How Do I Import Employee Records Into Lightning Payroll?

To save time, you can import a certain amount of employee data into Lightning Payroll using a CSV spreadsheet. This is done under Employees >> Actions >> Import Employees From CSV.

Please see our example spreadsheet here or see below for what fields can be imported and their expected format. Fields are optional, however we recommend filling out as much as possible. All fields and additional information such as shifts and allowances are editable in the main employee profile after import is completed.

Important import rules

• Do not change the column headings, and keep the same number of columns in every row.
• One employee per row. If a row is completely blank, no record will be created.
• Dates must use YYYY-MM-DD. Amounts should use a full stop for decimals, for example 1200.50, and should not include a dollar sign or commas.
• Boolean fields accept TRUE or FALSE (not Yes or No). These are not case sensitive.
• YTD amounts are imported only if ytd_as_at_date is supplied. If ytd_as_at_date is blank, all other YTD fields in that row will be ignored, even if they contain values.

Required information

The file import process will create an employee record so long as at least one of a CSV row’s columns has a value. It is strongly recommended to include as much information as possible in each employee’s row. This helps avoid validation errors when processing Single Touch Payroll (STP) with the ATO.

When sending STP for the first time, Lightning Payroll will detect most missing employee information and notify you to help prevent invalid submissions.

The following fields are required for STP submissions:

• tax_file_number
• first_name
• last_name
• date_of_birth
• address1
• city
• state
• postcode
• start_date
• employment_status

Field reference

Personal and tax settings

Contact details

Next of kin

Employment

Banking

Lightning Payroll supports a primary bank account and an optional secondary bank account for split pays. The primary account does not accept an amount or reference. The secondary account can include an amount per period and an alternate reference.

Compatibility: If you previously used the legacy headings bankbsbdata, bankaccnodata, and bankaccnamedata, these are still accepted and will be treated as the primary bank account. When both legacy and new primary headings are present in the same row, the legacy values take priority.

Validation: A bank account is only created when all three core fields for that account are supplied, BSB, account number, and account name. BSBs can be entered as six digits or as NNN-NNN. Six digit BSBs are automatically normalised to NNN-NNN.

Superannuation

If both default_employee_fund_member_number and default_employee_fund_usi are populated, Lightning Payroll will automatically configure the employee’s super settings and create provider objects, as long as the USI is valid. If an employee has multiple super funds, you can add these secondary funds after import.

Lightning Payroll downloads the official super fund list daily from the ATO’s fund validation service. You can check if a USI is valid using our online tool here: https://update.lightningpayroll.com.au/usi-validator.

Year to date amounts

Important: YTD fields are only imported when ytd_as_at_date is supplied for the row. If ytd_as_at_date is blank, all YTD columns below will be ignored, even if they contain numbers.

Tip: If you are not importing YTD figures now, leave ytd_as_at_date blank and leave all YTD fields blank. You can update YTD values later from within the employee profile.