Payroll across Africa
Payroll for 20,000 people, in under a minute
Every statutory deduction calculated, every return filed, everyone paid into the account they actually use. The same product whether you pay five people or twenty thousand.
Or go straight to
- employers
- 500+ employers
- employees paid monthly
- 35,000+ employees paid monthly
- countries, each with its own rules
- 6 countries, each with its own rules
Payroll journals post to Zoho today — more integrations on the way
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Why we exist
Manual payroll isn’t just slow. It’s an operational liability.
When HR and finance spend days reconciling the same numbers, chasing overtime and checking whether a rate moved last quarter, the time is the cost — and a wrong deduction is the risk.
Neither failure announces itself. A payroll runs, people get paid, and the problem surfaces a quarter later as an underpayment, a penalty or an audit finding — by which point it is somebody’s reputation, not a spreadsheet formula.
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Automated accuracy
Configure allowances, deductions and overtime rules once — weekday, rest-day and holiday hours each at their own rate. The arithmetic then runs the same way every month, on every payslip, without anyone checking it by hand.
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One place for the data
No duplicate entry. Payroll journals post straight to Zoho Books, and employee records stay in step with Zoho People — so a new joiner is entered once, not twice, and finance is not re-keying what HR already typed.
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One run, then the filing
Validate the inputs, run payroll for the whole team, and the statutory return comes out in the format each authority expects. The filing follows from the run rather than being a second job that starts after it.
What you get
What does PayrollMaster actually do for you?
Six outcomes. Each one is a job payroll used to cost you — a day, a penalty, an argument — that it now doesn't.
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Payroll for 20,000 people, in under a minute
PayrollMaster processes a full payroll run — every calculation, every statutory deduction, every payslip — in under a minute, whether you pay five people or twenty thousand.
Payroll stops being a two-day event and becomes a task you finish before lunch.
Speed and scale -
Stay compliant without thinking about compliance
PayrollMaster maintains the statutory rules for every country it supports and updates them centrally when a finance act changes them, so your payroll run always uses the current rules.
When the law moves, you do nothing. Your next payroll run is already right.
Compliance engine -
Statutory filings that are already done
PayrollMaster generates the statutory returns each authority expects — including Kenya’s P9A and P10 with e-signature — and the reports that reconcile payroll to your books, straight from the run.
Filing becomes a download, not a project. Your accountant stops asking you for things.
Filing and reports -
Every payment accounted for, before money moves
PayrollMaster records how each employee is paid — bank, mobile money, cash or cheque, across multiple accounts with salary splits — and tracks the status of every payment on the run.
You know exactly who is owed what, and no run is final without sign-off.
Payments -
The payroll questions stop reaching your inbox
Employees see their own payslips, deductions, leave balances and loan repayments in self-service, on the phone they already own.
No more "can you resend my payslip?" emails.
Employee self-service -
No single person can move payroll on their own
PayrollMaster routes every pay run through multi-level approvals and records a complete audit trail of who changed what, with the ability to roll back a run.
The payroll your auditor asks about is the payroll you can show them, line by line.
Control and audit
The product
What does a payroll run actually look like?
One screen tells you where payroll stands: who is in this run, what it costs, what is still waiting on an approval, and which filings come out of it.
- Costs by department and cost centre, without exporting anything
- The reports finance asks for — summary, variance and the double-entry journal — from the run you just approved
- Approvals visible: you can see what is waiting, and on whom
- to run payroll for 20,000+ employees
- < 1 min to run payroll for 20,000+ employees
- employers on PayrollMaster
- 500+ employers on PayrollMaster
- statutory deductions automated
- 28 statutory deductions automated
- languages — English, Kiswahili, French
- 3 languages — English, Kiswahili, French
Getting started
How hard is it to switch payroll?
Easier than staying. You can start today without talking to anyone — and the only slow payroll run is the first one, because it is the only one where you import history.
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Today
Sign up and import
Create an account, pick the countries you pay in, and import your employee list from a spreadsheet. Nobody has to call you first.
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This week
Run it in parallel
Run the month you just ran, alongside whatever you use today, and compare the payslips and filings line by line. Find the discrepancy now, not after you switch.
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Payday
Everyone paid, filings done
Approve one payroll run. Staff are paid in local currency, payslips appear in self-service, and the statutory returns are ready to file.
Integrations
Does PayrollMaster work with my accounting system?
