Payroll admins! The revamped payroll user journey is finally here. With the new user journey, it's never been easier to set up payroll with no fuss!


In this article, we will walk you through the process of setting up payroll so that you can run a smooth payroll subsequently.



Go to Payroll > Settings 


Under Settings, you are able to see the Step 1 to Step 4, follow the steps accordingly to have a smooth setup for payroll:

  • Step 1: Company Payroll Settings: To set up company bank details, statutory information & officer information
  • Step 2: Set Pay Items: To set up payroll items such as Sales Commission, Meal Allowance, and its statutory entitlements like EPF, SOCSO, EIS, HRDF & PCB.
  • Step 3: Additional Settings: To set up integration with the expenses or document manager module & payslip settings
  • Step 4: Import Template: To import employee's compensation data & previous pay run data



Step 1: Set up Company Payroll Details 


Note: The fields with a red asterisk * are COMPULSORY to fill in.    

  •  Info 1: Fill in the company's bank information
  •  Info 2: Fill in the company's statutory information 
  • Info 3: Fill in Officer's information - The Officer's information will be the company representative for all the statutory forms such as EPF Borang A, SOCSO Borang 8A, EA form, etc. click "Complete & Next" to proceed to Step 2. 
  • If the information is successfully updated, the icon of step 1 will be changed to a green tick. 



Step 2: Set Pay Items


IMPORTANT: Under Set Pay Items, you will notice that altHR already has preset a list of pay items. Please note that the preset pay items are there as a reference for you to set up. You may, however, use the preset pay items if you see fit. Furthermore, because each company may/will have different payment terms, payment consistency, and payment purposes, this could result in different statutory entitlements and tax treatment. To ensure that your company's pay item nature is correctly configured in altHR, we strongly recommend that you contact LHDN / KWSP / PERKESO / HRDC to check and confirm.


Read more about How to set and configure pay items. 


Once you have completed the setting, at the bottom of the page, click "Complete & Next" to proceed to Step 3, otherwise, if you wish to go back to Step 1, click "<- Back"


Step 3: Additional Settings


At this step, you will be setting up the payslip & integration settings. You will be able to see 3 items on this page:

  • Expenses: Tick if you wish to integrate the expenses module (claim) with payroll, with the integration, you will be able to pull processed expenses that are submitted by the employees and approved to payroll. Read more about How to integrate expenses into payroll.



  • Password Protection: Tick if you wish to add password protection for the employee's payslip (You may choose to set the password using the employee's last 4 digits of IC or passport number or their DOB)


Click "Complete & Next" once you have ticked your desired settings to proceed to Step 4, or, click "Back" to go back to Step 3.





Step 4: Import Template


At this step, you will be doing data import for employee's compensation details and previous pay run, there are 2 main templates in excel for the data import:


  1. altHR Full Compensation Migration

This template is mainly to fill in employee's payroll details,

  • Employee full name & staff ID
  • Salary details
  • Bank details
  • Statutory details (EPF, SOCSO, EIS, PCB, HRDF)
  • Previous Employment Income (Prior to joining your company)


2. altHR Previous Pay Runs

This template is mainly for the company that starts using the altHR payroll module after January, the company must import the previous month(s) payroll details so altHR is able to calculate accurate income tax (PCB). For eg. If the company starts running payroll with altHR in March 2023, the company will need to import payroll details for Jan 2023 & Feb 2023.



  • On this page, please select the template from the dropdown list and click "Download altHR Template"

  • Fill in the required data in the excel template, click (3) Upload Attachment, and select the completed template. After it is uploaded, click "Import altHR Templates". Note: Please always import the altHR Full Compensation Migration template FIRST - then follow by the altHR Previous Pay Runs.

  • Click "Complete" to finish the step. By now, you should see all the Steps have a green tick to indicate the settings are completed!


Once you've completed all these steps, you are ready to run your first payroll!