The payroll dictionary: every term, plainly defined

Jump to: Shared concepts · 🇦🇺 Australia · 🇩🇪 Germany · 🇳🇿 New Zealand. Every entry has its own anchor — link straight to a term with #its-id. Every German term carries its English gloss; definitions follow the verified records behind the guides, not folklore.

Shared concepts

The vocabulary that means the same thing in every jurisdiction — the grammar under the dialects.

Gross pay

An employee's pay before anything is taken out — the figure wages, withholding and most contributions are calculated from. Statutory minimum wages in all three countries are expressed gross.

Net pay

What actually lands in the employee's bank account: gross pay minus tax withheld and the employee's share of statutory and agreed deductions. Employer contributions never touch this number — they are paid on top.

Withholding

Tax the employer takes out of an employee's pay and passes to the revenue authority on the employee's behalf — the employee's money, with the employer as collector. It appears as PAYG withholding in Australia, Lohnsteuer in Germany and PAYE in New Zealand.

Employer contributions (on-costs)

Statutory amounts the employer pays on top of gross pay that never appear as a deduction on the payslip — Australia's super guarantee, the employer halves of German social insurance plus the employer-only levies, New Zealand's compulsory KiwiSaver contribution and ACC levies. They are the gap between the payslip and the true cost of employment.

Payslip

The statement given to the employee for each pay, itemising gross pay, deductions and net pay. Each country regulates it differently: Australia prescribes content and a one-working-day deadline, Germany fixes the content of the Entgeltbescheinigung by ordinance, and New Zealand — unusually — doesn't make payslips compulsory by default, relying on records and access rights instead.

Pay run

One execution of the payroll cycle: calculating gross pay, statutory deductions and employer contributions for a pay period, paying employees, and producing the payslips, filings and payments that hang off it. Most statutory clocks in this guide are keyed to the pay run or its payday.

Payday

The day employees are actually paid. It has become the anchor of modern payroll compliance: Australia's STP report is due on or before it, Australia's super now must reach the fund within days of it, and New Zealand's Employment Information return is due within two working days of it.

Lodgement (filing)

Submitting a statutory report to an authority — Australians lodge STP events and the BAS, Germans transmit the Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung and DEÜV notifications, New Zealanders file Employment Information returns. Lodgement is the information rail; the money usually moves separately (see remittance).

Remittance

Actually paying the withheld tax and contributions over to the authority or fund. In all three countries remittance runs on its own calendar, distinct from the reporting deadline — a report can be on time while the money is late, and vice versa, each with its own consequences.

Evidence / audit trail

The records proving what was paid, withheld, reported and remitted — wages and time records, payslips, lodgement receipts. Every jurisdiction imposes multi-year retention duties and gives inspectors the right to demand the records; see the record-keeping rules for Australia, Germany and New Zealand.

Shadow payroll

A payroll run in a host country purely to meet local reporting and withholding obligations for an employee who is actually paid elsewhere — no money moves through it. It appears wherever cross-border employment meets local filing duties; see running payroll from overseas for Australia, Germany and New Zealand.

🇦🇺 Australia

The ATO and Fair Work vocabulary — reporting every payday, super paid on top, and the award system underneath the pay rates.

Single Touch Payroll (STP)

Australia's digital payroll-reporting channel: every payday, STP-enabled software sends the ATO each employee's year-to-date pay, withholding and super liability information, on or before the day staff are paid. There is no manual portal for it — the software (or a registered agent's) is the channel. See the STP guide.

STP Phase 2

The expanded version of STP now in force: gross pay is disaggregated into components (allowances, overtime, bonuses, leave types) and employee tax-treatment details travel inside the report — which is why TFN declaration data no longer needs separate lodgement. See what STP Phase 2 reports.

Pay event

The file an STP-enabled system lodges for a pay run — each paid employee's year-to-date amounts plus the period's gross and withholding totals. Corrections ride in the next pay event's year-to-date figures or in a separate update event; a distinct finalisation declaration closes the year.

STP finalisation

The end-of-financial-year declaration — due by 14 July for most employers — that tells the ATO an employee's STP data for the year is complete, flipping their income statement to "tax ready". Amounts finalised through STP need no payment summaries. See the lodgement calendar.

