API Payroll

The payroll actions process pay runs and read them back. add_payroll sends pay lines from your software, such as award-interpreted hours, and Microkeeper calculates the rest of the pay run: super, tax, leave, and its own pay rules. get_payrun_list and get_payroll return pay runs and payslips, for reports or to show staff their pay.

This guide covers how to:

1. Process a pay run.
2. Send payments, expenses and deductions.
3. Get a list of pay runs.
4. Get payslips.

Before you start, make your keys and test your connection: see Microkeeper API.

Process a pay run with add_payroll

add_payroll works like clicking the pay run button in Microkeeper, with your pay lines added. For each employee in the pay run, Microkeeper:

1. Pays their timesheets through the business's pay rules, and pays salaried staff their salary.
2. Adds your payments.
3. Works out super from the payments and their classes.
4. Adds the business's expense and deduction rules, then your expenses and deductions.
5. Works out tax and leave.

The pay run is left open. The business reviews it, then locks it and lodges STP in Microkeeper: see Processing a Pay Run.

add_payroll processes the account's main pay cycle: PCID 0 in get_payroll. Pay runs for the business's other pay cycles are processed in Microkeeper.

Example

{
  "config": {
    "start_date": "2026-11-30",
    "end_date": "2026-12-06",
    "payment_date": "2026-12-10",
    "period": "weekly"
  },
  "pay_list": [
    { "eusername": "noah_reid", "note": "Ordinary Hours", "rate": "30", "hours": "30.5", "mult": "1", "class": "normal", "LID": 14227, "JID": 1100 },
    { "eusername": "noah_reid", "note": "Saturday", "rate": "30", "hours": "8", "mult": "1.5", "class": "normal", "date": "2026-12-05" },
    { "eusername": "noah_reid", "note": "Annual Leave", "rate": "30", "hours": "7.6", "mult": "1", "class": "normal" },
    { "eusername": "noah_reid", "note": "Laundry Allowance", "rate": "1.25", "hours": "5", "mult": "1", "class": "allowance" }
  ],
  "exp_list": [
    { "eusername": "noah_reid", "note": "Salary Sacrifice Super", "rate": "50", "mult": "1", "class": "super" }
  ],
  "ded_list": [
    { "eusername": "noah_reid", "note": "Union Fees", "rate": "5", "mult": "1", "class": "fees" }
  ]
}

config fields

payment_date, period and runs_in_year are saved the first time a pay run is processed. To change the payment date later, change it in Microkeeper.

Response

{ "success":"1", "authenticated":"1", "message":"Payrun processed", "data": {"year":"2026","run_id":"23","calc_duration":0.84,"total":{"payment":1381.25,"expense":50,"deduction":5}} }

Processing a pay run again

Send the same period again to process the pay run again, such as after fixing a pay line. Your new lines replace the ones you sent before, and Microkeeper calculates again. Lines a manager added to a payslip in Microkeeper are kept.

Once a pay run is locked, it can't be processed again through the API. If it needs to change, the business unlocks it in Microkeeper first; download the payslips before then if staff have been paid.

Send payments, expenses and deductions

Each line needs the employee, as eusername, EID or EmployeeID, and a note. Use eusername or EID for expenses and deductions. Every employee you send must be active.

Send award-interpreted lines: what each employee is paid, not their raw hours. Microkeeper adds super, so don't send it as a payment.

Payments: pay_list

A line is rate x hours x mult, rounded to the cent. A $100 bonus is "rate":"100" with no hours.

For how each class is taxed and reported, see the Payments Classification Chart.

Paying leave

To pay leave and take it from the employee's balance, start the note with the leave type's name, and use the normal class:

The business's own leave types, such as a wellbeing day, work the same way: start the note with the type's Leave Tracking name, which the business finds in Menu > Settings > General > Global > Entitlement Settings > Configure Leave Types. The type must be active and build up a balance. For leave that has no balance, such as Unpaid Leave or Jury Duty Leave, the note is just the payslip description. See Leave Configuration.

The leave_accrual on each payslip in get_payroll shows every leave type that builds up a balance, the business's own included, by its key.

Anything after a hyphen is ignored, so Annual Leave-Restaurant Service counts as Annual Leave. Pay annual leave loading as a separate line whose note doesn't start with a leave name, such as "note":"Leave Loading","hours":"7.6","mult":"0.175": class bonus if the award's loading attracts super, extra if not. Leave accruals are worked out by Microkeeper from the hours paid.

