Payroll in Excel — Salary, Payslips, EPF/ESI/PT/TDS

Ankeshan's Payroll module runs your entire payroll inside Excel — from employee master and attendance to salary calculation, statutory deductions, branded payslips, and the challans and returns you have to file. It handles EPF, ESI, Professional Tax, and TDS correctly across states, and is built for the 2026 Labour Codes, including the 50%-of-CTC wage rule and the 2-working-day full-and-final settlement clock.

Ankeshan adds this inside the Excel you already use — nothing new to learn, nothing leaves your PC.

What it does

Keeps an employee master — personal, statutory (UAN, ESI, EPF, PT state), employment, and salary details, with PAN, Aadhaar, and bank fields encrypted.
Calculates salary with every statutory deduction:
- EPF at 12% (₹15,000 wage ceiling) with UAN validation.
- ESI at 0.75% employee / 3.25% employer for wages under the ₹21,000 threshold.
- Professional Tax across 22 states and 36 jurisdictions, applied automatically by employee location.
- TDS — old vs new regime per employee, with Form 12BB capture and arrears relief under Section 89(1).
- LWF at state-wise rates.
Applies the 2026 Labour Code wage rule — auto-calculates wage as at least 50% of CTC and warns if a salary structure is non-compliant.
Handles attendance and LOP — manual or biometric CSV import, leave (CL/SL/PL), overtime, and auto Loss-of-Pay adjustment for absent days.
Computes gratuity and bonus — the 15/26 gratuity formula (or 4.81% accrual) and Payment of Bonus Act ceilings.
Generates branded payslips as PDF — earnings, deductions, net pay, YTD totals, and a tax summary — in bulk.
Prepares statutory outputs — Form 24Q (FVU-validated), Form 16 Part A + B, EPF ECR, ESIC challan, PT challan per state, and LWF returns.
Runs a bank-ready disbursement file in common formats (HDFC/ICICI/SBI/Axis).
Handles mixed workforces — full-time, contractors, daily-wage, interns, and consultants, each with the right tax and statutory treatment.
Runs a full-and-final settlement workflow with an exit checklist, asset recovery, final salary and gratuity, and the 2-working-day clock enforced.

How it works in Excel

You maintain an Employees master and a monthly Attendance sheet. Each pay cycle, Ankeshan computes every component per employee — basic, allowances, EPF, ESI, PT by state, TDS by regime, LOP, gratuity accrual — and writes a Salary_Run with the results. Every payslip is audited for computation and statutory errors before disbursal, so mistakes surface before money moves, not after.

From that run, Ankeshan produces the payslip PDFs, the bank disbursement file, and the statutory challans and returns. State-specific rules (PT slabs, LWF) and statutory ceilings update from the server, so multi-state payroll stays correct without you reinstalling anything.

Who it's for

This module is for the many Indian SMEs — an estimated 62% — still running payroll on spreadsheets, and for accountants managing payroll for clients. It fits businesses with a handful to a few hundred employees, especially those operating across states with different PT slabs, or employing a mix of full-time staff, contractors, and consultants who each need different treatment.

Good to know

You file the returns; Ankeshan prepares them. It generates FVU-validated Form 24Q, challans, and Form 16, ready for you to submit on the respective portals.
Sensitive fields are encrypted. PAN, Aadhaar, and bank details are stored encrypted, and your data stays on your PC.
Rules update from the server. EPF/ESI ceilings, PT slabs, and Labour Code parameters refresh automatically; still confirm edge cases for your state.
Structure compliance is flagged, not forced. Ankeshan warns when a CTC structure breaches the 50% wage rule so you can fix it before running payroll.

Learn more

Launching soon

Pricing is announced at launch. Join the waitlist to run compliant payroll without the spreadsheet gymnastics.