Standard Business Reporting (SBR)

Australia's government framework for standardised digital business-to-government reporting — introduced in 2010 and run by the Australian Business Register program. It is the channel and taxonomy that SBR-enabled software uses to communicate with agencies like the ATO; Single Touch Payroll reports reach the ATO over SBR, sent straight from payroll software rather than through a manual portal. See the STP guide.

PAYG withholding

Pay as you go withholding: the income tax an employer takes out of wages using the ATO's tax tables and remits on a cycle set by withholder size — quarterly for small withholders, monthly for medium, direct electronic payment within days for large. STP reports it; the activity statement (or direct payment) moves the money. See the payroll taxes overview.

Medicare levy

The levy that funds Australia's public health system. On the payslip it is invisible: the PAYG withholding scales already include an amount to cover it, so it is not a separate payroll deduction line. See what comes out of Australian pay.

STSL (study and training support loans)

An additional withholding component for employees who have indicated a study or training loan (HELP, VET Student Loan and others) on their tax declaration — calculated from its own schedule and added on top of the base withholding amount. See the payroll taxes overview.

Tax file number (TFN)

An individual's personal identifier in the Australian tax system, collected at onboarding. Without one (or a valid exemption), the employer must withhold at the top rate. See the TFN declaration guide.

TFN declaration

The new-hire declaration in which an employee states their TFN, residency, tax-free-threshold claim and any study loan — the inputs that select their withholding treatment. Under STP Phase 2 this information is reported inside the payroll report rather than lodged as a separate form. See collecting a new employee's tax details.

Australian business number (ABN)

The identifier of an Australian business entity. In payroll it identifies the employing entity, and together with the PAYG-withholding branch number and the BMS ID it keys the employer's STP data set. See registrations and employer IDs.

Withholding payer number (WPN)

The fallback identifier the ATO issues to payers that have withholding obligations but are not entitled to an ABN — typically some non-resident employers. WPN holders keep full super obligations but are currently exempt from STP reporting as a class. See when a WPN replaces an ABN.

BMS ID

The business management software identifier: it uniquely identifies the specific instance of payroll software sending STP data to the ATO. If year-to-date amounts move to a different ABN/branch/BMS ID combination — say, on a software migration — the ATO must be told, or employees see duplicate income statements. See the identifier trio.

Business activity statement (BAS)

The form on which a business reports and pays GST, PAYG withholding and PAYG instalments to the ATO, monthly or quarterly. STP tells the ATO what was withheld; the BAS is where small and medium withholders actually settle it. See STP & BAS lodgement.

Instalment activity statement (IAS)

The activity statement used by payers with PAYG withholding only — the withholding-only sibling of the BAS for employers not registered for GST. See the lodgement guide.

Super guarantee (SG)

The compulsory superannuation contribution an Australian employer must pay on top of wages into each eligible employee's super fund — calculated at the legislated percentage of the earnings base, and never deducted from pay. Failing to pay in full, on time and to the right fund triggers the super guarantee charge. See who gets super and at what rate.

Ordinary time earnings (OTE)

Earnings for an employee's ordinary hours of work — base pay, ordinary-hours allowances and paid leave, generally excluding overtime. OTE was the quarterly super guarantee base for earnings paid up to 30 June 2026; qualifying earnings replaced it under Payday Super. See why overtime usually misses out.

Qualifying earnings (QE)

The per-payday super guarantee base for earnings paid from 1 July 2026: OTE-type payments plus all commissions and amounts salary-sacrificed to super, with overtime and fringe benefits still excluded. For most employers the switch from OTE doesn't change the amount of super payable — it changes when and how it's measured. See the super guarantee guide.

Payday Super

The reform in force from 1 July 2026: super guarantee contributions must be received by the employee's fund within 7 business days after each payday, replacing the old quarterly 28th-of-the-month due dates, with the super guarantee charge redesigned around it. See the new super clock.

Super guarantee charge (SGC)

The charge an employer becomes liable for when super guarantee isn't paid in full, on time and to the right fund — built from the shortfall plus interest and an administrative component, and deliberately more expensive than paying on time. Payday Super moved it from self-assessed statements to ATO assessment. See what lateness costs.

