Payroll for Organisations in Timor-Leste · How Xefe Works — Payroll an Auditor Can Follow · Pricing — One Rate, Agreed Annually · Request Access to Xefe · Accountant Access in Xefe · The Xefe Engine — Timor-Leste Payroll Law in Code · Security for Your Xefe Account · Xefe Documentation — How Timor-Leste Payroll Really Works · Getting Started — Xefe Documentation · Running Payroll — Xefe Documentation · Taxes & Statutory Filings — Xefe Documentation · Invoices, Bills & Expenses — Xefe Documentation · Attendance, Leave & Shifts — Xefe Documentation · Privacy Policy · Terms of ServiceGetting Started — Xefe DocumentationAccept your invitation, set up your company, add your team, and get ready for your first payroll — in about the time it takes to make coffee.Xefe brings HR, payroll, time & leave, invoicing, and accounting together for Timor-Leste businesses, with Timor-Leste's own tax and labor rules — wage income tax (WIT) withholding, INSS contributions, and statutory leave — built in as the default.Every feature is free to use. The only thing that ever needs a subscription is finalizing a payroll run. Setting up your company, adding your team, building a draft payroll, invoicing, and reporting are all free from day one.Get your invitation

Request access — Xefe is by invitation. Fill in the short form on the Request access page: your organisation, how many people you pay, and how to reach you. We reply by email, usually the same working day, with a personal invitation link that works once.

Accept your invitation — Open the link and enter your full name, work email and a password, or continue with Google. Check your company's name: Xefe turns it into a short company address, which you can edit if you'd rather choose your own. Create the account and you're straight into Xefe. No card is needed.

First-run setupThe first time you sign in, a short setup wizard walks you through three quick steps. You can skip ahead to your dashboard at any point — nothing you've entered is lost, and Xefe picks up where you left off.

Company details — Enter your legal company name and Tax Identification Number (TIN/NIF) — the only two required fields. The registered address is optional here, but every WIT and INSS return prints it — add it now or before your first filing. Trading name, phone, email, sector and team size live in Settings → Company details. Your Employer NISS (INSS registration number) is added separately later, in Settings → Company details, once you're ready to file INSS.

Salary payment — Choose how you pay salaries: cash, or bank transfer. Cash needs no bank details at all. Bank transfer needs a bank name and account number — BNU, Bank Mandiri, ANZ, and BNCTL all appear as options.

Payroll basics — Pick your monthly pay day (any day from 1 to 31; 31 means the last day of the month) and confirm your currency — Timor-Leste uses USD. Xefe applies Timor-Leste's default rates automatically: WIT withholding above $500/month, INSS at 4% employee / 6% employer, a 44-hour standard week, and default leave entitlements under Timor-Leste labor law. Every one of these stays editable later in Settings.

Add your team

Add an employee — From People, enter the essentials: first and last name, start date, employment type, monthly salary and tax residence — resident or non-resident, because it sets the wage-tax rate. Email, date of birth, department and job title can wait. For identification, Xefe asks Timorese staff for a Bilhete de Identidade and foreign staff for a passport, but those numbers are also optional at first. None of it blocks you from saving the employee. The INSS number is the one to chase first — enrol the worker on INSS form AO2 by the date you file the first declaration that includes them (DL 20/2017, Art. 3(2)); cover runs from their first day and INSS issues the number about a week later. Record the date you lodged the form and Xefe puts them on the declaration as "NISS pending" until the number arrives; anyone with neither is named before you file. You can also set the language the person reads — their payslip and every email Xefe sends them follow it.

Invite your teammates — Go to Settings → Team access to invite people by email and give each one a role — Owner, HR administrator, Accountant, Manager, or Viewer. Each role starts with standard access to only the parts of Xefe that job needs, so an accountant sees the books without member management, and a manager sees only their own team.

Your first payrollWith your team in place, build a draft payroll run and review every calculated amount — wages, WIT, INSS, overtime — before anything is final. A second person approves the run (never the same person who built it), and finalizing it is the one step that needs an active subscription. See our Running payroll guide for the full walkthrough, from a draft run to paid payslips.Stuck on anything? Message us on WhatsApp at +670 7337 1307 — support is available in English, Portuguese, and Tetun.