Set up payroll

Before your first pay run, tell Kelola what to pay and how to work it out. You do this in two places:

• Settings → Payroll setup holds the rules for the whole company: your pay components, the overtime hours divisor, and the Indonesian statutory deductions.
• Each employee's record holds their own pay: base compensation, bank details, tax details, and the pay components they get every month.

When both are ready, you can run payroll.

Before you start

• You need the Owner or Admin role. Other roles do not see the Settings menu. If they open payroll setup, they see Admins only.
• Choose your currency first. It decides how Kelola rounds pay, and whether statutory deductions can apply. See Set your currency and number format.
• Add your employees first. You set pay on each employee's record. See Onboard your team.
• Finish this setup before you select Run payroll for a month. The last section of this page explains why.

Open payroll setup

Go to Settings → Payroll setup. The Payroll setup page has three cards:

• Bank data, a link to the page for bank accounts and employee bank data. See "Add payroll bank accounts" below.
• Pay components
• Statutory & overtime

Add a pay component

A pay component is a line that adds to pay or takes money off pay, such as a meal allowance or a loan repayment. You add it once, to your company's list. Then you give it to each employee who gets it.

1. In Pay components, select Add component. The New pay component form opens.
2. Enter a Code, such as MEAL. The next section explains the rules.
3. Enter a Name, such as "Meal allowance". Payslips show this name. Use up to 80 characters.
4. Choose a Type. An Earning adds to pay. A Deduction takes money off pay.
5. Choose How it is worked out, then enter the value. The value field changes with your choice.
6. Set the Taxable and BPJS base switches.
7. Select Save changes.

Kelola confirms with Pay component added. The component appears in the list with its code, its method, its value, and the switches that are on.

Choose a code

The code is a short key that tells your pay components apart.

• Use 2 to 32 characters: letters, digits, and underscores (_). Start with a letter. Kelola changes every letter to a capital.
• Each code can be used only once in your company. That includes archived components.
• You cannot change the code after you save the component.
• You cannot use BASE, or a code that starts with BPJS_, PPH21, JHT_, JP_, JKK_, JKM_ or JKP_. Kelola keeps these for the base pay and statutory lines it adds itself.

Choose how the amount is worked out

Choose Taxable and BPJS base

Kelola uses these two switches when it calculates statutory deductions.

• Taxable: the amount counts toward the income that PPh 21 (income tax) is worked out on. It is on by default.
• BPJS base: the amount counts toward the wage that BPJS contributions are worked out on. Turn it on for a fixed allowance (in Indonesian, tunjangan tetap). It is off by default.
• Base pay always counts toward both.
• The switches matter only for an earning. A deduction never changes the taxable income or the BPJS wage.

Edit or archive a pay component

• To edit a component, select the pencil icon next to it. The Edit pay component form opens. You can change everything except the Code. Then select Save changes.
• To archive a component, select the archive icon next to it, then select Archive to confirm. The component stays in the list with the Archived label.

What archiving does:

• New pay runs leave the component out, even for employees who still have it.
• Payslips that already exist keep it.
• You cannot delete a pay component. You can only archive it.
• To use it again, edit it, turn on Active, and select Save changes.

Set the overtime hours divisor

The overtime hours divisor is the number of working hours in a month. Kelola divides base pay by it to get the hourly rate for overtime.

1. In Statutory & overtime, enter the Overtime hours divisor. Use a whole number from 1 to 744. The default is 173, the number Indonesia uses.
2. Select Save changes.

Kelola confirms with Payroll settings saved.

For example, a base pay of 8,650,000 divided by 173 gives an hourly rate of 50,000. Then 120 overtime minutes (two hours) at a multiplier of 1.5 pay 150,000. Kelola uses base pay only. It does not add allowances to the hourly rate.

