Ask about Xero Payroll across AU, NZ and the UK
Payroll is optional access. The connector uses different Xero Payroll APIs by region, so available actions differ between Australia, New Zealand and the UK.
Read payroll information
Where payroll access is enabled, tools can list employees and pay runs, read leave balances and earnings rates, and summarise a pay run. Leave balance queries can cover active employees in an organisation: up to 100 in Australia, and up to 25 in New Zealand and the UK, where Xero needs a separate call for each employee. When more employees exist than were fetched, the assistant is told so and can ask for the others by name. Pay run summaries compare employee net pay with the previous run of the same calendar and flag changes of 20 percent or more, and employees who were paid in only one of the two runs.
What works in Australia, New Zealand and the UK
Xero publishes a different Payroll API for each region, and the connector follows what each one allows. Where a row says No, the connector refuses plainly rather than guessing.
| What the assistant can do | Australia | New Zealand | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the assistant can doRead employees, pay runs, leave balances and earnings rates | AustraliaYes | New ZealandYes | United KingdomYes |
| What the assistant can doSummarise a pay run against the previous one | AustraliaYes | New ZealandYes | United KingdomYes |
| What the assistant can doDraft a timesheet for approval | AustraliaYes | New ZealandYes | United KingdomYes |
| What the assistant can doDraft a leave application for approval | AustraliaYes | New ZealandYes | United KingdomYes |
| What the assistant can doDraft an employee contact detail update for approval | AustraliaYes | New ZealandYes | United KingdomYes |
| What the assistant can doDraft a pay run for approval | AustraliaYes | New ZealandYes | United KingdomNo |
| What the assistant can doPost a pay run to Xero after approval | AustraliaYes | New ZealandNo | United KingdomNo |
Draft payroll changes
The connector can propose timesheets, leave applications and updates to employee contact details. The update tool allows names, email, phone, mobile and address fields. These proposed changes wait for approval in Invio; nothing reaches Xero until a person approves it. Read how the approval queue works.
What it never touches
The employee update tool does not expose or edit bank details, tax numbers, tax settings or salary rates, and no payroll tool offers a way to change them. Posting a pay run does not file Single Touch Payroll with the ATO or transfer wages to employee bank accounts; both happen outside the connector, through whatever process your business already uses.
Pay run limits by region
Pay runs can be created through the API in Australia and New Zealand, but not the UK. Posting a pay run is supported for Australia only, and once an approved post has gone through, Xero's API has no way to move that pay run back to draft. Review all payroll proposals carefully before approval.
Before payroll questions will work
Payroll is off by default. You switch it on as an optional permission on Invio's permission picker, and drafting payroll changes is a second optional permission that needs payroll read access to be on first. Xero's own Payroll setup must be complete for the organisation, and the Xero user who connected must have held payroll administrator access at the time. If either is missing, the tool says so rather than returning an empty list, so a refusal does not mean the organisation has no payroll data.
Prompts to try
The assistant needs real employee, calendar and earnings-rate details from Xero; it cannot safely invent them, so it looks them up first.
"Show annual leave balances for active employees in Acme NZ."
"Which employees have a negative leave balance in Acme AU?"
"Summarise the latest pay run in Acme AU and flag anything that changed a lot."
"Who was paid in the last pay run but not the one before?"
"List the earnings rates set up in Acme UK."
"Draft a timesheet for [employee] for 38 ordinary hours."
"Draft a leave application for [employee] for next Friday."
"Update the mobile number for [employee]."
Questions we get asked
Which payroll regions are supported?
The payroll tools support Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, with region-specific API behaviour.
Can Claude run my payroll?
No. It can read payroll information and draft changes that a person approves. It cannot file Single Touch Payroll, and it cannot move wages to bank accounts. Posting a pay run is available for Australia only and still waits for approval.
Can the assistant create a UK pay run?
No. The UK Payroll API path in the connector does not permit pay run creation.
Can it post payroll in New Zealand or the UK?
No. Posting is implemented for Australia only.
Can it change tax or bank details?
No. Those fields are outside the employee update allow-list and are not exposed by the payroll tools.
Is payroll access on by default?
No. Payroll is optional access that you choose when you connect, and it also needs Xero Payroll to be set up for the organisation.
Do payroll writes require approval?
Yes. Read how the approval queue works, or return to general use cases.
Connector pages
Invio works with Xero; it does not replace it. To compare how it sits next to the options Xero offers itself, read Xero's own options next to Invio.
Xero MCP connector
The overview: what it does, how it is priced and how to start.
What you can do
Questions and draft actions across several Xero organisations.
Approvals
How changes wait for a person before anything reaches Xero.
Setup guide
Connecting your first organisation, screen by screen.
Security
What the connector can see, and what it can never touch.
Use it with Claude
Adding the connector to Claude.
Use it with ChatGPT
Adding the connector to ChatGPT.
Xero's own options
Xero's own ways to connect an assistant, set out next to Invio.