A payroll app for Tally users should do three things a register and an Excel sheet cannot: work each salary out from real attendance, show the working on every payslip line, and give your Tally the month's salary entry without anyone typing it again. Everything else on a feature list sits under those three. Before you pick one, check how it marks attendance, which pay types it handles (monthly, daily, hourly or piece rate), how it treats overtime, fines, leave and advances, which languages the payslip comes in, and whether each staff member sees their own pay and nobody else's. Then ask the questions most demos skip: does the app file PF and ESI or does it prepare the files for you to upload, who has checked its statutory rates, and how exactly does the salary reach your Tally company. This guide is the checklist we would use as an owner whose books already live in Tally, with a table you can take into any demo.
Key Highlights
- A payroll app for a Tally business should make the salary entry in the Tally ledgers you already keep, so your accountant checks one entry each month instead of typing it from an Excel sheet.
- An app that prepares the PF ECR file and an app that uploads it are making different promises, and the difference decides who is answerable when an upload fails on the EPFO site.
- Statutory figures move: the EPF wage ceiling went from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 a month from 17 September 2026, so have your CA check the first month of any app's PF, ESI and TDS lines.
In This Article
- Why a Tally business needs its own payroll checklist
- The checklist: twelve things to look at
- Questions to ask in any payroll demo
- Where Takkada fits
- Further reading on salary, PF and Tally
- Frequently Asked Questions
Why a Tally business needs its own payroll checklist
Your books are already in Tally. In most small businesses salary reaches Tally as one journal the accountant types from an Excel sheet on the 2nd or 3rd of the month, while the attendance behind it sits in a register and the month's advances sit in a notebook.
A payroll app that keeps its own separate books adds a second set of figures to match against Tally. So the useful question is what happens at month end: does the app hand your Tally the same salary figures it showed on the payslips, in your own ledgers, or does someone still retype them?
TallyPrime has its own payroll, with pay heads, attendance vouchers and payroll vouchers, which suits an office where attendance is kept at the computer. This checklist is for owners whose attendance happens on a shop floor or in a godown and who want the Tally entry made from those same figures.
The checklist: twelve things to look at
| What to check | What good looks like | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance | The whole team marked in one tap, with in and out times where they matter | Staff attendance and salary app |
| Pay types | Monthly, daily, hourly and piece-rate staff in the same salary run | Daily wage salary app |
| How a month is counted | You choose calendar month, 30 days or 26 days, and stick to it | Per day salary on 26, 30 or calendar days |
| Overtime and fines | Overtime from in and out times at your rate, fines set once in settings | Overtime calculation with a worked example |
| Leave | Asked for from the staff phone, approved with a note, counted into salary | Staff attendance and salary app |
| Payslip language | English and Hindi from the same figures, as a PDF | Salary slip in Hindi |
| Advances and loans | Taken back from salary on their own, with an EMI table for loans | Staff advance entry in Tally |
| Privacy | Each person sees only their own attendance, leave and payslips | Staff attendance and salary app |
| Government files | PF ECR and ESI files prepared from confirmed salary, with the app clear about who uploads them | PF ECR file |
| TDS on salary | Worked out every month, with the quarterly data ready for your CA | Form 130 and Form 138 explained |
| The Tally entry | One balanced salary entry in your own ledgers, with advances and bills too | Payroll software for Tally |
| Statutory rates | The app says which rates are checked and which are for your CA to check | Salary entry in Tally Prime with PF and ESI |
Two rows carry most of the money. "How a month is counted" decides every absent-day cut: on a ₹15,000 salary, one absent day costs ₹576.92 on a 26-day basis, ₹500 on 30 days and ₹483.87 in a 31-day month. "The Tally entry" decides whether your accountant spends the 2nd of every month typing or checking.
Questions to ask in any payroll demo
- Does the app file PF, ESI and TDS, or does it prepare the files? Preparing a PF ECR text file or an ESI sheet is useful. Uploading it on the EPFO and ESIC sites is a separate step, and you should know who does it.
