A payslip as ZepDesk calculates it
A salary of 3,500.00 € in March 2026: tax class I, child allowance 0.5, no church membership, resident in Lower Saxony, health insurance additional contribution 2.9 %, a business with five employees. Calculated on 2 October 2026 with the plugin as shipped.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross pay | 3,500.00 € |
| Deductions | |
| Wage tax | 411.58 € |
| Solidarity surcharge | 0.00 € |
| Church tax | 0.00 € |
| Health insurance | 306.25 € |
| Pension insurance | 325.50 € |
| Unemployment insurance | 45.50 € |
| Long-term care insurance | 63.00 € |
| Paid out | 2,348.17 € |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross pay | 3,500.00 € |
| Health insurance | 306.25 € |
| Pension insurance | 325.50 € |
| Unemployment insurance | 45.50 € |
| Long-term care insurance | 63.00 € |
| Levy U1, sickness | 35.00 € |
| Levy U2, maternity | 12.60 € |
| Insolvency benefit levy | 5.25 € |
| Cost of the month | 4,293.10 € |
Wage tax follows the Federal Ministry of Finance programme flowchart (Programmablaufplan) for 2025 and 2026. It is checked against the ministry's official test tables, 984 target values, each exact to the euro. Social insurance uses the rates and contribution ceilings of the year, with the surcharge for the childless, the discount for children in long-term care insurance and the special rule for Saxony.
What payroll covers
- ZepDesk creates
- filing is left to you or your payroll office
| Area | What ZepDesk does |
|---|---|
| Payslips | One at a time or as a run for everyone; also short-term employment, multiple employment, short-time work allowance and premiums for Sundays, public holidays and nights. A reversal creates the correction at the same time, and a SEPA file is produced for the payout. |
| Benefits in kind | Company car, company bicycle, job ticket, voucher up to the exemption limit, meals, childcare, health promotion, PC and phone, recreation allowance, each kind with its own rule for tax and social insurance. |
| Company pension | Salary conversion under § 3 No. 63 EStG with the employer's mandatory subsidy; for companies that draw up a balance sheet, direct pension commitments with their valuation under § 6a EStG. |
| Wage tax return§ 41a EStG | From the closed payslips, with every code number and a checked record. How it reaches the tax office is described under Taxes and ELSTER. |
| Wage tax deduction featuresELStAM, § 39e EStG | Tax class, church membership and allowances per employee, each with the day from which it applies; registration and deregistration are produced as an official record. |
| Wage tax certificate§ 41b EStG | Annual figures per employee and the printout for them. |
| Health insurance funds§ 28a and § 28f SGB IV | Registration, deregistration, annual and interruption reports (DEÜV) as a handover file for your payroll office; the contribution statement per fund and month. |
| Artists' social fundKünstlersozialkasse, § 27 KSVG | The levy on fees paid to self-employed artists and publicists, with a reminder before the annual report due 31 March; the self-employed report their own earned income. |
| Managing directorsGmbH, UG, AG | The salary of employed managing directors with their social insurance status, and a profit share that ZepDesk checks against the limits for hidden profit distributions. More under Duties of management. |
| Posting | With double-entry bookkeeping every closed payslip posts to the journal via the payroll clearing account. What the accounting behind it looks like is described under Accounting. |
What ZepDesk does not take on
Who sees payroll, and what it costs
Today payroll is operated by the company's Administration role; a payroll office working with you needs the same role. For the employees themselves there is the Employee role. The role is meant for a plugin to show employees their own payslip. No such view exists yet.
The plugin costs 0.00 € a month on top of the company's plan. The Administration role switches it on, for that one company; which other plugins exist is described under Plugins.
Check your first payslip.
Switch on the plugin, add your employees, run the month and compare the figures with your current payroll.