SuperStream

The mandatory electronic standard for paying super: money and data sent together, electronically, in a standard format — via payroll software, a fund's system or a clearing house. A contribution counts as paid on the date the fund receives it, not the date a clearing house does. See Australia's payment rails.

Stapled fund

An existing super fund linked — "stapled" — to an employee, following them from job to job. When a new hire doesn't choose a fund, the employer must request their stapled fund from the ATO and pay into it before falling back to the employer's default fund. See stapling and choice of fund.

Modern award

A legal instrument in the Fair Work system setting minimum wages, classifications, penalty rates, allowances and conditions for an industry or occupation — the layer above the NES that determines most Australian employees' actual minimum pay. Finding the right award and classification is the employer's problem, not the employee's. See modern awards and minimum pay.

National Employment Standards (NES)

The minimum employment entitlements in the Fair Work Act — annual, personal/carer's and parental leave, maximum weekly hours, notice and redundancy among them — that apply to all national-system employees and cannot be traded away by contract or award. See leave under the NES.

Employment termination payment (ETP)

A lump sum paid in consequence of the termination of employment — payment in lieu of notice, certain redundancy amounts above the tax-free portion, "golden handshakes" — taxed concessionally within caps and reported through STP with its own codes. Unused leave paid out at exit is taxed under separate rules, not as an ETP. See final pay in the employee lifecycle.

Payroll tax (state)

An employer-level tax each Australian state and territory levies on total wages above its own threshold — nothing is withheld from employees. The "wages" base is broader than gross pay: it pulls in employer super contributions and grossed-up fringe benefits, and thresholds and rates differ by state. See the employer-side taxes.

Fringe benefits tax (FBT)

An employer-level tax on non-cash benefits provided in place of or on top of salary — company cars, for instance — running on its own April-to-March year with its own return, entirely outside payroll withholding. It touches payroll only through reportable fringe benefits on income statements and the state payroll-tax base. See where FBT sits.

🇩🇪 Germany

Two rails run through every German pay run — the tax rail to the Finanzamt and the social-insurance rail to the Krankenkassen — each with its own identifiers, deadlines and vocabulary. Every German term below carries its English gloss.

Lohnsteuer — wage tax

Income tax the employer withholds from each employee's gross pay, computed from the employee's ELStAM according to the official Programmablaufplan, and remitted to the tax office with the Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung. See the Lohnsteuer guide.

Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung — wage-tax return

The employer's self-assessed wage-tax return, transmitted electronically via ELSTER to the competent tax office by the 10th day after each filing period — monthly, quarterly or annually depending on the prior year's withholding volume — with payment due by the same deadline. See the German lodgement calendar.

ELStAM — electronic wage-tax deduction attributes

Elektronische Lohnsteuerabzugsmerkmale: the per-employee attributes — tax class, child allowance count, church-tax attribute, allowances — that the employer retrieves electronically from the federal tax office at hire (using the employee's tax ID and birth date) and must poll monthly for changes. They are what the wage-tax calculation runs on. See ELStAM and tax classes.

Steuerliche Identifikationsnummer (IdNr) — personal tax ID

The permanent 11-digit personal tax identifier every person taxable in Germany holds. Together with the date of birth it is the retrieval key for ELStAM — one of the first things to collect at onboarding. See German registrations and IDs.

Steuerklasse — tax class

The class (I to VI) inside an employee's ELStAM that drives how much wage tax is withheld — reflecting marital status and how couples split their allowances. Class VI is the punitive fallback that applies when no ELStAM can be retrieved or for second jobs. See tax classes I–VI.

Programmablaufplan (PAP) — official calculation flowchart

The finance ministry's official specification of the wage-tax calculation, published for each year (normally in November) and binding on payroll software. Mid-year revisions happen when tax law moves — with retroactive correction of earlier months' withholding when they do. See Germany's software gates.

Solidaritätszuschlag (SolZ) — solidarity surcharge

A surcharge on wage tax that now applies only above an exemption threshold, so most wage levels attract none — the payroll engine still has to test for it on every run. See the Lohnsteuer guide.

Kirchensteuer — church tax

A tax withheld alongside wage tax for employees whose ELStAM carries a church-membership attribute, at a rate set by the federal state (Land). No attribute, no deduction. See church tax in withholding.

