What every employer in Germany has to get right — Lohnsteuer and ELStAM, the social-insurance branches, minimum wage, payslips, leave and sick pay — answered clearly and linked back to the source: the German federal authorities.
The German guide is being built the same way Australia's was: written against government sources, adversarially verified underneath, and corrected as the law moves. The first wave is live below; the deep operator research (registrations, ITSG certification, payment rails) is in flight and will follow as its own section.
€13.90/hour in 2026, who it covers, the §17 record duties — and the €14.60 rise already fixed for 2027.
Payslips & the Entgeltbescheinigung§108 GewO Textform, the EntgBV line items, and the retention clocks — 6-year Lohnkonto, 8-year Belege, audit-anchored SV records.
Leave & sick pay (BUrlG / EntgFG)24 Werktage minimum (20 on a five-day week), six weeks of employer-paid sick pay at 100%, the Krankengeld handover — and the U1 refund for small employers.
Lohnsteuer, ELStAM & tax classesThe withholding duty, what ELStAM gives you at hire, the six classes, and why the PAP makes software recompute mid-year.
Minijobs & MidijobsThe 603€ threshold and its dynamic formula, the 30% flat-rate surprise, and the Übergangsbereich mechanics to 2.000€.
Social insurance, explainedKV · PV · RV · AV — who pays what, the 2026 ceilings, minijob flat rates, and the employer-only Umlagen.
The things that have to be in place to run payroll legally in Germany. Each item links to a full explainer. Want the printable, standalone version? See the payroll setup checklist.
Steuer-ID and birthdate for ELStAM, the Versicherungsnummer, and the employee's Krankenkasse — with the statutory fallbacks if any are missing.
Read →The Nachweisgesetz day-one tier — now allowed electronically with receipt confirmation, except the §2a sectors.
Read →Within six weeks or the first payroll run — and on day one (Sofortmeldung) in the eleven listed sectors.
Read →Retrieve the tax class, children factors and church-tax attribute — class VI fallback if the data isn't there.
Read →At or under 603€/month the flat-rate world applies; 603,01–2.000€ is the Übergangsbereich.
Read →The statutory minimum plus the §17 record duties (7-day rule, 2-year retention) where they apply.
Read →The EntgBV line items in Textform — and keep the retention clocks running.
Read →Present at each Einzugsstelle by 0:00 on the fifth-last bank working day; contributions due the third-last.
Read →DGUV Unternehmensnummer before the Betriebsnummer — then the Finanzamt and ELSTER.
Read →Uncertified software cannot legally transmit to the Annahmestellen at all.
Read →The journey views: what happens, in order, from the first hire to the last payslip.
Sixteen numbered steps from no entity to first compliant payslip — registrations in the verified order, DGUV before BA.
Hire to exit: the lifecycleFive stages on one stepper — what data you collect and what payments you make, from Nachweisgesetz day one to the §623 wet-ink goodbye.
The same deadlines, two ways: the month as your payroll team runs it, and the year as the law schedules it.
Every clock in order — Beitragsnachweis, contributions, Lohnsteueranmeldung — with a worked January 2026 strip.
The German payroll yearThe January cliff, the February duo, the autumn PAP window — JAN→DEC with the 2027 changes pre-armed.
Running German payroll from outside Germany — what attaches to you, what doesn't, and the registration and lodgement machinery, written from our adversarially-verified research corpus.
The asymmetry every foreign employer hits: social insurance is inescapable, wage-tax withholding usually isn't — and the §38(3a) third-party route.
Registrations & employer IDsUnternehmensnummer before Betriebsnummer, the Finanzamt side, ELStAM and the W-IdNr transition, ELSTER certificates.
What an employee really costsThe employer's halves, the ceilings, the employer-only Umlagen — and a worked 1.000€ illustration (≈22.3% on top in 2026).
Software certificationThe ITSG Systemuntersuchung, the annual QK treadmill, and why uncertified software can't even talk to the Annahmestellen.
Paying employeesSEPA & pain.001 (November 2026 sunset!), instant payments & VoP, and the pull-vs-push choice for contributions.
Who governs German payrollFinanzamt, ~90 Krankenkassen as collectors, DRV audits, Zoll enforcement — the full regulator map.
Statutory lodgementLohnsteueranmeldung thresholds, the Beitragsnachweis clock, the DEÜV cycle and the two 16-February duties.
Ledra Pay runs governed gross-to-net for Germany — Lohnsteuer, Solidaritätszuschlag, church tax and the social-insurance branches — behind one embedded API, with an auditable evidence chain behind every figure.
See German payroll →