As soon as you hire your first employee, a new obligation comes with it: every salary payment needs a written payslip. It is not a formality but the document that lets your employees follow how their gross salary turns into the amount in their bank account. This guide shows how a payslip is structured, which details must be on it and which deadlines are attached to it – and points you to the in-depth articles on each topic.
Why payslips are mandatory in Switzerland
The legal basis is short and clear. Under Art. 323b para. 1 of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO), the employee must be given a written statement. This applies to every salary payment, not just once a year, and regardless of company size: a sole proprietorship with one employee has the same obligation as an AG with fifty.
The payslip must be clear enough for the recipient to understand it without any accounting knowledge. The gross salary, every single deduction and the resulting net salary must each be identifiable – a single "net salary" figure with no breakdown does not meet the requirement.
It is important to distinguish the payslip from the salary certificate (Lohnausweis). Your employees receive a payslip with every salary payment, and it covers a single pay period. The salary certificate is the annual statement for the tax return – its structure and deadlines are covered in the guide to the salary certificate.
How a payslip is structured
In Switzerland, a payslip almost always follows the same logic: from top to bottom, from gross salary to net salary. There is no layout prescribed by law, but there is prescribed content.
At the top are the details that make the payslip attributable: employer, employee, pay period and, depending on the case, workload percentage, start date and AHV number. Below come the components of the gross salary – base salary, holiday and public holiday pay, 13th-month salary, overtime, commissions, bonuses and benefits in kind. Then the deductions, and finally the net salary with the payment date and the receiving account.
Not everything on the payslip is gross salary. Family allowances are paid through it but are not part of the salary subject to AHV contributions. Expense allowances are reimbursements of outlays and are only added to the net salary after the deductions – how to settle and book expenses correctly is a topic of its own.
Which details must be on a payslip?
You can hold this list up against an existing payslip. If an item is missing, the payslip is incomplete.
- Name and address of the employer
- Name of the employee
- Pay period and payment date
- Gross salary with every component listed separately
- Holiday and public holiday pay as an amount or percentage
- Every social security deduction separately, with rate and amount
- Expenses and other items affecting the net salary
- Net salary and receiving account for the payment
For employees subject to withholding tax, the tariff code and the rate-determining income are added.
The deductions at a glance
Social insurance is the part where most things go wrong – mainly because not all deductions work the same way. Old-age and survivors' insurance, disability insurance and income compensation (AHV/IV/EO) are split equally between employer and employee and have no upper limit. Unemployment insurance (ALV) is only levied up to an annual salary of CHF 148,200. For accident insurance, you bear the premium for occupational accidents alone, while the premium for non-occupational accidents is deducted from the salary. And for the occupational pension (BVG), the deduction depends on age and on the pension fund's regulations.
Which rate applies where, who pays which share and when nothing is deducted at all is covered in detail in the guide to payroll deductions. What an employee costs on top of the gross salary – the contributions that never show up as a deduction – is worked through with a concrete example in the guide to employer costs.
Special payments, allowances and holiday pay
Anything that is added irregularly follows its own rules. The 13th-month salary is not required by law, but it becomes binding as soon as it has been agreed or has become established company practice. Different surcharge rules apply to overtime and to excess working time. And holidays may not be paid out at all while the employment relationship is ongoing. How to show these items correctly is explained in the guide to the 13th-month salary, allowances and holidays.
Employees subject to withholding tax
For employees without a C settlement permit and for people resident abroad, you deduct the tax yourself. On top of that there is a reporting deadline of eight days from the start of employment, a cantonal tariff code and a liability that applies regardless of fault. The guide to withholding tax goes through the obligations one by one.
From payroll run to booking
The payslip is the document; the payroll run is the process behind it: check master data, record variable data, calculate, review, pay, book and report. Only once the period is closed are the figures final and ready for electronic transmission. How the payroll run works, which accounts are used and what is added at year-end is covered in the guide to payroll accounting.
Deadlines: what has to be where and when
Several dates are attached to salaries that have nothing to do with the payment date. You pay contributions to the compensation office quarterly if your annual payroll is up to CHF 200,000, and monthly above that. The latest payment date is the 10th day after the end of the quarter or month.
Caution: Contributions only count as paid once the amount has reached the compensation office – not when you initiated the payment. Late payment incurs default interest of 5% per year, regardless of fault or a reminder.
The salary declaration for the past year must reach the compensation office by 30 January at the latest; if it is submitted late, default interest is charged on any differences. Both are set out in leaflet 2.01 of the OASI/DI Information Centre. Many compensation offices accept the declaration electronically via the unified salary reporting procedure ELM (page in German). For employees subject to withholding tax, there is also the settlement with the responsible canton; the basics are set out in FTA Circular No. 45, also in German.
Creating payslips with Infinity Payroll
If you keep your accounting in Infinity, you can run payroll in the same system. Infinity Payroll calculates AHV, ALV, BVG, UVG and withholding tax according to Swiss standards, creates a PDF payslip for each employee and automatically files the corresponding payroll entries in your accounting. You can pay salaries directly from Infinity or export them as a pain.001 file for e-banking.
All processes run through a Swissdec-certified partner, which means ELM 5.0 is supported as well. Fiduciaries and accountants can manage several clients in the same system.
There are two things you should know beforehand. To set it up, you need your BUR number and an ELM profile from your social insurance providers. And Infinity Payroll is an add-on to your existing subscription, costs CHF 9 per employee per month excl. VAT and covers the usual salary models – it is not designed for very complex industries such as staff leasing.
Frequently asked questions about payslips
Is a payslip mandatory in Switzerland?
Yes. Under Art. 323b para. 1 CO, the employee must be given a written statement with every salary payment. This applies regardless of company size.
What is the difference between a payslip and a salary certificate?
The payslip documents a single pay period and goes to employees with every salary payment. The salary certificate (Lohnausweis) is the annual statement needed for the tax return.
Which details must a payslip contain?
Employer and employee, the pay period, the gross salary with every component listed separately, every social security deduction with rate and amount, and the net salary. A single "net salary" figure with no breakdown is not enough. For withholding tax, the tariff code and the rate-determining income are added.
When do AHV contributions have to be paid?
Quarterly for an annual payroll of up to CHF 200,000, monthly above that – in each case by the 10th day after the end of the quarter or month. The salary declaration for the previous year must reach the compensation office by 30 January.
Does the obligation also apply to a sole proprietorship with one employee?
Yes. The obligation is tied to the employment relationship, not to the legal form or the size of the business. It applies from the first employee and to every salary payment.
How much does payroll cost in Infinity?
Infinity Payroll costs CHF 9 per employee per month excl. VAT and is billed as an add-on to your existing Infinity subscription.
Payroll and accounting in one place
Try Infinity free for 14 days, no credit card required, and see how payslips and accounting work together. You can find out what the payroll add-on costs on top of your subscription on the pricing page.