Advanced: Payroll

For users who already know the basics — this guide covers wage type customisation, period locking mechanics, the 13th salary, QST source tax, and payroll exports.

Wage Type Customisation

The system ships with 185 standard Swiss wage types. Each has a numeric code and belongs to one of five groups:

• 1xxx — Regular income (base salary, 13th month, company car benefit)
• 2xxx-3xxx — Extraordinary income (bonuses, family allowances, KTG benefits)
• 5xxx — Employee deductions (AHV, ALV, UVG, KTG, BVG, QST)
• 6xxx/8xxx — Expense reimbursements
• 7xxx — Employer contributions (employer AHV, ALV, UVG, KTG, BVG, FAK)

You can customise the label and accounting codes (debit/credit accounts) for any wage type to match your bookkeeping setup. When you edit one, the system creates a private copy for your organisation — the original standard type stays untouched.

However, the calculation flags (which insurances a wage type affects) are locked and cannot be changed. This protects the integrity of Swiss compliance calculations. If a standard wage type does not apply to your business, deactivate it so it no longer appears in the interface.

Payroll Period Locking and Corrections

Once you finalise a payroll for a month, all associated time entries and expenses are permanently locked. This prevents retroactive changes that would invalidate the payslip.

Correction workflow:

1. If you spot an error before finalising — reset the draft. This unlocks all linked data and lets you start over.
2. If you spot an error after finalising — add a correction line in the following month's payroll. This is the standard Swiss approach and keeps your audit trail clean.
3. You can add or remove individual lines on a draft payroll at any time — one-time bonuses, additional deductions, manual adjustments.

The system tracks the full history of each payroll through an activity log: creation, generation, finalisation, PDF generation, and email delivery — all with timestamps and the user who performed each action.

13th Salary and Special Payments

Swiss employment commonly includes a 13th monthly salary. The system handles this as a separate wage type that can be:

• Included proportionally in each monthly payroll, or
• Paid as a lump sum (typically in December)

The 13th-month amount is calculated from the employee's full-time gross salary and work percentage.

Other special payment types:

• Bonuses — extraordinary income with its own wage code and insurance rules.
• Family allowances (FAK/FZ) — per-child allowances exempt from certain deductions. The payroll engine applies exemptions automatically.
• Sickness benefits (KTG) — insurance benefit payments that replace salary during illness. Different insurance calculation rules apply.

QST (Source Tax) and Canton-Specific Rules

Foreign workers without a C permit are subject to Quellensteuer (QST). The system calculates QST based on:

• Canton of residence
• Marital status
• Number of children
• Church membership

Canton-specific rate tables are built in and updated annually. QST replaces the normal income tax — the employer deducts it directly and remits it to the cantonal tax authority. The payslip shows QST as a separate deduction line, and the export breaks out QST amounts for easy reporting.

ALV salary cap: Unemployment insurance contributions are calculated at the standard rate (1.1%, split 50/50) up to CHF 148,200 per year, with a reduced solidarity rate above that threshold. The system tracks year-to-date earnings and switches automatically when the cap is reached.

Payroll Export and Accounting Integration

After finalising, export payroll data as CSV, Excel, or PDF:

• CSV — designed for import into Swiss accounting packages. One row per wage type per employee, with codes and accounting references.
• Excel — adds summary sheets and grouping for manual review.
• PDF — printable summary for board reporting or auditors.

You can export a single month or a date range. The export includes gross salary, every deduction, net pay, expense reimbursements, employer contributions, and year-to-date insurance-relevant totals (AHV base, ALV base) for cap verification.

Related Guides

• Modules-Lohnabrechnung — basic setup and daily workflow
• Modules-Rechnungsstellung — comparing payroll costs to billed revenue