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Troubleshooting common Xero export errors

Lisa Kirby
  • Updated
This guide will list some of the common errors you may get when exporting to Xero, the possible causes and how to fix them.

Validation Exception Error

Possible Reasons

  • You are trying to export unpaid leave 
  • Leave names do not match between Deputy and Xero
  • Hire date is after the start of the pay period

Possible Solutions

  • Check leave items in the timesheets, and use this to match the leave name in Xero - they must match
  • If pay rates have been changed recently, re-sync the employee, or re-approve the timesheet
  • Check leave names in Deputy and edit them to match in Xero

Employees Not Found

Possible Reasons

  • Xero connection drop-out
  • Name/email of employee doesn't match between Xero and Deputy

Possible Solutions

  • Check names and emails match exactly in Xero and Deputy.

Invalid Leave Period

Possible Reason

  • Xero pay calendar does not match the date range set in Deputy

Possible Solutions

  • Match the exported pay period between Deputy and Xero

Timesheet is not a Draft Timesheet

Possible Reasons

  • The timesheets have already been approved in Xero

Possible Solutions

  • In Xero, revert timesheets to "Draft" status

Timesheet already exists/Timesheet cannot be overwritten

Possible Reasons

  • Employee has submitted a timesheet in Xero

Possible Solutions

  • Decline the timesheet and revert it to 'Draft' status. Attempt to export the timesheet again

Pay Element not found

Possible reasons

  • The earnings rate configured in Xero is not correct.

Possible Solutions

  • In Xero, you will need to make sure that each employee has an Ordinary Earnings Rate (set on each employee's Employment tab). This earnings rate must be a pay rate with the Type "Ordinary Time Earnings" and the Rate Type "Rate per Unit". The Unit Type must be "Hours". If it is not, you will receive a "Pay Element Not Found" error when exporting.

Rates exported to Xero (from Deputy) are wrong, even AFTER re-syncing the employee and re-approving the timesheet

Possible Reasons

  • Employee is syncing to previous (discarded) employee profile in Xero

Possible Solutions

  • Turn off Auto-Sync
  • Check if there's a duplicate employee in Xero (check under history)
  • Check if employee shares an email in Xero with another employee

Superannuation Error

Possible Reasons

  • No superannuation in employee's template in Xero

Possible Solutions

  • Add superannuation in employee's pay template in Xero

Scope Not Recognised

Possible Reasons

  • Xero account is from a country we do not integrate with/support

Possible Solutions

  • We can only export to Xero instances from Australia, New Zealand, United States and United Kingdom

Export Failed - Xero Validation Exception Earnings Rate Does not Exist

Possible Solutions

  1. Check which team member(s) are causing the problem by exporting in small batches to isolate the problem

  2. Check pay template (check if Allowances items are set up as hourly)

  3. Check if the latest pay rates have been synced

  4. Sync team members, unapprove then reapprove.

Export Failed - Employee - happens when retrieving data of this Employee from Xero

Possible Solutions

  • Check base rate is assigned in the Employment and Pay Template tab and then export again.

Export Failed: Add Pay Items Failed

Possible Reasons

  • A Pay Item in Xero has not been allocated to an expense account. Read - Creating the Pay Items Earnings Rate in Xero for more information on setting up Pay Items in Xero.
  • This error will still occur even if the Pay Item is inactive so please check active and inactive Pay Items.

Possible Solutions

  • Ensure all Earnings Lines within Pay Items are allocated to the correct expense account. If this is a pay rate, it will usually be the main expense account used to pay employees.
  • For any Earnings Lines that are inactive and not allocated to an expense account, you will need to mark them as active, allocate an expense account and then mark them as inactive again before you try to export again.

No Payroll Calendar found

Possible Reasons

  • A valid Payroll calendar does not exist in Xero. 

  • The Payroll calendar is not assigned to the profiles of the staff in Xero. 

  • There are active Xero pay runs.

Possible Solutions

  • Check Payroll Calendar exists. This can be seen within settings > payroll settings > calendars.
  • The Payroll calendar that you're exporting for should have dates that match with the pay period (dates) that you're exporting Timesheets for in deputy.
  • Check that the Payroll calendar is assigned to the profiles of the staff in Xero. This can be seen by going to payroll > employees > select employee > employment > pay calendar. 
  • If there is an active pay run, please delete the pay run.

Daily Xero API rate limit reached for this Xero account.

Possible Reasons

  • Xero has a limit of 5,000 times that an individual Xero account is able to have an API request sent to it in a calendar day.
  • Your Deputy account has attempted to send more than 5,000 requests in a day to a single Xero account

Possible Solutions

  • Unfortunately, the only solution to this is to try the connection to Xero the next day. Once the rate limit is reached your Xero account will not accept any more connections for that day.

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