Each month, payroll must be processed. All relevant changes within the calendar month must be submitted completely and on time to your payroll office or tax advisor. In this article, you will learn what to consider when approving payroll.
Checking the payroll submission deadline
View the deadline in the overview
Your payroll office or tax advisor defines the deadline for submitting monthly payroll data. This deadline is displayed directly in the web interface.
After login, the “Overview” menu opens automatically. At the top of the screen, you will see:
the currently relevant calendar month
the corresponding payroll submission deadline
Email Notifications About the Deadline
In addition to the display in the application, you receive email notifications:
approximately 3 days before the deadline expires
as well as on the day of the deadline
If you miss the deadline, you will receive a one-time additional email notifying you of this. You should always submit data by the deadline to avoid delays.
What happens after submission?
After submission, your payroll office or tax advisor processes the data further. The exact steps depend on your individual arrangement with your Payroll Admin.
Typically, the released data enables:
the creation of payroll statements for all affected employees
the generation of all required reports, e.g., social security and tax
the creation of payment files
the provision of payslips and other payroll documents
Clean and complete data is essential for timely payroll processing and payment to employees. Missing or late information can lead to delays, additional effort, and potentially extra costs.
Some service providers first create test payroll runs, which are reviewed and approved by HR admins. Depending on your agreement, confirming the monthly payroll data may either:
trigger the creation of test payroll runs, or
directly release the final payroll
Review and confirm monthly payroll data
Understanding the submission status
The “Overview” menu gives you a quick overview of whether the payroll data for a month can be submitted. You will see a status indicating the current state of the data:
Ready for submission:
The system has no indications that information is missing. After a brief review, you can submit the data.
Information missing:
The system has identified open items indicating that information is still missing, for example ongoing master data collection, contracts with a pending termination confirmation, or unanswered absence requests.
Overdue:
The submission deadline for the current month has already passed.
Submitted:
The data for the current calendar month has already been submitted to the payroll office or tax advisor.
The status is based on system-detected events such as incomplete master data or pending terminations. The system can only evaluate the data available. It is therefore important that you record all relevant events for the calendar month and cross-check them against the data in the system.
Recommended checks before submission
The “Overview” menu guides you from top to bottom through the most important areas you should review before submitting the monthly payroll data.
New contracts
In the “New contracts” table, you can see all open master data collection processes.
The overview shows, among other things:
which employee the process relates to (ID, name, email)
the contract start date (if already known)
when the invitation was last sent
Make sure that all processes relevant to the current calendar month are completed so that these employees are correctly included in payroll.
Ending contracts
In the “Ending contracts” table, you can see all employment relationships where a contract end date is recorded for the current calendar month.
It is important to clarify whether the employee is actually leaving or whether the contract will be extended:
Hover over the relevant row.
You can adjust the contract end date if the contract continues.
Or you can enter the termination details (e.g. termination date and reason). This information is required, among other things, for employment certificates.
Review absences
The “Absences” table shows all reported absences for the relevant period. Pay particular attention to the following:
Pending absence requests should be reviewed and responded to before submission.
Sick leave is especially important for payroll, as it may trigger reimbursements or statutory reports.
Longer-term absences such as unpaid leave, parental leave, or other special cases should also be recorded correctly.
Review changes in the calendar month
Finally, you will see a table listing all changes made during the calendar month. There are two available views:
List view:
All changes are displayed as individual rows. You can sort by name or type of change and use the search function to find specific items.Card view:
All changes are grouped by employee or by employment contract. Switch to the card view and expand the entries for each person to see all related changes at a glance.
This overview helps you check:
whether all relevant changes have been recorded or if any items are still missing
whether all changes have been properly authorised and made by the appropriate users
Submit the month
Once you have reviewed all areas and the status is “Ready for submission,” you can submit the data.
Scroll back to the top of the “Overview” menu.
Click the “Submit month” button.
The system submits the data in accordance with the processes agreed with your payroll office or tax advisor. After successful submission, the status of the month changes to “Submitted.”
Final checks before monthly submission
In addition to using the overview, the following checklist questions can help you verify that everything is complete:
Does an employment start in the current calendar month?
Are all master data details for the new employee fully recorded?Does an employment end in the current calendar month?
Has the termination been confirmed and have any required certificates (e.g. employment certificates) been initiated?Have all salary or wage changes been recorded?
Have amendments, allowances, or reductions been entered completely and correctly?
If you have addressed these points and considered the indicators shown in the overview, you are well prepared to release payroll for the month in a timely and complete manner.