{
  "$comment": "Contract A4 PRACTICE items for the ashr-partner-l2 track, domain payroll-statutory-configuration. Published, for lesson quizzes and lab preparation. The secured theory exam is NOT drawn from this file. Every item cites the ASHR.work pages it is grounded in (`cites`) and the repo files the facts were read from (`sources`). No item quotes a price and no item carries customer data.",
  "track": "ashr-partner-l2",
  "domain": "payroll-statutory-configuration",
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "ashr-partner-l2.payroll-statutory-configuration.01",
      "kind": "mcq",
      "domain": "payroll-statutory-configuration",
      "stem": "Where are PF, ESI and Professional Tax configured, and what is there before you start?",
      "options": [
        {
          "key": "a",
          "text": "In each employee's profile, empty by default"
        },
        {
          "key": "b",
          "text": "In Payroll → Settings, with India statutory defaults pre-filled and each change saved with an effective date"
        },
        {
          "key": "c",
          "text": "In the Admin console under Branding"
        },
        {
          "key": "d",
          "text": "They cannot be changed from the defaults"
        }
      ],
      "answer_key": {
        "correct": [
          "b"
        ]
      },
      "max_points": 1,
      "rationale": "Statutory rates are tenant settings with Indian defaults, not hard-coded law.",
      "cites": [
        "https://ashr.work/help/payroll/payroll-salary-structures",
        "https://ashr.work/docs/explanation/payroll-engine-model"
      ],
      "sources": [
        "content/help/payroll/payroll-salary-structures.mdx",
        "components/payroll/payroll-settings-form.tsx",
        "content/docs/explanation/payroll-engine-model.mdx"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "ashr-partner-l2.payroll-statutory-configuration.02",
      "kind": "mcq",
      "domain": "payroll-statutory-configuration",
      "stem": "All of a customer's staff are taxed in Maharashtra. How do you set Professional Tax?",
      "options": [
        {
          "key": "a",
          "text": "Leave the flat default; PT is the same everywhere"
        },
        {
          "key": "b",
          "text": "In the PT slab editor on Payroll → Settings, pick the Maharashtra preset, verify the bands against the current state notification, and save with an effective date"
        },
        {
          "key": "c",
          "text": "Type each employee's PT into every run"
        },
        {
          "key": "d",
          "text": "Ask the customer's CA to file PT and skip it in payroll"
        }
      ],
      "answer_key": {
        "correct": [
          "b"
        ]
      },
      "max_points": 1,
      "rationale": "With no bands saved, the engine falls back to the flat monthly amount.",
      "cites": [
        "https://ashr.work/docs/explanation/payroll-engine-model"
      ],
      "sources": [
        "components/payroll/pt-slabs-editor.tsx",
        "lib/payroll/pt-defaults.ts",
        "lib/payroll/actions.ts"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "ashr-partner-l2.payroll-statutory-configuration.03",
      "kind": "mcq",
      "domain": "payroll-statutory-configuration",
      "stem": "A customer has staff taxed in Karnataka and in a second state. What is the accurate position on Professional Tax?",
      "options": [
        {
          "key": "a",
          "text": "Each employee can be given their own PT state in payroll settings"
        },
        {
          "key": "b",
          "text": "Payroll settings hold one PT slab table for the organisation, with no per-employee PT state; say so plainly, configure the state most staff are taxed in, and record how the other state's PT will be handled as an open item at handover"
        },
        {
          "key": "c",
          "text": "PT is skipped automatically for the second state"
        },
        {
          "key": "d",
          "text": "ASHR.work files PT in both states"
        }
      ],
      "answer_key": {
        "correct": [
          "b"
        ]
      },
      "max_points": 1,
      "rationale": "Multi-state PT is a specialist (L3 payroll) topic. An L2 implementer names the limit instead of improvising around it.",
      "cites": [
        "https://ashr.work/docs/explanation/payroll-engine-model"
      ],
      "sources": [
        "lib/payroll/actions.ts",
        "components/payroll/pt-slabs-editor.tsx"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "ashr-partner-l2.payroll-statutory-configuration.04",
      "kind": "mcq",
      "domain": "payroll-statutory-configuration",
      "stem": "The customer contributes PF on full Basic, above the statutory wage ceiling. What do you change?",
      "options": [
        {
          "key": "a",
          "text": "Nothing; the ceiling cannot be changed"
        },
        {
          "key": "b",
          "text": "In Payroll → Settings, switch the PF wage ceiling off (it is applied by default and is editable)"
        },
        {
          "key": "c",
          "text": "Raise every employee's Basic"
        },
        {
          "key": "d",
          "text": "Add the excess as a monthly bonus"
        }
      ],
      "answer_key": {
        "correct": [
          "b"
        ]
      },
      "max_points": 1,
      "rationale": "PF defaults to 12% of Basic with the 15,000 ceiling applied; both the rate and the ceiling are editable, and the ceiling can be switched off.",
      "cites": [
        "https://ashr.work/docs/explanation/payroll-engine-model"
      ],
      "sources": [
        "content/docs/explanation/payroll-engine-model.mdx",
        "components/payroll/payroll-settings-form.tsx"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "ashr-partner-l2.payroll-statutory-configuration.05",
      "kind": "mcq",
      "domain": "payroll-statutory-configuration",
      "stem": "What is the ESI default, and what happens near the threshold?",
      "options": [
        {
          "key": "a",
          "text": "ESI applies to everyone at 5%"
        },
        {
          "key": "b",
