1 · Payday is set by the contract or collective agreement — the statutes fix everything that follows it, not the day itself.
2 · Events drive the DEÜV stream: Sofortmeldung at the moment work starts (eleven sectors), Anmeldung with the first payroll run and at latest 6 weeks after the start.
3 · Bank working days drive the social-insurance money: Beitragsnachweis present at 0:00 of the fifth-last bank working day (transmit by 24:00 the day before), contributions due on the third-last, in estimated amount.
4 · The calendar 10th drives tax: Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung and payment by the 10th day after the period ends.
5 · The year has its own clocks — Jahresmeldung, the UV pair, and more. The year view lives at the reporting calendar.
The month, in order
Rows are chip-marked Data lodged and Payment made so you can see which of the two jobs each step is. "BWD" = Bankarbeitstag, a bank working day, counted backwards from the end of the month.
If you hire into one of eleven listed black-labour-risk sectors — construction; hospitality and accommodation; passenger transport; haulage, transport and associated logistics including platform-based delivery services; the showman trade; building cleaning; trade-fair and exhibition set-up and dismantling; the meat industry (except the butcher's craft); the prostitution trade; security; hairdressing and cosmetics — an immediate report goes directly to the DSRV "spätestens bei Beschäftigungsaufnahme" — at the latest when work commences (our translation). Whether any pay has flowed yet is irrelevant, and workers in these sectors must carry identity documents.
Data lodgedGerman statute leaves the regular payday to the employment contract or collective agreement; what the law fixes is the reporting and remittance machinery that the pay run sets in motion. This is the run that determines the month's figures — everything below is downstream of it.
Payment madeEvery insured employment is registered with the employee's Krankenkasse as Einzugsstelle: with the first payroll run after the start, at the latest six weeks after employment begins. The DRV's worked example: a job starting 1 January 2026 must be angemeldet by 12 February 2026. If the employment ends before any Anmeldung was made, a combined An-/Abmeldung (Grund 40) may be filed instead.
Data lodgedExits mirror hires: Abmeldung (Grund 30) with the next payroll run, at latest 6 weeks after the end. An unpaid interruption of at least one full calendar month that leaves health/care-insurance membership intact (Krankengeld, Elternzeit, statutory service) takes an Unterbrechungsmeldung (51–53) within 2 weeks after the first full calendar month; an unpaid interruption of more than one month without that continuation is an Abmeldung (34/35) instead; under one month, no report. Deadlines falling on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday roll to the next working day.
Data lodgedThe contribution statement for each Einzugsstelle must be transmitted two working days before the contributions fall due. The DRV states the cutoff exactly: "Zur Wahrung der Frist muss der Beitragsnachweis jeweils am Vortag bis spätestens 24.00 Uhr übermittelt werden." — to meet the deadline, the Beitragsnachweis must be transmitted by 24:00 on the previous day (our translation). Electronic only, from a system-tested payroll program or completion aid — there is no paper channel.
Data lodgedThe statement must be with the Einzugsstelle at the start — 0:00 — of the fifth-last bank working day of the month, so the Kasse has it for the whole day. It carries your Betriebsnummer, breaks contributions down by Beitragsgruppen, and once transmitted operates as a Leistungsbescheid (an enforceable decision) of the Einzugsstelle. From 1 January 2026 the Rechtskreis ("West"/"Ost") indicator is no longer part of it. No contributions this period? A nil Beitragsnachweis is still required.
Data lodged"Nach dem Arbeitsentgelt bemessene Beiträge werden in voraussichtlicher Höhe der Beitragsschuld spätestens am drittletzten Bankarbeitstag des Monats fällig, in dem sie entstanden sind" — contributions assessed on pay fall due, in the estimated amount of the contribution debt, at latest on the third-last bank working day of the month in which they arose (our translation). The estimate must keep the residual as small as possible, or — the Vereinfachungsregel — you simply pay at the level of the previous month's final contributions and true up in the following month's payroll. Either way the residual is due the third-last bank working day of the following month. The estimation parameters must be documented and auditable; the simplification rule does not apply to Einmalzahlungen, and once elected it applies to all your Einzugsstellen. The day of payment is the value date (Wertstellung).
