Payroll is a special way to upload salary payments. It keeps individual salaries private in two places:

• Inside Atlar. Only people with payroll access can see who was paid and how much. Everyone else sees only the batch total and the number of payments.
• On your bank statement. Atlar asks your bank to book the whole payroll as one debit for the total, instead of one line per employee.

How it works

1. Prepare your file. Export salaries from your payroll system into Atlar's CSV format. There's an example file on the upload page. Each row is one employee's payment.
2. Upload through Payroll. Go to Credit Transfer Batches → Payroll (top right corner). Don't use the regular "Credit transfer batch" upload. The payroll label can't be added after the batch is created. If you upload salaries the regular way by mistake, reject that batch and upload it again through Payroll.
3. Atlar checks the file. Every row must use the same account you pay from, the same payment date, the same currency and the same payment method. Otherwise the whole file is rejected, with a message saying what differs. If you pay salaries in two currencies or on two dates, upload one file for each.
4. Approve. Payroll follows your approval chains. To give payroll its own approvers, add an approval chain with the condition Payment purpose is Payroll. A payroll chain adds approvers on top of your existing chains; it doesn't replace them. Approvers don't need payroll access: they can approve the batch without seeing individual salaries.
5. Atlar sends it all at once. Nothing goes to the bank while any payment is still waiting for approval. When approvals are done, the whole file is sent together. If you reject individual payments, the rest are still sent.
6. The bank pays and books the total. When the bank statement shows a debit that exactly matches the payroll total, Atlar matches it automatically and marks the payments as Executed.

Who can see salaries

• Payroll Read permission: can see individual salary payments.
• Payroll Create permission: can upload payroll files.
• Everyone else: sees the batch total and count only. They can still approve if they're an approver.
• Owner role (or any role with full access): always sees salaries.

To grant access: Roles → edit role → Switch to advanced setup → Payroll. It doesn't appear in the simple setup.

Good to know

• The single bank statement line is a request, not a guarantee. It depends on your bank. This is why you must run a penny test first.
• Large payrolls may be split. Each bank connection has a maximum number of payments per file. Above that limit, you'll see several debit lines.
• Leave "Process valid payments; skip errors" off. With it on, employees whose rows have errors simply don't get paid in this run.
• Rejected or returned payments break the automatic match. The debit no longer equals the payroll total, so you'll need to reconcile it by hand.

Penny test before your first payroll

A penny test is a real payroll run with tiny amounts, sent to a few colleagues. It proves your bank books payroll as one line, and that approvals and access work as you expect, before real salaries are involved.

Before you start

• Roles are set up: who uploads, who can see salaries, and who approves. Nobody who shouldn't see salaries is on the Owner role.
• Atlar has confirmed your bank connection supports payroll, and told you the maximum payroll size.
• A few colleagues have agreed to receive a small payment. At least one of them banks somewhere other than your bank.

The test file

• More than one payment, not 1. A single payment is always one line, so it proves nothing.
• Different small amounts, for example 1.01, 1.02 and 1.03. The total, 3.06, is then easy to spot on your statement.
• Everything else as it will be for real: same account you pay from, same payment method, same currency, same reference format (for example "Salary October 2026"), and one payment date.
• Build it with your real process: export from your payroll system. Don't type it by hand.

Checklist

1. Upload via Payroll. The preview shows 3 payments, no errors, and a total of 3.06.
2. Privacy. Someone without payroll access opens the batch and sees "Payroll payments are hidden". Someone with access sees all 3 payments.
3. Approval. The right approvers are asked. Nothing is sent until the last approval.
4. Status. All 3 payments reach "Accepted by bank".
5. Bank statement. The next day's booked statement shows exactly one debit of 3.06.
   If you see three separate debits, stop, don't run live payroll, and contact Atlar.
6. Colleagues. Each colleague confirms they received the right amount, on the right date, with a readable reference.
7. Reconciliation. All 3 payments show as Executed in Atlar, without you doing anything.
8. ERP (if Atlar sends bank statements to your ERP). The 3.06 debit arrives as one line.

If all checks pass, you're ready to run live payroll.