          "text": "Employee 0.75% and employer 3.25% while monthly gross is at or below the 21,000 threshold; when applicability changes or gross lands close to the threshold, the run flags it for a person to resolve"
        },
        {
          "key": "c",
          "text": "ESI must be calculated outside ASHR.work"
        },
        {
          "key": "d",
          "text": "ESI is decided automatically with no flags"
        }
      ],
      "answer_key": {
        "correct": [
          "b"
        ]
      },
      "max_points": 1,
      "rationale": "ESI eligibility is checked, never guessed.",
      "cites": [
        "https://ashr.work/docs/explanation/payroll-engine-model"
      ],
      "sources": [
        "content/docs/explanation/payroll-engine-model.mdx"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "ashr-partner-l2.payroll-statutory-configuration.06",
      "kind": "multi",
      "domain": "payroll-statutory-configuration",
      "stem": "Before switching TDS to automatic, what should you check? Select all that apply.",
      "options": [
        {
          "key": "a",
          "text": "PAN is on each employee's payroll page"
        },
        {
          "key": "b",
          "text": "The year's tax slabs match the current Finance Act"
        },
        {
          "key": "c",
          "text": "Declarations are recorded, since an employee with none is treated as new regime with no investments"
        },
        {
          "key": "d",
          "text": "The GSTIN on the billing profile"
        }
      ],
      "answer_key": {
        "correct": [
          "a",
          "b",
          "c"
        ]
      },
      "max_points": 2,
      "rationale": "Manual is the default TDS mode, switched from Payroll → Income tax; an explicit manual figure always overrides auto.",
      "cites": [
        "https://ashr.work/help/payroll/income-tax-and-tds"
      ],
      "sources": [
        "content/help/payroll/income-tax-and-tds.mdx"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "ashr-partner-l2.payroll-statutory-configuration.07",
      "kind": "mcq",
      "domain": "payroll-statutory-configuration",
      "stem": "The Union Budget changes the tax slabs. How do you update them?",
      "options": [
        {
          "key": "a",
          "text": "Edit the current year's slab table in place"
        },
        {
          "key": "b",
          "text": "Add the new financial year's version rather than editing the old one, so last year's payslips keep last year's tax"
        },
        {
          "key": "c",
          "text": "Wait for a product release"
        },
        {
          "key": "d",
          "text": "Change each employee's TDS by hand every month"
        }
      ],
      "answer_key": {
        "correct": [
          "b"
        ]
      },
      "max_points": 1,
      "rationale": "Slabs are data stored per financial year and regime.",
      "cites": [
        "https://ashr.work/help/payroll/income-tax-and-tds"
      ],
      "sources": [
        "content/help/payroll/income-tax-and-tds.mdx"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "ashr-partner-l2.payroll-statutory-configuration.08",
      "kind": "mcq",
      "domain": "payroll-statutory-configuration",
      "stem": "What does Process payroll do on a draft run?",
      "options": [
        {
          "key": "a",
          "text": "It pays employees"
        },
        {
          "key": "b",
          "text": "It computes every active employee's item and moves the run to Review, flagging anomalies such as a missing salary structure, missing bank details, a negative net (which blocks approval) or a net-pay swing over 25%; it can be re-run"
        },
        {
          "key": "c",
          "text": "It locks the run and releases payslips"
        },
        {
          "key": "d",
          "text": "It files the statutory returns"
        }
      ],
      "answer_key": {
        "correct": [
          "b"
        ]
      },
      "max_points": 1,
      "rationale": "A run moves draft → review → approved → paid → locked. Locking releases payslips and cannot be undone.",
      "cites": [
        "https://ashr.work/help/payroll/running-payroll-and-payslips",
        "https://ashr.work/docs/explanation/payroll-engine-model"
      ],
      "sources": [
        "content/help/payroll/running-payroll-and-payslips.mdx",
        "content/docs/explanation/payroll-engine-model.mdx"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "ashr-partner-l2.payroll-statutory-configuration.09",
      "kind": "scenario",
      "domain": "payroll-statutory-configuration",
      "stem": "You are configuring payroll for a synthetic 60-person company taxed in Karnataka, on a sandbox. Walk through the statutory configuration and how you take the first run to the point where the customer's payroll lead can review it.",
      "rubric": {
        "criteria": [
          "sets PF, ESI and PT in Payroll → Settings with an effective date, starting from the pre-filled India defaults",
          "chooses the Karnataka PT preset and says it must be verified against the current state notification",
          "decides the TDS mode (manual default or auto) and checks PAN, slabs and declarations before relying on auto",
          "assigns salary structures from annual CTC before processing",
          "processes the run to Review and reads the anomaly flags and statutory lines, and does not approve, mark paid or lock it",
          "states that statutory outputs are exports the customer or their CA files, not e-filings"
        ],
        "max_points": 6
      },
      "max_points": 6,
      "cites": [
        "https://ashr.work/docs/explanation/payroll-engine-model",
        "https://ashr.work/help/payroll/income-tax-and-tds",
        "https://ashr.work/help/payroll/running-payroll-and-payslips"
      ],
      "sources": [
        "content/docs/explanation/payroll-engine-model.mdx",
        "content/help/payroll/income-tax-and-tds.mdx",
        "content/help/payroll/running-payroll-and-payslips.mdx",
        "lib/payroll/pt-defaults.ts",
        "docs/parity-program/DECISIONS.md"
      ]
    }
  ]
}