Payment madeThe wage-tax return and the payment of the withheld amounts are both due by the 10th day after the end of the Anmeldungszeitraum. The period follows last year's remittable Lohnsteuer: monthly above €5,000, quarterly from over €1,080 to €5,000, annual at €1,080 or less (2026 form values). It travels electronically and authenticated — the ELSTER rail — and a nil Anmeldung is still due unless the Finanzamt has been told no Lohnsteuer arises. One timing subtlety carried by § 240 AO: "Die Säumnis nach Satz 1 tritt nicht ein, bevor die Steuer festgesetzt oder angemeldet worden ist." — late-payment default does not begin before the tax has been assessed or declared (our translation). So the Säumniszuschlag clock cannot start ahead of the Anmeldung itself — but a late Anmeldung invites a discretionary Verspätungszuschlag instead.
Data lodged Payment madeAny contribution residual from the estimate carries into next month's third-last bank working day. Note the calendar quirks: 24 and 31 December do not count as bank working days, and DEÜV deadlines landing on weekends or public holidays end with the next working day. If your establishment is in the Verdiensterhebung sample (up to 58,000 establishments), the monthly earnings-survey return to the Statistische Landesämter is also part of the wrap — it has run monthly since January 2022, with a statutory duty to respond.
Data lodgedJanuary 2026, worked
The same month with real dates — the record's worked example. January 2026 ends on a Saturday, so the backwards count lands the Beitragsnachweis cutoff on a Sunday night: the Vortag is a calendar day, not a working day.
A new hire starts. If the job is in one of the eleven Sofortmeldung sectors, the Grund-20 report to the DSRV was due at the latest as work commenced.
Data lodgedThe January run fixes the month's contribution and withholding figures — and starts the reporting machinery below.
Payment madeThe Minijob-Zentrale's 2026 table names 25 January as the transmission day (by 24:00); the DRV states the same rule as "present by the start of 26 January". One rule, two presentations — same midnight.
Data lodged26 January is the fifth-last bank working day of January 2026 — the statement must be there as the day begins.
Data lodgedThe third-last bank working day of January — payment in voraussichtliche Höhe (or at the Vormonat level under the Vereinfachungsregel), value-dated at the Einzugsstelle. The 2026 sequence continues 25 Feb, 27 Mar, 28 Apr, 27 May, 26 Jun, 29 Jul, 27 Aug, 28 Sep, 28 Oct, 26 Nov, 28 Dec.
Payment madeThe 10th day after the end of the January Anmeldungszeitraum: the ELSTER return and the withheld Lohnsteuer, SolZ and Kirchensteuer both land at the Betriebsstätten-Finanzamt.
Data lodged Payment madeSix weeks after the 1 January start — the DRV's own worked example. In practice it rode the first payroll run weeks earlier; 12 February is the backstop.
Data lodgedThe Jahresmeldung for 2025 (Grund 50) is due — the statutory 15 February was a Sunday in 2026, so it rolled to the 16th — alongside the UV pair for 2025, whose own statutory date is 16 February. Annual clocks, not monthly ones: see below.
Data lodgedThe annual clocks, briefly
Beyond the repeating month, the year has its own strip: the DEÜV Jahresmeldung (Grund 50) for everyone employed past 31 December — first payroll run of the new year, at latest 15 February — and the accident-insurance pair, both due 16 February: the digital Lohnnachweis to the UV-Träger and the per-employee UV-Jahresmeldung (Grund 92). 15 and 16 February are different statutory dates, not a typo — even if a weekend roll (as in 2026) makes them land on the same day.
This page is the month on repeat. The whole year — Jahresmeldung, the UV pair, the Lohnsteuer periods, the March Einmalzahlung effects and the change dates to watch — lives at the German payroll reporting calendar.
If a deadline is missed
SV money late: a Säumniszuschlag of 1% per commenced month of the arrears, rounded down to the nearest €50, falls due; waiver only within the Spitzenorganisationen's guidelines. Contribution claims limit out after four years from the end of the year they fell due — 30 years if intentionally withheld. Beitragsnachweis late or missing: the Einzugsstelle can estimate the contributions until a proper statement arrives — the nil-return rule exists precisely to avoid this. Tax late: the same 1%-per-commenced-month Säumniszuschlag on the €50-rounded arrears (excluding church tax) applies to late remittance, subject to the § 240 AO rule quoted above that default cannot begin before the tax is assessed or declared; a late Anmeldung itself can draw a discretionary Verspätungszuschlag, measured for monthly and quarterly Anmeldungen by the duration and frequency of the lateness and the amount of the tax, capped at €25,000.