Turn on statutory deductions (Indonesia)

Statutory deductions are the payments that Indonesian law requires on pay: BPJS Kesehatan (health insurance), BPJS Ketenagakerjaan (employment insurance), and PPh 21 (income tax).

Kelola adds statutory deductions to a pay run only when all of these are true:

• Calculate statutory deductions is on.
• Your currency is Indonesian Rupiah (IDR).
• A tax reviewer signed off the statutory rates that apply to the pay run's month.

With any other currency, Payroll setup shows Statutory deductions are skipped under the switch, and Payroll shows the same notice above your pay runs. A pay run made in that currency says in its detail that it has no BPJS or PPh 21 lines, and why.

Before you turn them on, open each employee's pay, fill in the Tax & BPJS (Indonesia) details, and select Save payroll. The section "Set each employee's pay" below explains the fields. Do this for every employee, even if their details look right. An employee with no saved BPJS choice counts as enrolled in all five programs, both in the form and in a pay run. Turn off only the programs that do not apply to them.

Without the tax details, Kelola treats the employee as TK/0, and adds 20% to their PPh 21 when there is no NPWP or NIK.

To turn them on:

1. Make sure the rates are signed off. Under the switch, Payroll setup shows Signed off by with the reviewer's name, the date, and the rate set. Until then, the switch is off and you cannot turn it on.
2. In Statutory & overtime, turn on Calculate statutory deductions. The Statutory configuration settings appear.
3. Check the three program switches: BPJS Kesehatan (health), BPJS Ketenagakerjaan (employment), and PPh 21 (income tax). All three start on.
4. Choose the JKK risk class.
5. Choose the PPh 21 method.
6. Select Save changes.

Get the statutory rates signed off

Kelola keeps the Indonesian statutory numbers in versioned rate sets. A rate set is named after the month it starts, for example Rates 2026-03. A new rate set comes when the law changes, for example the yearly JP (pension) wage cap in March.

A tax reviewer checks a rate set and signs it off. A tax reviewer is an owner, admin, or manager that an owner or admin chose in Settings → Roles & access. See Manage roles and access.

1. The tax reviewer opens My space → Tax review. An owner or admin can also select Review and sign off or View sign-off on Payroll setup.
2. Each rate set shows What you are approving: the BPJS rates and wage caps, the PTKP (non-taxable income) amounts, the PPh 21 TER monthly tables, the Pasal 17 annual brackets, and the legal sources.
3. The reviewer checks the numbers and selects Sign off. They can add a note, for example the document they checked against.
4. Kelola asks them to confirm. They select Sign off again.

Kelola records the reviewer's name and the date. Payroll setup then shows Signed off by with the name, the date, and the rate set. Each pay run that uses it keeps a copy of the sign-off.

Keep these points in mind:

• Each rate set needs its own sign-off. Before a new rate set starts, Payroll setup and Tax review say that the new rates from that month need a new sign-off. Pay runs for months before it still use the old sign-off.
• A sign-off stays valid if the reviewer later changes role or leaves. Only a revoke removes it.
• Any tax reviewer can select Revoke sign-off. From then on, pay runs for the months that use that rate set get no BPJS or PPh 21, and you cannot finalize them, until someone signs off again.
• Only the tax reviewer can sign off, from their own account. The Kelola team cannot sign off for you.

What each statutory setting does

The two PPh 21 methods work like this:

• Deduct from the employee's pay: Kelola takes the tax off the employee's pay.
• The company covers it (gross-up): Kelola adds an earning called "PPh 21 allowance" that equals the tax, then deducts the same tax. The tax does not lower net pay, and gross pay goes up by the amount of the tax.

The PPh 21 method stays the same for the whole tax year once a pay run of that year is finalized with statutory deductions on. A pay run finalized with statutory deductions off does not lock it, so you can still choose the method when you turn them on partway through the year. Kelola then turns the field off and says when you can change it again: in January of the next year. A draft pay run keeps the method it was made with, so after you change the method, delete any draft and run the month again.

