Compare payroll providers

Service category

Payroll is compared here on scope, evidence and operating model rather than on marketing claims. The page records what the service usually covers, the attributes that providers publish about it, the questions worth putting to a provider, and the pricing models commonly used in European practice.

• Whether payroll is processed in-house by the provider or subcontracted to a specialist bureau.
• The payroll cut-off: which day the client must submit changes, and which day salaries are paid.
• How the provider handles cross-border employment, posted workers and split payrolls.
• Whether the provider files social-security and tax declarations itself or prepares them for the client to file.
• Payslip delivery, employee self-service and the treatment of confidential payroll data.
• Whether year-end certificates, benefits-in-kind reporting and final settlements are included.

• JurisdictionsWhich countries can you process payroll in directly, and which through partners?
• Cut-offWhat is the latest date we can submit changes for a given pay run?
• ConfidentialityWho inside your firm can see our salary data, and how is that access logged?
• LegislationHow do you monitor changes to collective agreements and statutory rates?
• ErrorsWhat is your procedure if a payment is wrong, and who bears the correction cost?
• VolumeHow does your price change as headcount grows, and at which thresholds?

• Per payslip, usually with a graduated rate that falls as volume rises.
• Per employee per month, often with a separate charge per country.
• Fixed monthly retainer for a headcount band, with an overage rate.
• Annual contract with a fixed number of payslips included.
• Time-based billing for advisory work on top of a per-payslip base.

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