# Create a payroll payment

Operation ID: `createPayrollPayment`

Group: Accounting › Payroll Payments

[Open in the interactive reference](https://docs.api.lensing.ai/lensing/v1/endpoints/createPayrollPayment)

`POST /accounting/payroll-payments`

Retry-safe: A write that accepts Idempotency-Key: repeating a request with the same key replays the stored answer instead of executing twice.

Creates a payroll payment. Each application names a payroll detail, the payee, and the amount paid.

A payment that would overpay a payroll detail, for one payee or in total, is refused with an error that has no code in the error list.

The response contains only the new payment's id. To see the payment, use GET accounting/payroll-payments/:id.

## Parameters

| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `Api-Version` | header | string · v1 | yes | The API version this request targets, named by its public identifier. Required on every request; omitting it, or naming a version this company does not have, is answered with 400. This document describes version `v1`. |
| `Idempotency-Key` | header | string | no | An opaque caller-chosen string (1-255 characters) that makes this request safe to retry. Repeating the same key with an identical request body replays the original response instead of re-executing - but only once that original request succeeded; a failed attempt re-executes on retry. Repeating the key with a different body is answered with 422. A key still in flight is answered with 409 - as is a key whose original request was interrupted before it finished, for a few minutes afterwards, until that attempt is presumed dead. A completed response stays replayable for 24 hours. The key is scoped to the caller, not to the action: reusing it for a different action is answered with 409 or 422 rather than treated independently. On read actions this header is ignored. On write actions that cannot offer the guarantee it is answered with `400 IDEMPOTENCY_NOT_SUPPORTED` rather than silently ignored. |

## Request body

Required, `application/json`: createPayrollPaymentInput.

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `entityId` | string | yes | The legal entity the payment is posted under. See id on GET base/entities. Example: `"8f2c1d40-5a6b-4c7d-9e80-1f2a3b4c5d6e"`. |
| `paymentDate` | date | yes | The date the payment is made. Use format YYYY-MM-DD. Example: `"2026-08-31"`. |
| `paymentCurrency` | string | yes | The currency of the payment. Format ISO 4217, for example 'USD'. Governs every application amount. Example: `"EUR"`. |
| `paymentStatus` | string | yes | The status to record the payment with, for example 'manuallyRecorded' or 'scheduled'. Example: `"manuallyRecorded"`. |
| `paymentType` | string | no | How the payment is made. Values include 'manual' and 'bank'. Defaults to 'manual'. Example: `"manual"`. |
| `accountId` | string | no | The bank or cash account the payment is drawn from. See id on GET accounting/accounts/:id. |
| `commonDescription` | string | no | A description applied to the payment as a whole. |
| `origin` | string | no | The source system this record came from, as free-form text, for example 'Ramp'. Omit it and it stays unset. The server does not set a value. |
| `applications` | array<object> | yes | The payroll runs this payment settles, one application per payroll detail. At least one is required. Example: `[{"payrollDetailId":"b7e4c1a9-3f52-4d86-9017-5a2c8e0b4d61","accountId":"7c1a9e40-2b53-4d68-9f01-3a5b7c9d1e24","payeeCode":"employee","amountPaid":"12500.00"}]`. |
| `applications[].payrollDetailId` | string | yes | The payroll detail being paid. See id on GET accounting/payroll-details/:id. |
| `applications[].accountId` | string | yes | The account the payment is booked against. See id on GET accounting/accounts/:id. |
| `applications[].payeeCode` | string | yes | The payee, as a payroll-payee code from your tenant's configuration, for example 'employee' or 'taxOffice'. |
| `applications[].amountPaid` | decimal | yes | The amount applied to this payroll detail, as a decimal in the payment's currency. |
| `applications[].vendorId` | string | no | The vendor being paid, when the payee is a third party. See id on GET accounting/vendors/:id. |
| `applications[].employeeId` | string | no | The employee being paid. There is no endpoint for it. |
| `applications[].description` | string | no | A description for this application. |

```json
{
  "entityId": "8f2c1d40-5a6b-4c7d-9e80-1f2a3b4c5d6e",
  "paymentDate": "2026-08-31",
  "paymentCurrency": "EUR",
  "paymentStatus": "manuallyRecorded",
  "paymentType": "manual",
  "accountId": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
  "commonDescription": "<commonDescription>",
  "origin": "<origin>",
  "applications": [
    {
      "payrollDetailId": "b7e4c1a9-3f52-4d86-9017-5a2c8e0b4d61",
      "accountId": "7c1a9e40-2b53-4d68-9f01-3a5b7c9d1e24",
      "payeeCode": "employee",
      "amountPaid": "12500.00"
    }
  ]
}
```

## Response

`200` Success

Under `data` (createPayrollPaymentOutput):

| Field | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `id` | string | yes | The unique identifier for the created payroll payment. Example: `"3f1a8c25-9d47-4e60-b892-0c5a7e3b1d84"`. |

```json
{
  "data": {
    "id": "3f1a8c25-9d47-4e60-b892-0c5a7e3b1d84"
  },
  "diagnostics": [
    {
      "code": "<code>",
      "message": "<message>",
      "severity": "error",
      "path": [
        "<path>"
      ],
      "details": "<details>"
    }
  ]
}
```

## Response headers

- `Idempotency-Replayed` — Present and `true` only when this response replays a previously stored one for the same Idempotency-Key, rather than reflecting a live execution. Absent on a live response - never sent as `false`.

## Errors

| Code | Status |
| --- | --- |
| `REFERENCE_NOT_FOUND` | 400 |
| `NO_APPLICATIONS` | 400 |
| `UNSUPPORTED_PAYMENT_TYPE` | 400 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_KEY_CONFLICT` | 409 |
| `IDEMPOTENCY_PAYLOAD_MISMATCH` | 422 |

## Statuses

- `400` — Invalid request or business failure. Codes: REFERENCE_NOT_FOUND, NO_APPLICATIONS, UNSUPPORTED_PAYMENT_TYPE
- `401` — The request carries no valid access token.
- `403` — Not authorized
- `404` — Not found
- `409` — The Idempotency-Key is still being processed by another request.
- `422` — The Idempotency-Key was already used with a different request payload.
- `429` — Too many requests from this client address. The response has no body and no `Retry-After` header.
- `500` — Internal server error