Charge BPJS for a partial month decides what happens in the month someone joins or leaves. In that month, Kelola pays their base pay and recurring earnings only for the days they work (see Run payroll). BPJS contributions are monthly. So when the setting is on, Kelola charges the full month of BPJS on their full monthly wage. When it is off, that month has no BPJS. PPh 21 is always worked out on what they are actually paid that month.

Check the December rules

• Each month, Kelola works out PPh 21 with a monthly rate. The rate depends on the employee's PTKP status and on how much they earn that month.
• In December, Kelola works out the tax for the whole year. It deducts any tax that is still owed. If too much was deducted during the year, it pays the difference back as an earning called "PPh 21 refund".
• With gross-up, the company also covers the December step. Any tax still owed for the year is added as "PPh 21 allowance" and then deducted as PPh 21, so the employee's net pay does not change. The same applies in an employee's last month at the company. If too much tax was deducted during the year, the employee gets it back as "PPh 21 refund", the same as without gross-up.
• With statutory deductions on, Kelola creates a December pay run only when every month from your first payroll month in Kelola to November is finalized. If you did not set a first payroll month, Kelola counts from your first pay run of that year. If you started using Kelola partway through the year, set your first payroll month and enter opening balances. See Enter opening balances below.
• Kelola uses the official rates for the pay month, including the wage caps for BPJS Kesehatan and JP. A pay run keeps the rates it used, so a later rate change never alters it.

Enter opening balances

Use opening balances if your company moved its payroll to Kelola partway through a year. The December tax covers the whole year at your company, so Kelola needs to know what you paid before you used it. First set your first payroll month (see Set your first payroll month below). Then only employees who joined before it need a balance.

1. Go to Settings → Opening balances.
2. Pick the tax year.
3. Select the pencil next to an employee, and fill in the four fields. Take the numbers from your old payroll system: its payslips or its year-to-date report.
4. Select Save changes.

The four fields:

• Months already paid: the months of the year your company paid before Kelola, from 0 to 11. Use 0 for someone who joined in your first month on Kelola.
• Gross income (bruto) so far: all taxable pay for those months, including any PPh 21 allowance, plus the employer's JKK, JKM and BPJS Kesehatan premiums.
• Employee JHT + JP paid: only the employee's own JHT and JP. These lower the taxable income.
• PPh 21 withheld: the PPh 21 withheld for those months, minus any refund.

• A December pay run, or an employee's last pay run, copies the opening balance into the payslip. A later change to the balance does not change a finalized payslip. To use a new balance in a draft, delete the draft and run the month again.
• After the December pay run of the year is finalized, that year's balances lock. An employee's balance also locks when their last pay run is finalized.
• Every save and delete goes into the audit log, with the old and new amounts.
• If any employee needs an opening balance and has none, the December pay run, or an employee's last pay run, shows one error that names all of them.

Set your first payroll month

Set this if your company started using Kelola after January. Kelola then knows which employees worked here before Kelola, and you do not need to enter a balance for everyone.

1. Go to Settings → Payroll setup.
2. In First payroll month in Kelola, pick the month of your first pay run in Kelola.
3. Select Save changes.

In that year:

• The months before it need no pay run in Kelola, and you cannot run them in Kelola.
• An employee who joined in that month or later needs no opening balance. Kelola counts 0 for the months before it.
• An employee who joined before that month needs an opening balance. So does an employee with no join date, because Kelola cannot tell when they started.
• An opening balance can hold at most the months before your first payroll month.
• The setting locks after the December pay run of that year is finalized. Every change goes into the audit log.

If you leave it as Not set, Kelola counts from your first pay run of the year, and everyone paid in that pay run needs an opening balance.

Set each employee's pay

Each employee's pay sits on their record, in the Compensation & banking part of the Edit employee form. Only owners and admins can see it. Kelola encrypts it (stores it in a coded form), and the employee and their manager cannot see it.