Quick answers
When are German social insurance contributions due each month?
The Gesamtsozialversicherungsbeitrag is due at the latest on the third-last bank working day of the month in which the work was performed, in the estimated amount of the contribution debt (voraussichtliche Höhe). For simplification the employer may instead pay at the level of the previous month's final contributions; either way, any residual is due with the following month's date. In 2026 the due dates are 28 January, 25 February, 27 March, 28 April, 27 May, 26 June, 29 July, 27 August, 28 September, 28 October, 26 November and 28 December. The day of payment is the value date at the Einzugsstelle, and 24 and 31 December do not count as bank working days.
When must the Beitragsnachweis reach the Einzugsstelle?
The Beitragsnachweis must be present at each Einzugsstelle at the start — 0:00 — of the fifth-last bank working day of the month, i.e. two working days before the contributions fall due. To meet that, it must be transmitted by 24:00 on the previous day. Transmission is electronic only, from a system-tested payroll program or a system-tested electronic completion aid such as the SV-Meldeportal. If exceptionally no contributions arise for a payroll period, a nil Beitragsnachweis must still be submitted — otherwise the Einzugsstelle can estimate the contributions.
When is the Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung due, and how often must I file?
The Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung and payment of the withheld amounts are both due by the 10th day after the end of the filing period. The period depends on the previous calendar year's remittable wage tax: the calendar month if it exceeded €5,000, the calendar quarter if it was more than €1,080 but not more than €5,000, and the calendar year if it was not more than €1,080 (2026 form values). A nil return is still required unless the Finanzamt has been notified that no wage tax arises, and the return must be transmitted electronically and authenticated — the ELSTER rail — with paper only on application in hardship cases.
When must a new hire be reported to social insurance?
The DEÜV Anmeldung (reason 10) is due with the first payroll run after the start, at the latest six weeks after employment begins — for a 1 January 2026 start, by 12 February 2026. In eleven listed sectors — construction; hospitality and accommodation; passenger transport; haulage, transport and associated logistics including platform-based delivery services; the showman trade; building cleaning; trade-fair and exhibition set-up and dismantling; the meat industry (except the butcher's craft); the prostitution trade; security; and hairdressing and cosmetics — a Sofortmeldung (reason 20) must additionally be transmitted directly to the DSRV at the latest at the moment work commences.
Every clock in the month, automated
Ledra Pay's German country pack computes the bank-working-day pair per month, transmits the Beitragsnachweis ahead of the midnight cutoff, pays the Gesamtsozialversicherungsbeitrag on the third-last, files the Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung by the 10th and fires each DEÜV event as it occurs — with an evidence trail behind every deadline met.
See German payroll →Government sources
- BMF — Muster der Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung 2026 (10th-day deadline; €1,080/€5,000 period thresholds; nil returns; ELSTER channel; Säumnis- and Verspätungszuschlag notes).
- Deutsche Rentenversicherung — summa summarum: Meldungen, Jahresausgabe 2026 (DEÜV catalogue and deadlines incl. the worked 12 February 2026 example; Sofortmeldung sector list; Beitragsnachweis 0:00 rule; mandatory electronic channel; Rechtskreis change).
- Deutsche Rentenversicherung — summa summarum: Beiträge, Jahresausgabe 2026 (drittletzter Bankarbeitstag; the estimate rule and Vereinfachungsregel; the 24:00 Vortag cutoff; Säumniszuschlag; limitation periods).
- Minijob-Zentrale — Beitragszahlung und Fristen (2026 transmission and due-date tables; 24/31 December rule; value date; Einmalzahlungen; Vereinfachungsregel election).
- DGUV — UV-Meldeverfahren FAQ: Fristen (16 February for the digital Lohnnachweis).
- Destatis — Erläuterungen zur Verdiensterhebung (monthly since January 2022; Auskunftspflicht; sample of up to 58,000 establishments).
Note: the consolidated statute texts on gesetze-im-internet.de (§ 41a EStG, §§ 23/28f SGB IV, §§ 152/240 AO and the DEÜV) were unreachable at the time of writing; the §-anchors named by the cited authority pages were verified against archived snapshots of the statute text.
Related
Lohnsteuer, social insurance, payslips, leave and sick pay — the hub.
The same deadlines organised by obligation — ELSTER, the Beitragsnachweis and the DEÜV cycle, with penalties and channels.
The year view — annual marks, period clocks and the change dates to watch.