Create Salary Setups and Assign Staff to Payroll
Salary setups hold base salary only. Staff payroll assignments select named components for allowances, statutory deductions, loans, and other deductions.
For School administrators, Accountants. Updated 2026-08-02.
Overview
Salary setups provide the reusable base salary reference. Taxable allowances, non-taxable allowances, loan deductions, SSNIT, Tier 2, PAYE, and other payroll lines should be configured as pay components and then selected on the staff payroll assignment.
The assignment form keeps bank details, TIN, SSNIT number, payment method, effective date, and optional base override. The Allowances & Deductions section calculates gross pay, employee SSNIT, PAYE, employer SSNIT, total deductions, and net pay from the selected components.
Assigning a staff member who is already assigned updates their existing record instead of creating a duplicate.
Before you start
- Create at least one salary structure
- Create pay components for every allowance and deduction that should appear on staff payroll
Steps
- Open HR & Payroll > Salaries and select New salary setup
- Enter the salary setup name, code, and base salary only
- Open HR & Payroll > Staff payroll and select Assign staff
- Choose the staff member and salary setup
- Enter bank details, TIN, SSNIT number, payment method, and effective date
- Under Allowances & Deductions, add the named components that apply to that staff member
- Leave amount blank to use the component default; enter an amount only for a staff-specific override
- Review the calculated gross, SSNIT, PAYE, employer SSNIT, and net pay preview
- Save
Common problems
A staff member has no payroll assignment when running payroll
An assignment must exist and both the assignment and its salary setup must be Active; check both statuses before generating payroll.
The form does not ask for taxable allowance or recurring deduction totals
That is expected. Allowances and deductions are selected as named components so payroll can calculate and explain each line item.
A loan should deduct once only
Create the loan as a Deduction component with One-time next payroll only, then add it to the staff member. It will be removed from the staff assignment after payroll generation.