You can set pay only for an employee who is already in Kelola. The Add employee form has no pay fields.

1. Go to People.
2. Select the pencil icon next to the employee. The Edit employee form opens.
3. Scroll down to Compensation & banking. It has the Private label.
4. Fill in the fields. The tables below explain each one.
5. Select Save payroll.

Kelola confirms with Payroll saved.

A pay run includes an employee only when both of these are true:

• They have the Active status. An invited employee is left out until they activate their account.
• Their Base compensation is more than 0.

Compensation and bank fields

Tax and BPJS fields

These fields are in the Tax & BPJS (Indonesia) box. Kelola uses them only when statutory deductions are on.

Who pays for each BPJS program:

The company's share shows on the payslip as employer contributions. It does not lower net pay. Kesehatan (health) also needs BPJS Kesehatan (health) to be on in payroll setup. The other four need BPJS Ketenagakerjaan (employment).

Give an employee recurring pay components

Recurring pay components are the pay components an employee gets every month, such as a meal allowance. You find them in the Edit employee form too, below Compensation & banking.

1. In Recurring pay components, select Add component. A new row appears.
2. In Component, choose a pay component from your list.
3. Set From, the first month it applies. It starts at the current month.
4. To end it, set To, the last month it applies. Leave To empty if it has no end.
5. To pay this employee a different value, enter it in the override field. The field is Amount override, Percent override, or Multiplier override, depending on the component. Leave it empty to use the component's default.
6. Select Save components.

Kelola confirms with Recurring components saved.

Keep these points in mind:

• From and To are months, and both months count.
• To take a component away, select Remove on its row, then select Save components.
• Save components saves the whole list at once. Rows you do not save are lost when you close the form.
• You can select Add component only when your company has at least one pay component that is not archived.
• An employee can have up to 50 recurring pay components.

Add payroll bank accounts

A bank's bulk-transfer file (one file that pays every employee in one batch) names the account you pay salaries from. Kelola keeps these accounts on Settings → Bank data. On Payroll setup, Open bank data takes you there too.

1. Go to Settings → Bank data.
2. In Payroll bank accounts, select Add account. The Add payroll bank account form opens.
3. Enter a Label. It is your own name for the account, such as "Main payroll".
4. Choose the Bank. Kelola fills in the SWIFT/BIC and the Bank code (BI). If your bank is not in the list, choose Other bank, then type the Bank name and the codes yourself.
5. Enter the Account number (digits only) and the Account name.
6. If your bank's business portal gave you a Corporate ID, Company code, Branch code or Company initial, enter them. Leave them empty if not.
7. Select Save.

Kelola confirms with Bank account saved. You can add more than one account. To stop using an account, select the archive icon next to it, then select Archive. An archived account stays on record with the Archived label.

Fill in employee bank data

Bank files need details that the pay record does not hold: the account holder name exactly as the bank records it, the bank's codes, citizenship, and resident status. You fill them in for all your employees in one grid.

1. Go to Settings → Bank data. Employee bank data has one row per employee. Offboarded employees are hidden. Turn on Show offboarded to see them.
2. Change the cells you need:
   • Account holder name: the name exactly as the bank records it.
   • Beneficiary bank: the employee's bank. Kelola fills in SWIFT/BIC and Bank code, and you can change them. For a bank that is not in the list, choose Other bank and type the name and codes.
   • Citizenship: Indonesia, unless you choose another country.
   • Resident status: Resident or Non-resident.
3. Select Save on one row, or select Save changes to save every changed row at once.

Keep these points in mind:

• Kelola saves only the cells you changed. It never clears the other fields of a row.
• A changed row shows the Unsaved label until you save it. If you leave the page first, Kelola asks before it discards your changes.
• Each row also shows the bank name and account number from the employee's pay record. You cannot edit them here. Change them on the Edit employee form, as described in "Set each employee's pay" above. Saving that form does not change the bank data on this page.
• Kelola encrypts bank data. Only owners and admins can see it. The audit log records which fields changed, but never the values.

