Sync payruns with Xero

1. Connect your Xero integration

Open Settings → Integrations and click Create Xero Payrun. You'll be redirected to Xero to authorise PhoenixLMS to read and write payroll data — employees, timesheets, payruns, and payroll settings. Sign in to Xero with the same admin account you use for payroll, approve the connection, and you'll land back in PhoenixLMS with the integration enabled.

You can connect Xero before or after you've added your tutors. The Xero integration is available on the Pro and Enterprise plans.

2. Set up your tutor accounts

Each tutor needs the right details on file before they can sync to Xero. Required:

First name, last name, email
Date of birth
Home address (street, city, state, postcode)
TFN (9 digits)
BSB (6 digits) and account number

While you're there, fill in residency status, tax-free threshold claim, and any HELP/SFSS debts — PhoenixLMS will pass these to Xero so you don't have to enter them twice. If you have super fund details (fund name, USI, member number), add those too and we'll link them to the employee on first sync.

Set the tutor's classes and pay rates as usual — these drive the auto-calculated payrun.

3. Create your payrun

When you're ready to pay tutors for a period, head to Staff → Payruns and create a new payrun for the date range. PhoenixLMS pulls every marked lesson in that range, multiplies hours taught by each tutor's pay rate, and gives you a per-tutor breakdown. Verify the figures, then save the payrun.

Tax and superannuation aren't calculated here — Xero handles those once the payrun is synced.

4. Sync with Xero

Open the payrun, click the ⋯ menu in the top-right, and choose Create Xero Payrun. PhoenixLMS will:

Create or update each tutor as an employee in Xero
Push timesheets containing each marked lesson
Create a draft payrun in Xero for the same period

Give it a minute or two to finish.

Important — first sync only: Xero requires Single Touch Payroll (STP) details that PhoenixLMS can't set programmatically. After your first sync, open Xero, find each new employee, and confirm:

Tax scale and tax declaration
Employment type (full-time, part-time, casual — PhoenixLMS pushes employees as casual by default; change this if it's wrong)
Pay calendar assignment

Once those are set in Xero, future syncs require no manual STP work.

Re-syncing: a payrun can only be sent to Xero once. If you need to re-sync (e.g. you marked more lessons after syncing), delete the PhoenixLMS payrun and the matching draft in Xero, then re-create the payrun in PhoenixLMS and sync again.

5. Submit your payrun in Xero

In Xero, open Payroll → Pay Runs and you'll see the new draft. Each tutor will be on the run with their hours and gross pay populated.

Add superannuation contributions for the period (Xero doesn't accept super amounts from PhoenixLMS — these go in here), double-check tax, then post the payrun. Xero handles the STP lodgement to the ATO from there.