Table of Contents

Core payroll processes

SwissSalary guides you from the configured company and employee data through monthly payroll processing to posting, payment, and declaration. This article shows payroll administrators and Business Central partners the sequence and explains where you need to verify data or complete a status. Use it as guidance before the first production run and as a reference for the monthly and annual sequence.

Prerequisites

  • SwissSalary is licensed, and the allocation group is set up.
  • You know the roles in your organization, including who processes, approves, posts, and pays payroll.
  • The detailed articles linked under See also provide working instructions. This article maps the sequence.

Process overview

A regular payroll process consists of separate steps:

  1. Set up the foundations: Set up payroll, allocation groups, posting groups, working groups, calendars, and bank accounts.
  2. Prepare insurance and Swissdec: Enter the information required for OASI, UI, family allowance funds, occupational pension schemes, and other insurance. Set up Swissdec ELM for electronic salary declarations.
  3. Set up employees: Enter employment and payroll data, assign the allocation group, working group, posting group, bank, and insurance coverage, and add withholding tax data if required.
  4. Maintain salary components: Use salary types to control the calculation, social insurance, tax, and posting effects. Enter recurring components under Allocated Salary with a validity period.
  5. Prepare variable data: Enter or import amounts, quantities, times, and absences in Management Rapport Journal.
  6. Test and process the payroll run: Verify the journal and employee master data. Then start Process Payroll for the required allocation group and period.
  7. Check and approve the result: In particular, check Paycheck, Difference List, Salary Entries, and the payment data. If the approval process is active, someone other than the person who calculated the payroll run must approve it.
  8. Pay: Create the payment file with ISO 20022 File or the required payment report.
  9. Post: With Post Payroll, you transfer the checked payroll run to financial accounting and, if applicable, cost accounting according to the setup.
  10. Declare and complete: Submit and process withholding tax and Swissdec salary declarations. At year-end, create the required annual declarations and salary certificates.
Wichtig

Payroll processing, approval, posting, payment, and declaration are separate process steps. A calculated payroll run is not automatically posted, paid, or reported to authorities and insurers.

Monthly preparation

Start the month by checking the changes since the last run:

  • employment starts, employment ends, and changes to employment percentages
  • new or ended allocated salaries
  • changes to bank, family, insurance, or withholding tax data
  • variable salary components, expenses, hours, and absences
  • retroactive or future entries on the timeline

In Management Rapport Journal, you can retrieve journal lines from another journal or import them from Excel. The Sum action shows the number, quantity, and amount for the currently filtered lines. With Test Process Payroll, SwissSalary creates a test payroll run for the selected employee, displays the paycheck, and then cancels the generated unposted run.

Payroll run and status

The Payrolls page provides payroll runs with their processing, payment, and posting data. The Role Center distinguishes between open, unposted, and posted payroll runs. Always check the current status before you perform a follow-up action.

You can cancel an unposted payroll run with Cancel Payroll. You can't use this action to cancel a posted payroll run. Only reset an existing cancellation block if no bank payment has been made. Otherwise, incorrect or duplicate payments can occur.

If the approval process is active in Payroll Setup, SwissSalary prevents you from posting an unapproved payroll run. The person who calculated the payroll run can't approve it.

Swiss taxes and declarations

The payroll calculation uses the configured information for OASI, UI, family allowances, occupational pension schemes, withholding tax, and other insurance or benefit deductions. Salary types determine which amounts flow into the respective bases. Insurance contracts, coverage, and employee assignments must therefore be consistent before the payroll run.

Swissdec ELM is a downstream declaration process. The setup includes the protocol version, test or live environment, number series, protection level, distributor URL, and SUA certificate. The Role Center displays salary declarations by processing status, for example, when a completion or result is missing.

Check the process at least at these transitions:

  1. Before payroll processing: Are the master data, insurance, withholding tax, and journal lines complete?
  2. Before approval: Are the gross and net salary, deductions, variances, and payment data correct?
  3. Before posting: Is the payroll run approved, and are the posting date and posting setup correct?
  4. Before payment: Are the payment run, payment date, bank code, and employee bank details correct?
  5. Before declaration: Are the payroll period, contract assignments, and reported population correct?

Good to know

  • You treat calculation, approval, posting, payment, and the Swissdec declaration as one step—the calculated run is not posted, paid, or declared.
  • You cancel an unposted run even though the bank payment has already been processed or the cancellation block is set—duplicate payments and inconsistent balances can result.
  • You post without approval or let the person who calculated the run approve it—the run remains blocked, or the dual-control principle no longer applies.
  • You check master data, insurance, withholding tax, and the journal only after the final run—corrections require cancellation and recalculation and delay payment.
  • You confuse Swissdec ELM with monthly payroll processing—the declaration remains open even though the salary has already been paid.

See also