Xero User Permissions

First of all there are some pre-requisites for being able to access Xero Payroll

They are:

• You must have Payroll Admin access
• You must have two factor authentication enabled

If you already process payroll for your business, you will already have these

Where does Xero find out what dates are public holidays?

Xero public holidays are based on an automatically updated preset list.

You can see this list by following the steps below

1. Click your organisation name in the top left
2. Click on Settings
3. On the right hand side under "Features" click on "Payroll Settings"
4. Now you are on the Payroll Settings page click on "Holidays"
5. The list shown will be all of the public holidays that Xero has pre-populated - if you want to see the holidays for your particular state simply click the state name in the left hand menu

Since this list is Automatically updated there is very little reason to change any of the dates or days listed here

Setting Up Your Employees

When you set up a new employee there is a setting that needs to be configured to ensure that Public Holidays are considered when payroll is processed

To check if you have this setting turned on you can do the following:

1. Click on "Payroll" then click on "Employees"
2. Click on any employees name
3. Click on the "Employment" Tab
4. Scroll down to the drop down list "Holiday Group" from this list you want to select the state where the holidays apply
5. OPTIONAL: If you also want the holiday names to show on the payslips tick the button that says "Include Holidays in Payslips"
6. Click Save

Thats it - now any time you run a payrun that has a public holiday within the period Xero will consider it, and if you have "Include Holidays in Payslips" turned on it will also display it on the payslip

We recommend turning on "Include Holidays in Payslips" as it is much clearer what days are being paid as public holidays vs not

Processing Payroll With a Public Holiday

Provided that you have followed the steps above - payroll processing should be a breeze!

Simply run your Payrun like you normally would, if you do not have include holidays in payslips turned on Xero Payroll will simply include the equivalent hours for the public holiday in ordinary hours for any full time employees.

For part time employees ensure that you adjust the hours appropriately if necessary as Xero will apportion the hours based on the employees pay template.

This is one of the reasons we recommend turning on "Include Holidays in Payslips" as it is much clearer for the person processing payroll - and for the employee to see the hours that are being paid for the days.

TLDR

We have a loom video available here that outlines everything above in under 5 minutes

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