Setting Up Clients and Payroll

As a payroll provider, you can onboard your clients to Lano and configure their payroll settings directly from your account. The client creation flow guides you through all required setup steps, from basic company information to payroll cycle configuration.

You can add a new client from two places:

• Dashboard — click the Plus (+) button in the header of the Clients widget.

• Clients page — click Add client in the top-right corner.

This opens the client creation flow, which consists of 5 steps:

1. Client details

2. Cycle setup

3. Cut-off dates

4. First cycle

5. Review and finish

Each step must be completed before moving to the next.

At this step, you need to provide:

• Legal company name

• Country of residence

Important: Currently, only resident entities can be added to Lano. If you need to onboard a company with a different legal setup, please contact help@lano.io.

Next, configure the client’s payroll cycle. You will define:

Payroll Cycle Type

• Monthly

• Semi-monthly

Net Pay Date Type

Choose one of the following:

• Last day of the cycle

• Offset from the last day (before)

• Offset from the last day (after)

• Specific date in the cycle month

• Specific date in the month after the cycle

Additional logic:

• If selecting Specific date in the cycle month, choose a date between 15–31.

• If selecting Specific date in the month after the cycle, choose a date between 1–31.

• If selecting 29, 30, or 31, Lano automatically moves the payday to the last valid business day in shorter months.

• If selecting Offset, you must define 1–15 business days before or after the end of the cycle.

Cycle Timeline Preview

A dynamic cycle timeline example appears below the net pay date settings. It visualizes:

• Cycle start and end dates

• Cut-off date(s)

• Net pay date(s)

Click the chevron to expand and view details.

At this step, you define how payroll changes will be accepted for the client.

You must specify whether the client has:

• Regular cut-off date only, or

• Both regular and late cut-off dates

For each applicable cut-off date, choose the cut-off date type:

• Specific date

• Offset from net pay date (before)

Special rules:

• Semi-monthly cycles support only offset-based cut-off dates.

• For semi-monthly cycles, the 1st net pay date is always the 15th.

• Only the 2nd net pay date can be configured with a specific date.

This step defines the client’s first active cycle. Currently, the first cycle cannot be selected manually (this option is coming soon). For now:

• The first payroll cycle automatically starts once Lano activates at least one fully onboarded employee.

• Lano ensures the first cycle falls in a month with enough time for the client to submit payroll changes.

You may add an optional comment about the client’s onboarding or first cycle settings.

A summary of all configured settings is displayed. You can edit any section by clicking Edit in that section’s header.

Click Add client to finalize.

Once created, the client appears in Lano as a draft and you are redirected to the Client Details page.

This page includes:

• General information

• Address

• Payroll settings

• Billing details

• Client onboarding progress

Only Payroll settings can be edited by the payroll provider. All other details will be completed by the client during onboarding.

To start the client onboarding, go to the Client onboarding progress section and click Invite client to Lano.

You must provide:

• Contact person’s name

• Email address

Click Send invite.

After sending:

• Onboarding progresses to step 2

• Client status becomes Onboarding

Once the invitation is sent, the client’s contact person receives an email inviting them to join Lano and complete their account setup. 

When they click the call-to-action button:

1. They are taken to the registration flow

2. They set up their password

3. They provide required company information

Once the client completes registration and the first payroll cycle is set, their status changes to Active.