How do I track commissions and bonuses in TactStack?
Short answer
Tracking commissions and bonuses means tying paid deals or completed jobs to the person who earned credit for them, then rolling that up into a report you can trust at payout time. Set an owner field on every deal, calculate the earned amount from the closed value, and review the report before it goes anywhere near payroll.
Before you start
- A sales pipeline where every deal has a clear owner assigned.
- Your commission or bonus structure written down as a specific formula.
- A reporting view or dashboard that can filter by owner and by closed date.
- Agreement on how disputed or split deals get handled before the first payout.
Step by step
- 1
Write the commission formula down exactly
Turn your commission or bonus plan into a specific rule, such as a percentage of closed value or a flat amount per job type, with no ambiguity about edge cases.
A formula that lives only in someone's head gets applied differently every pay period.
- 2
Make sure every deal has an owner
Confirm the owner field is set on every deal in the pipeline, including ones passed between reps, so credit lands on the right person.
A commission report is only as accurate as the ownership data behind it.
- 3
Mark the moment a deal counts
Decide whether commission is earned at close, at payment, or at job completion, and use that stage or field consistently across every deal.
Paying commission too early creates clawback headaches when a deal falls through.
- 4
Build a report filtered by owner and date range
Create a reporting view that shows closed value per owner for the pay period, using the stage or tag that marks a deal as commissionable.
A single filtered view beats manually combing through the pipeline every payday.
- 5
Add the formula as a calculated field or note
Apply the commission percentage or bonus rule to the closed value so the report shows the payout amount, not just the raw deal total.
Showing the final number prevents math errors from creeping into payroll.
- 6
Flag split deals and exceptions separately
Tag any deal with more than one contributor or an unusual structure so it gets manually reviewed instead of running through the standard formula.
Split credit is the most common source of disputes at payout time.
- 7
Review the report with each rep before paying it out
Share the draft numbers with the team member ahead of payroll so any disagreement gets caught and resolved before the check goes out.
Catching a mistake before payday costs nothing; catching it after costs trust.
- 8
Archive each pay period's report
Save a copy of the finalized commission report for every pay period so past payouts can be checked against the pipeline later.
A saved record settles disputes months later without relying on memory.
What good looks like
- Commission and bonus payouts trace directly back to specific deals instead of guesswork.
- Reps can see exactly what they are owed before payday, reducing disputes.
- Split deals and exceptions get caught before payroll instead of after.
- Every past payout has a saved report behind it if questions come up later.
Common mistakes
The ways this goes wrong in team, and what to do instead.
Calculating commissions by hand outside the pipeline›
A spreadsheet built separately from the pipeline drifts out of sync the moment a deal gets edited or reassigned.
Do this instead: Build the commission report directly off the live pipeline data instead of a manual copy.
No agreed rule for split or disputed deals›
Without a written rule, every split deal turns into a one-off negotiation that slows down payroll and creates resentment.
Do this instead: Write the split and dispute rule down before the first payout, not after a conflict.
Paying commission before the deal is truly closed›
Counting a deal too early means paying out money you then have to claw back if it falls through or gets refunded.
Do this instead: Tie commission credit to the same stage every time, such as payment received.
Never sharing the report before payday›
Reps who only see their commission after the check is issued have no chance to flag an error before it becomes a payroll correction.
Do this instead: Send each rep their draft numbers a few days ahead of the pay date.
Frequently asked
6 questions about track commissions and bonusesRelated guides
Pick the next thing to set up, or back up a step if something here assumed work you have not done yet.
Do this next
The natural follow-on tasks once this one is working.
People usually get here from
Guides that lead into this one, in case you skipped a step.
More in Team
Nearby tasks that share the same setup and vocabulary.
Was this guide helpful?
Tell us what worked and what didn't. It shapes what we rewrite next.
You didn't get into business to be in the tech business.
Managed Tech clients hand this to us. We build it, test it, maintain it, and add to it as the business changes, so nobody on your team has to become the person who knows how the system works.