Retrieve a payroll template

Operation ID: getPayrollTemplate

Group: Accounting › Payroll Templates

Open in the interactive reference

GET /accounting/payroll-templates/{id}

Read-only: Reads and returns; changes nothing.

Retrieves a payroll template. A payroll template sets how a payroll detail becomes a journal entry, including the debit and credit account for each payroll category. The response includes the categories, which GET accounting/payroll-templates doesn't return. To find a template by name, use POST accounting/payroll-templates/search.

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.
id path string yes The unique identifier of the payroll template you want to retrieve. Example: "f6a1c0d2-7b45-4e39-8c1a-90de2b47f513".

Response

200 Success

Under data (getPayrollTemplateOutput):

Field Type Required Description
id string yes The unique identifier for the payroll template.
name string yes The name of the payroll template. Unique across payroll templates.
description string no A free-form description of the payroll template.
groupBy string yes The level at which payroll amounts are entered. Possible values: 'Employee', 'Department', 'Multi-level'.
journalEntryDate string yes The date the generated journal entry is posted on. Possible values: 'payrollDate', 'endDate'.
journalEntryGroupBy string yes The default consolidation level for generated journal lines. Possible values: 'account', 'accountAndPayrollCategory', 'payrollCategory', 'payrollCategoryByEmployee'.
deductionsType string yes Whether deduction amounts in imported data arrive positive or negative. Possible values: 'positive', 'negative'.
source string no The payroll system this template imports from. Possible values: 'datev', 'datevEmployeePayroll', 'datevEmployeePayrollPersonLevel', 'rippling', 'lexware', 'briars', 'gusto', 'adpGLReport', 'adpPayrollHistory', 'sage', 'none'.
status string no The lifecycle status of the payroll template. Possible values: 'create', 'active', 'inactive'. It is computed from the template's categories, not set through the API.
clearingAccountId string no The general ledger account payroll amounts are cleared through. See id on GET accounting/accounts/:id.
entities array<string> yes The names of the legal entities this template is mapped to. An empty array when it is mapped to none.
lastModifiedDate date-time yes The date and time the payroll template last changed, in UTC. Format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ.
categories array<object> no The payroll categories defined on this template, each mapping one payroll line type onto a debit and a credit account. An empty array when the template has none.
categories[].id string yes The unique identifier for the payroll category.
categories[].name string yes The name of the category, for example 'Gross Salary'. Unique within the template.
categories[].subType string yes The kind of payroll amount this category represents. Possible values: 'grossPay', 'deduction', 'netPay', 'employer'.
categories[].status string no The lifecycle status of the category. Possible values: 'active', 'inactive'.
categories[].payee string no Who the amount is paid to, as a payee code from your tenant's configured payee list, for example 'employee', 'payrollProvider', 'benefitsProvider' or 'taxOffice'.
categories[].isManagedFromPayroll boolean no Whether payments for this category are recorded through payroll rather than separately.
categories[].debitAccountId string no The general ledger account this category debits. See id on GET accounting/accounts/:id.
categories[].debitJournalAggregation string no The consolidation level for journal lines posted to the debit account. Absent means the template default applies.
categories[].creditAccountId string no The general ledger account this category credits. See id on GET accounting/accounts/:id.
categories[].creditJournalAggregation string no The consolidation level for journal lines posted to the credit account. Absent means the template default applies.
categories[].debitTags array<object> no Tags stamped on every journal line this category debits, one per dimension. Absent when none.
categories[].debitTags[].dimension string yes The tag dimension, e.g. 'vendor'.
categories[].debitTags[].id string yes The tagged record. For 'vendor', see id on GET accounting/vendors/:id.
categories[].creditTags array<object> no Tags stamped on every journal line this category credits, one per dimension. Absent when none.
categories[].creditTags[].dimension string yes The tag dimension, e.g. 'vendor'.
categories[].creditTags[].id string yes The tagged record. For 'vendor', see id on GET accounting/vendors/:id. 
{
  "data": {
    "id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
    "name": "<name>",
    "description": "<description>",
    "groupBy": "<groupBy>",
    "journalEntryDate": "<journalEntryDate>",
    "journalEntryGroupBy": "<journalEntryGroupBy>",
    "deductionsType": "<deductionsType>",
    "source": "<source>",
    "status": "<status>",
    "clearingAccountId": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
    "entities": [
      "<entities>"
    ],
    "lastModifiedDate": "2026-01-15T09:30:00.000Z",
    "categories": [
      {
        "id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
        "name": "<name>",
        "subType": "<subType>",
        "status": "<status>",
        "payee": "<payee>",
        "isManagedFromPayroll": true,
        "debitAccountId": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
        "debitJournalAggregation": "<debitJournalAggregation>",
        "creditAccountId": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
        "creditJournalAggregation": "<creditJournalAggregation>",
        "debitTags": [
          {
            "dimension": "<dimension>",
            "id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6"
          }
        ],
        "creditTags": [
          {
            "dimension": "<dimension>",
            "id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "diagnostics": [
    {
      "code": "<code>",
      "message": "<message>",
      "severity": "error",
      "path": [
        "<path>"
      ],
      "details": "<details>"
    }
  ]
}

Errors

Code Status
NOT_FOUND 400

Statuses