Add a custom field

Some banks ask for more than the built-in fields. Add your own fields in Custom fields:

1. Select Add field.
2. Enter a Field name.
3. Choose a Type: Text, Choice, or Yes/no. For Choice, enter the Options, one per line.
4. If you want, set a Default value and some Help text. Employees with no value yet show the default.
5. Select Save.

The field appears as a new column in Employee bank data. You can change its name, options, default and help text later, but not its type. To hide a field, select the archive icon, then Archive. Kelola keeps the saved values, and you can restore the field later.

Add a bank file template

A bank file template sets the layout of the file your bank's business portal accepts. A pay run uses it to download a bank file. See Run payroll.

1. Go to Settings → Bank data.
2. In Bank file templates, select Add template.
3. In Start from, choose where to begin:
   • myBCA Bisnis: the BCA bulk payroll file, with fields separated by pipes.
   • Standard CSV: the same columns as Export CSV, with English column names.
   • Blank template: one column with the employee's name.
4. Check the Name. Choose the Bank account you pay salaries from. Its details fill the company fields of the file, such as the corporate ID and the debit account.
5. Select Add template.

To see what a template writes, select the eye icon. The preview uses three made-up people, so no real names or accounts appear. To make a copy, select the copy icon. To stop using a template, select the archive icon, then Archive. It leaves the pay run's Export menu, and you can restore it later.

Build a bank file template

The layout editor lets you build a template by dragging fields into the rows of the file. Use it when your bank needs a layout that no preset gives you.

1. Go to Settings → Bank data.
2. In Bank file templates, select Edit layout on a template. A new template opens in the editor as soon as you add it.

Fields is on the left, with a search box. It groups the fields into Employee, Bank, Tax, Pay, Company bank account, Pay run, Computed, Custom fields and Constant text. The rows of the file are in the middle, and the Column panel is on the right. File settings are at the top, and the Preview is at the bottom. On a phone, Fields and Format column open as dialogs.

Add and arrange columns

Each employee is the row that writes one line per employee. A Header row comes before those lines, and a Footer row comes after them. Select Add header row or Add footer row to add one. Select the trash icon to remove one. Each column shows as a chip (a small box with the column's name).

• Add a column: drag a field into a row. Or select + next to the field, then Add to that row. A header or footer row can only use company bank account, pay run and computed values, because they are the same for the whole file.
• Move a column: drag its chip. Or focus the chip and press Alt with the left or right arrow key. The chip's menu (⋮) also has Move left, Move right and Move to another row. A screen reader announces each move.
• Remove a column: select the × on its chip, or Remove column in the Column panel. To bring it back, select Undo or press Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac). The message that confirms the removal also has Undo.

Format a column

Select a column's chip. The Column panel shows only the settings that fit its value:

• Source: a Field, a Computed value or Constant text.
• Column name: the name written in the column names row.
• Width: pads or cuts the value to exactly this many characters. Every column in a fixed-width file needs one. Maximum length cuts a long value but does not pad a short one. Turn on Cut a long value without a warning when the bank expects a cut value.
• Align, Padding character, Letter case, Text before and Text after. You can also remove spaces at the start and end, or keep only letters, digits and spaces.
• When empty, write and Warn when empty: what happens when an employee has no value.
• Date format for a date. For an amount: Decimal places, Decimal separator and Thousands separator. None (implied decimals) writes the digits with no separator, so 8,500,000.00 becomes 850000000.
• Replace values: writes another value, for example BCA when the field has bca. Otherwise write sets what to write for every other value.

Choose the file settings

Select File settings at the top to open them. When they are closed, a one-line summary shows the main choices.