Payroll is the largest number your finance team posts each month. If it does not reach the ledger on its own, somebody re-keys it — and somebody eventually re-keys it wrong.
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Zoho
Accounting and HR suite
Payroll journals post straight to Zoho Books, and employee records stay in step with Zoho People — so a new joiner is entered once, not twice.
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SAP
SoonEnterprise resource planning
A payroll journal mapped to your SAP chart of accounts and cost centres, so month-end reconciles without a manual entry. On the roadmap — build it against our API today.
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Microsoft Dynamics
SoonEnterprise resource planning
Payroll costs posted to Dynamics against the right department and cost centre, with employee data in sync. On the roadmap — build it against our API today.
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Odoo
SoonBusiness management suite
Journals, cost centres and employee records synced with Odoo, so payroll stops being the one system on its own island. On the roadmap — build it against our API today.
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QuickBooks
SoonAccounting
The payroll journal posted to QuickBooks, already split by account, department and cost centre. On the roadmap — build it against our API today.
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Anything else
Your ERP, via our API
Our live Zoho connector is built on the same documented REST API you get. So a different ERP — or one still on the roadmap — is not a "no", it is an afternoon.
See the API story
PayrollMaster exposes a documented REST API covering employees, payroll runs, journals and statutory reports. Our live Zoho connector is built on it — and it is how you connect any other system today, including the ones still on our roadmap. You are never waiting for us to ship a connector.
Why teams trust it
Payroll is the one system that cannot be approximately right
It moves real money to real people, under laws that change without asking you. So the product is built around the four things that actually go wrong.
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No one moves money alone
Payroll is prepared by one person and approved by another. Every change is logged against the person who made it, and a run can be rolled back.
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Statutory rules, kept current
Uganda changed its PAYE bands in July 2026. Nigeria replaced its entire income tax regime in January 2026. Our customers did nothing — their next run was already right.
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Your data stays yours
Export your payroll history at any time, in full. If you leave, we hand it back. Nothing about this product depends on locking you in.
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It fits what you already run
Zoho, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Odoo and QuickBooks are pre-built. Anything else connects through the same documented API our own connectors use.
Coverage
Which African countries does PayrollMaster support?
PayrollMaster runs payroll in Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia. Each market has its own statutory deductions, its own filings and its own currency — maintained separately, not approximated from a shared template.
Questions
What do people ask before switching payroll?
What is PayrollMaster Africa?
PayrollMaster Africa is payroll software for employers operating in Africa. It calculates every statutory deduction each country requires, produces the monthly returns those authorities expect, and pays employees in their own currency. It currently supports Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia.
Which African countries does PayrollMaster support?
PayrollMaster supports payroll in Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia. Each country has its own statutory deductions, its own filing requirements and its own currency, and each one is maintained separately rather than approximated from a shared template.
How long does it take to set up payroll?
Most companies run their first payroll within a week. Setup is importing your employee list, confirming each employee’s country and pay details, and reconciling one historical payroll run so the year-to-date figures are right. The first run is the slow one; every run after it takes minutes.
What happens when a tax rate or statutory deduction changes?
We update it centrally and your next payroll run uses the new figure. You do not patch a spreadsheet or install anything. This is the single biggest reason companies move off spreadsheets: a formula written two years ago has no way of knowing that a Finance Act moved the rate.
Does PayrollMaster file statutory returns for me?
PayrollMaster produces the monthly statutory returns in the format each authority expects — the PAYE return, social security schedules and levy remittances for every country you operate in. Filing is included in the subscription rather than charged per submission.
How many employees can PayrollMaster handle?
PayrollMaster runs payroll for more than 20,000 employees in under a minute, including every statutory calculation and payslip. The same product serves a five-person company and a twenty-thousand-person group, so you do not migrate to a different system when you grow.
Does PayrollMaster integrate with my accounting system or ERP?
PayrollMaster posts payroll journals to Zoho today, against the right accounts and cost centres, and keeps employee records in step. SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Odoo and QuickBooks are on the roadmap, and any other ERP connects now through the documented REST API our Zoho connector is built on.
How much does payroll software cost in Africa?
PayrollMaster is priced per employee per month, with statutory filing included rather than billed per submission. That makes payroll cost a predictable function of headcount. Outsourcing to a local bureau is usually cheaper below about ten employees per country and more expensive above it.
Run your next payroll on PayrollMaster
Start free, import your employee list, and run one real month alongside whatever you use today. Compare the output line by line before you switch anything.