the Dashboard and the weekly Partner Health email digest.
Editing or deleting a draw
Open the partner's card, click any draw row, and choose Edit or Delete. Both are audit-logged with actor, timestamp, and reason.
Deletion is a soft delete — the row is retained for audit and can be recovered by support. This is deliberate: partner draw records are financial records, not casual data.
T5013-friendly CSV export
Click Export T5013 CSV in the toolbar. The file contains, per partner:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Partner name | Full legal name |
| SIN | Masked to ***-***-### |
| Total Draws (fiscal year) | Sum of draws in the fiscal year |
| Draw Count | Number of draws |
| First Draw Date | Earliest draw in the year |
| Last Draw Date | Most recent draw in the year |
| Fiscal Year Start | Start date of the current fiscal year |
| Fiscal Year End | End date of the current fiscal year |
Hand this file to your tax-prep software (or your accountant) for T5013 slip preparation. The file imports cleanly into:
- TaxCycle
- CCH iFirm
- ProFile
- ProTax
The CSV is not a T5013 slip itself — it's the source data your tax-prep tool uses to build the slip. Hibiscus HR doesn't generate T5013 XML.
Tip: Export the CSV at fiscal year-end, then again if partners make adjustments before slips are filed. The CSV is regenerable at any point in the year.
Audit log
Every add, edit, and delete on the partner-draw ledger is captured in an audit log. Access from Compliance → Audit (admin only). Each entry records actor (which admin), timestamp, old value, new value, and reason if one was entered.
What Partner Draws does NOT do
To keep the data model clean:
- Not T4 payroll. Draws don't run through payroll. They don't accumulate CPP, EI, or income tax. They don't appear in Payroll YTD or on T4 XML.
- Not a bank file generator. The CPA-005 EFT flow is for T4 payroll only. Draws are paid outside Hibiscus HR (through your bank's business online banking).
- Not a general ledger. Draws are recorded here; posting them to your firm's QuickBooks / Xero / Sage GL is your accountant's move.
- Not T5013 filing. Hibiscus HR exports the source data; the slip and the return are prepared in your tax-prep software.
Partner Draws and the Dashboard
Partners over policy surface on the Partner Health widget on the Dashboard. Admins also receive the weekly Partner Health email digest surfacing over-drawn partners. The digest is skipped entirely when nothing is off-policy. Manual trigger endpoint: POST /api/partner-draws/scan-alerts.