• File type: Separated values (each value ends at a Separator: a comma, semicolon, pipe, tab or another character) or Fixed width (each value fills an exact number of characters).
• Quotes (Never, When needed or Always), Column names row, Line ending (Windows (CRLF) or Unix (LF)), Characters (UTF-8 or ASCII only), Byte order mark (BOM) and End with a line break.
• File name: select a token to add the pay period, today's date, the bank or the template name.
• Only some employees: puts only the employees that match a rule in the file. Choose a field, a condition (is, is not or is one of) and the values. For example, make one file for BCA accounts and one for other banks.

Read the preview

The preview updates after every change. It uses three made-up people, so it reads no real data. Line numbers are on the left. A fixed-width file also shows a character ruler at the top. Turn on Show spaces and separators to show each space as ·, each tab as →, the separators and the line ending. The characters of the selected column are highlighted on every line.

The preview also shows the file name, the number of rows and the total net pay. Warnings lists problems, such as missing data, a value cut to fit, or a separator inside a value. Select a warning to select its column.

To check a real pay run, turn on Preview a pay run and choose the Pay run. You see the first 20 employees with their real bank details. This preview does not update after every change, so select Refresh after you edit.

Save your changes

Select Save. Kelola checks the layout first. It lists each problem and marks the column that has it. Saving a changed layout raises the version and marks the template Unverified again. If the template was verified, Kelola asks you first. Unverified means nobody has checked the layout against your bank's own sample file, so test the first file with your bank.

To go back to your last save, select Discard changes. If you leave the page with unsaved changes, Kelola asks you first.

Check against your bank's sample

Your bank can give you a sample of the file it accepts. Compare your template with that sample before you pay salaries with it. This is how a template moves from Unverified to Verified.

1. Save your changes first. Verified applies to the saved version of the template.
2. In the editor, select Compare with bank sample.
3. Drop your bank's sample file into the box, or select the box to choose it. It must be a .txt or .csv file of up to 1 MB.
4. Read the report.

The bank's sample holds the bank's own example data, so Kelola compares the structure, not the values:

• The whole file: the line ending, the byte order mark (BOM), the characters (UTF-8 or ASCII only), the line break at the end, and the separator.
• Each line: which row it is (a header row, an employee line or a footer row), and the number of fields. For a fixed-width file, the length of the line.
• Each field: constant text and column names must match exactly. For other values, Kelola checks the shape: the length, the letter case, the date format, and for an amount the decimal places and separators.

The report says whether the structure matches. Differences lists each problem with its line and column, for example "Date format: expected YYYYMMDD, found DD/MM/YYYY". In the lines of the sample, the fields that differ are highlighted. Select a difference to select its column in the editor. Fix the column, save, then select Compare with bank sample again. Kelola keeps the file while you stay on the page, and the report follows your changes.

Some problems are possible differences only, for example a letter in a column that Kelola fills with digits. Check them. They do not stop you from marking the template verified.

When everything matches, select Mark as verified, then confirm. The template shows the Verified label in Bank file templates, and the pay run's Export menu shows it with the version. Kelola records the change in the audit log.

To take the label back, open Compare with bank sample and select Mark as unverified. Saving a changed layout also marks the template Unverified again.

Know when your changes apply

• A pay run uses your setup as it is at the moment you select Run payroll. That includes your pay components, the payroll settings, and each employee's pay.
• Bank details and the tax ID are the exception. Export CSV, bank files and the payslip PDF use the details on each employee's record at the moment you download the file.
• A later change does not update a pay run that already exists, even one with the Draft status. To use your change in a draft, delete the draft and run payroll again. See Run payroll. A finalized pay run never changes.
• The amounts on a finalized payslip never change.
• Kelola records every change to pay components, payroll settings, and employee pay in the audit log. For an employee's pay, the log shows who changed it and when, but not the amounts. See Review the audit log.

Next steps

• Run payroll
• Edit an employee's record
• Read your payslip
• Review the audit log