Expenses: exp_list

Expenses come out of the employee's taxable pay, such as salary sacrifice.

Deductions: ded_list

Deductions come out of the employee's pay after tax.

Expense and deduction lines of 0 are skipped.

Errors

An error stops the request, and the pay run isn't changed. Line numbers count from 0.

Get a list of pay runs with get_payrun_list

get_payrun_list returns pay runs with each payslip's totals and leave balances, without the pay lines, so it's quick. Use it to list an employee's payslips, or to find a pay run's PCID, year and run_id.

Send a range of payment dates, of up to 365 days, and optionally some staff:

{"start_date":"2026-06-01","end_date":"2026-06-30","eusername":["ava_patel"]}

Or send pay runs by ID, as below. The staff filters are eusername, EID and EmployeeID, each as a list; staff matching any of them are returned.

Response

{
  "success": "1",
  "authenticated": "1",
  "message": "Payrun data",
  "data": {
    "runs": [
      {
        "run_data": {
          "pay_cycle_title": "Melbourne Weekly",
          "abn": "51824753556",
          "abn_name": "Southern Cross Hospitality Pty Ltd",
          "abn_trading": "Melbourne Restaurant",
          "PCID": "0",
          "year": "2025",
          "run_id": "49",
          "payment_date": "2026-06-11",
          "wip": "1",
          "period": "weekly",
          "day": "monday",
          "unlocked": "0",
          "done": 1,
          "period_start": "2026-06-01",
          "period_end": "2026-06-07"
        },
        "payslips": [
          {
            "eusername": "ava_patel",
            "payment": "850.46",
            "expense": "91.12",
            "taxable": "759.34",
            "deduction": "0.00",
            "tax": "79.00",
            "net": "680.34",
            "hours": 19.5,
            "annual": "0",
            "sick": "0",
            "rdo": "0",
            "lsl": "0.325",
            "annual_net": "680.34",
            "annual_tax": "79.00",
            "annual_gross": "759.34",
            "EID": "53613",
            "EmployeeID": null,
            "super_fund": "8",
            "super_no": "500000001",
            "leave_accrual": {
              "al": { "accrual_amount": "0", "accrual_bal": "0" },
              "sick": { "accrual_amount": "0", "accrual_bal": "0" },
              "lsl": { "accrual_amount": "0.325", "accrual_bal": "0.325" }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "super_fund_detail": {
      "8": { "name": "AustralianSuper", "ABN": "65714394898", "USI": "STA0100AU", "open": "1" }
    }
  }
}

run_data

payslips

super_fund_detail describes each fund, keyed by its ID: its name, ABN, USI, and open ("1" if it accepts contributions). A self-managed fund has no USI: use its ABN.

Get payslips with get_payroll

get_payroll returns the same as get_payrun_list, with every payslip's pay lines. Send payment dates, as above, or the pay runs you want by ID:

{"payrun_id":[{"PCID":0,"year":2025,"run_id":49},{"PCID":0,"year":2025,"run_id":50}],"eusername":["ava_patel"]}

Each payslip also has these lists, when it has lines in them:

pay_list

{ "ESBDID": "279247", "note": "Casual Ordinary", "date": "0000-00-00", "LID": "14227", "ROID": "681", "JID": "1100", "rate": "25.85", "hours": "4", "mult": "1.25", "value": "129.25", "class": "FALSE", "STP": "" }

value is the line's total. STP is blank when the employee's own STP Category is used. class is a code:

exp_list and ded_list

{ "ESNTDID": "88412", "note": "Super", "rate": "12.000", "mult": "1", "value": "91.12", "class": "SUPER3" }

Each line has its ID (ESNTDID for expenses, ESDID for deductions), note, rate, mult, value and class. For super, rate is the percentage.

Errors

• Payroll API - missing field either start_date or end_date: send dates or payrun_id.
• A maximum of 365 days can be selected
• The payrun_id must be an object, The payrun_id must include PCID, year and run_id: send a list, each with all three.
• There are no users found with the supplied EID, eusername or EmployeeID
• There are no payruns between the supplied dates or supplied payrun_id ids
• Processing of payrun (0/2026/23) is not finished yet: try again in a minute.
• There are no payslips in any of the selected payruns