This guide details the steps to integrate Tanda to Xero. You can use this guide as a checklist to configure a new integration to Xero, or to review an existing integration.
Xero Payroll Integration Checklist
Link your Xero account with Tanda
Ensure staff exist both in Tanda and Xero
Link payroll rules
Link allowances
Link leave types
Match your pay calendar in Xero to your pay period in Tanda
Link payroll tracking categories (optional)
Link Xero with Tanda
In Tanda, navigate to Settings > Integrations and click +New Payroll Integration
Enter your Xero login details*
Click Allow Access to enable your Xero integration
*if you are logged into Xero already, this step will be skipped automatically
Ensure staff exist in both Tanda and Xero
To import existing staff from Xero to Tanda:
In Tanda, navigate to Workforce > Staff and click + Add Staff
Select Bulk import from... > Xero to load a list of staff available for import
If there are employees listed that you don't want to import, click Don't Import to the right of the employee name
Click Import Staff to complete the staff import
What details are imported?
Tanda imports only the employee details that are required to use Tanda. This includes the employees email, leave balance, base hourly rate, date of birth (to automate the application of junior rates) and phone number (for SMS functionality).
Link award rules
If you use one of Tanda's Modern Award templates follow the steps below to sync your award rules to Xero. If you aren't using an Award template, skip ahead to 'How to sync custom award rules to Xero'.
To sync your Modern Award Template rules to Xero:
In Tanda, navigate to Settings > Integrations > Payroll Integrations > Edit Integration
Go to the Award Rules section and click on - Sync award rules with Xero Australia- as pictured below:
Tanda automatically creates pay items in your Xero account that match rules in Tanda - this includes allowances, as pictured below.
How to link custom award rules to Xero
Custom award rules are rules you have created yourself in Tanda. Each custom award rule needs to be connected to a pay item in Xero. If you haven't created any custom rules, skip this section.
To link your custom award rules to Xero pay items:
In Tanda, navigate to Compliance
In the Customise Your Setup section click Manage next to Custom award rules
Click into each award rule and scroll down to Link to your payroll system
In the Export name field select the Xero pay item that you want the Tanda rule to match to, as pictured below*
* Note: Tanda displays the active pay items from your Xero account so you can see exactly which pay items are available.
Link Allowances
If you use a Tanda Modern Award template, allowances in your award will have already synced with Xero when linking award rules in the above step. If you haven't created any additional allowances, you can skip this step.
For additional allowances you create, follow the below steps to link them to Xero pay items:
In Tanda, navigate to Compliance
In the Customise Your Setup section click Manage (next to Allowances)
Under export name you will see a list of options these are all the pay items from your Xero account. Just like your custom award rules you will need to make a selection to link this allowance to a pay item.
Link Leave types
Tanda accounts contain pre-configured leave types as pictured below. You can use these, or delete them and create your own.
To link each leave type to Xero:
In Tanda, navigate to Time & Attendance > Compliance > Leave Types and select the leave type you want to link to Xero
In Step 4. Advanced Settings select the corresponding Xero pay item from the list as pictured below:
Alternatively, do them all on one page via the integration. In Tanda, navigate to Settings > Integrations > Payroll Integrations > Edit Integration
Navigate to the Leave Types section and choose the corresponding export name for each leave type.
Note: The intended behavior in TANDA is to export only the leave hours as a leave request entry to Xero, without exporting the leave cost itself.
In TANDA, the equivalent of the loading is factored into the costing multiplier set against the leave type. This approach ensures accurate figures in timesheets and reporting.
Therefore, it is expected that the leave loading should be directly accounted for in Xero. For guidance on making an employee eligible for loading in Xero, you may refer to this help guide: https://central.xero.com/s/article/Pay-employees-leave-loading.
Linking Public Holiday leave types
Tanda uses the leave functionality to automatically pay permanent employees their ordinary hours on public holidays that they don't work. While Tanda leverages leave functionality for this process, it's best to link your automated 'Public Holiday Paid/Not Worked' leave type in Tanda to an ordinary earnings pay item in Xero rather than to a Xero leave type. This ensures you can report the earnings correctly as ordinary earnings for STP purposes.
Match your pay calendar in Xero to your pay period in Tanda
To ensure timesheets match the correct dates in Tanda and Xero, your Xero pay calendar will need to match your timesheet pay period in Tanda.
If you have multiple pay calendars. Match the pay calendar for each employee in Xero to the pay period assigned to the same employee in Tanda.
For more information on setting your pay calendar in Xero, see Xero's guide Add a pay calendar.
For more information on setting your pay period in Tanda, see Managing pay periods.
Link payroll tracking categories (optional)
If you use payroll tracking categories in Xero to report on wage costs by department, see Tracking Categories & Wages Expense Account to learn how integrate your tracking categories to Tanda.
FAQ's and Troubleshooting
Is Tanda or Xero the source of truth?
Xero payroll contains more information about an employee than is required in Tanda. For example, Tanda doesn't require information about an employees postal address, tax file number or superannuation (although you can choose to collect these initially using Tanda onboarding). For this reason, Xero is the source of truth for the employee record.
However, Tanda is the source of truth for the employee's Award classification and worked hours including break times.
Can you integrate multiple Xero files to a single Tanda account?
Yes. For more information, see Connecting multiple payroll files to Tanda.
Should you import staff to Xero or Tanda first?
For existing employees, import these from Xero to Tanda. If you are changing payroll systems to Xero, you should import your existing employees to Xero before importing them to Tanda.
For new employees, the fastest way to collect their required details and create their profile in Xero is using Tanda employee onboarding.
Can Tanda Modern Award templates link to multiple wage expense accounts?
To keep the integration and payroll simple, Modern Award templates link to one set of pay items in Xero. This single set of pay items will link to your default wage expense account. Allocating wages to multiple wage expense accounts in Xero requires duplication of award rules in Tanda and duplication of pay items in Xero by the number of wage expense accounts you wish to export to. Consider the below alternatives:
Using Xero tracking categories to report on wage expenses in Xero based on the team an employee works in, or;
Use Tanda to report costs by department or team
Why won't my template sync from Tanda to Xero (or why aren't there any pay items from Tanda in my Xero account)?
Usually the sync won't work between Tanda and Xero due to some issues with existing pay items in Xero. Ensure all the expense accounts are set up correctly and all the pay items are linked to active expense accounts (this includes inactive pay items).
Why can't I can't see some staff in the list of employees in my Xero Integration?
If some staff don't show on the Staff page inside your Xero integration.
It is probably because they don't have a default team setup in the profile, under the personal tab for the particular employee ensure this 'Default Payroll Team' field is filled in.
Then ensure this default team is in the list of teams your Xero integrations applies to, here:
Then your staff member will show in the list.