- Who has checked the statutory rates? PF, ESI, professional tax, labour welfare fund and income tax rates change and differ by state. Ask which ones your CA still needs to confirm.
- How does the salary reach Tally? Ask to see the actual entry: which ledgers it debits and credits, whether it balances, and what the app shows until Tally has it.
- Can a staff member see someone else's salary? Ask the vendor to show a staff login. Each person should see their own payslips and nothing more.
- What happens to daily-wage staff on Sundays and holidays? The answer tells you whether the app's rules match the agreement you have with your workers, which depends on your state's rules too.
- Can the accountant run salary from a computer? Salary checking and government files are easier on a bigger screen.
Where Takkada fits
Takkada's Staff and Payroll add-on runs inside the same app you already use for your Tally books. It marks today's attendance for the whole team in one tap, works out every salary for the month from attendance, overtime, fines, bonus, advances and deductions, and shows the working for every line. Payslips come in English and Hindi, ready to download as a PDF, and staff see their own payslips, attendance, leave and ledger in the Takkada app.
For the books, you pick your own Tally ledgers for salary, PF, ESI, PT and advances, or let the app create them. The app makes one balanced salary entry for Tally every month, plus entries for advances, loans and bill paybacks, sent through Takkada's Tally connector, and it tells you when an entry is still waiting for Tally.
For the government side, it prepares the monthly PF ECR file, the ESI sheet and PT and LWF totals from confirmed salary, for you or your CA to upload, and works out TDS on salary for your CA to check. The PF, ESI, PT, LWF and income-tax lines are worked out from the rates in the app, and the app says on screen which limits are not yet checked by a CA.
Further reading on salary, PF and Tally
- Salary entry in Tally Prime with PF and ESI, with a worked example
- Staff advance entry in Tally: which group, the journal and recovery
- Per day salary calculation on 26 days, 30 days or the calendar month
- Daily wage salary calculation with Sundays, holidays and leave
- Form 130 and Form 138: the new names for Form 16 and Form 24Q
- Overtime calculation formula in India, with a worked example
- Salary kaise calculate kare: monthly, daily aur piece rate staff
- PF ECR file kaise banaye, step by step
- वेतन पर्ची कैसे बनाएं: हिंदी फॉर्मेट और नमूना
- हाजिरी रजिस्टर कैसे बनाएं: कॉलम और नमूना
- Beat plan kya hota hai: din-wise route plan, for distributors who also run salesmen on beats
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I do payroll in Tally without the payroll module?
A: Yes. Many businesses work salary out in Excel and pass one journal a month in Tally: salary and the employer's PF and ESI on the debit side, and salary payable, PF, ESI, professional tax, TDS and staff advances on the credit side. Our salary entry walkthrough shows a three-person example of ₹63,760 that balances.
Q: What should a payroll app show on a payslip?
A: Each line should show how it was reached, such as "₹15,000 − 1 day × ₹15,000 ÷ 31" for an absent day, along with overtime, PF, ESI, professional tax and any advance taken back. A slip with only a total leads to questions on salary day. Staff who read Hindi more easily should get the same slip in Hindi.
Q: Should a payroll app file PF and ESI for me?
A: Most small businesses are better served by an app that prepares the PF ECR file and the ESI sheet from confirmed salary, which you or your CA then upload on the EPFO and ESIC sites. That keeps one person clearly answerable for each monthly upload. PF and ESI for a month are due by the 15th of the next month, so prepare the files early.
Q: Do I need a separate payroll app if I use Tally?
A: If your team is 2 or 3 office staff on fixed pay, a monthly journal in Tally is often enough. Once you have 10 or more people, daily-wage or piece-rate workers, overtime and advances, the working outgrows a spreadsheet, and an app that marks attendance and makes the Tally entry saves the retyping.
Q: Can payroll run on a phone?
A: Yes. Attendance, leave approvals and advances are easiest on a phone because that is where the owner or manager is when they happen. Checking the month's salary and the government files is easier on a computer, so look for an app that does both on the same books.
Takkada's Staff and Payroll add-on is switched on for each company separately. To see it on your own staff list, message us on WhatsApp and we will switch it on for your books.