Sozialversicherung (SV) — social insurance

Germany's statutory social insurance system: four contribution-funded branches — health, long-term care, pension and unemployment — with contributions shared broadly half-and-half between employer and employee and remitted by the employer, plus employer-only accident insurance. It attaches to anyone employed in Germany, wherever the employer sits. See the social insurance overview.

Krankenversicherung (KV) — statutory health insurance

The health branch of social insurance: a general contribution rate split between employer and employee, plus each fund's Zusatzbeitrag on top. See who pays what.

Pflegeversicherung (PV) — long-term care insurance

The care branch of social insurance — the one branch where the employee's share varies personally: childless employees pay a surcharge, parents with several young children get per-child reductions, and Saxony splits the rate differently. See the PV modifiers.

Rentenversicherung (RV) — statutory pension insurance

The pension branch of social insurance, the largest single contribution on a German payslip, split half-and-half up to its ceiling. The pension insurer also runs the data hub behind DEÜV reporting. See the four branches.

Arbeitslosenversicherung (AV) — unemployment insurance

The unemployment branch of social insurance, administered by the Federal Employment Agency and split half-and-half up to the same ceiling as pension insurance. See the contribution table.

Gesamtsozialversicherungsbeitrag — total social-insurance contribution

The combined contribution across all four branches — both halves — which the employer owes and pays in one amount to each employee's Krankenkasse as collection point, due on the third-last bank working day of the month. See the German payroll month.

Krankenkasse — statutory health fund

The health fund each employee chooses. It is more than an insurer: it is the Einzugsstelle that collects the employee's whole social-insurance contribution — so an employer deals with as many funds as its workforce has chosen. See the collection architecture.

Einzugsstelle — collection point

The body that collects the total social-insurance contribution and receives the monthly Beitragsnachweis — each employee's Krankenkasse for regular employment, the Minijob-Zentrale for minijobs. See where German payroll money goes.

Beitragsbemessungsgrenze — contribution assessment ceiling

The earnings level above which no further contributions are charged in a branch — one ceiling for health and care, a higher one for pension and unemployment — reset each 1 January by ordinance. Earnings above the ceiling are simply outside the contribution base. See the current ceilings.

Zusatzbeitrag — supplementary contribution

The fund-specific health-insurance contribution each Krankenkasse sets individually on top of the general rate, shared between employer and employee. It varies by fund and can change at any time — which is why German payroll needs per-fund parameter feeds, not one national number. See fund-specific rates.

Minijob — low-earnings employment

Employment below the Geringfügigkeitsgrenze: the employee pays essentially no regular contributions (only an optional-out pension top-up), while the employer pays flat-rate charges to the Minijob-Zentrale — making a minijob cost the employer proportionally more than regular employment. See the minijob guide.

Geringfügigkeitsgrenze — minijob earnings threshold

The monthly earnings limit that defines a minijob. Since October 2022 it is dynamic — derived from the statutory minimum wage by formula — so every minimum-wage rise moves it, and minijobbers' hours usually have to move too. See the threshold mechanics.

Midijob / Übergangsbereich — transition zone

The earnings band from just above the minijob threshold up to a fixed upper edge, in which the employee is fully insured in all branches but pays reduced contributions on a discounted assessment base — sliding up to full contributions at the top of the band, with no pension-benefit loss. See midijob rules.

Mindestlohn / MiLoG — statutory minimum wage / Minimum Wage Act

Germany's nationwide wage floor, set gross per hour worked by ordinance on the Minimum Wage Commission's proposal under the Mindestlohngesetz (MiLoG). The Act also imposes working-time record duties for minijobbers and listed sectors, enforced by customs. See the minimum-wage guide for current rates.

Beitragsnachweis — contribution statement

The monthly statement of contributions the employer must transmit to each Krankenkasse by midnight at the start of the fifth-last bank working day — two working days before the money is due. Once transmitted it operates as an enforceable demand; miss it and the fund can estimate. See the midnight cutoff.

DEÜV — data-capture and transmission ordinance

The ordinance behind Germany's event-driven social-insurance reporting: hire notifications, terminations, annual reports and interruption reports, each with its own reason code and deadline, keyed by the employee's insurance number and the employer's Betriebsnummer. See the DEÜV event stream.

Sofortmeldung — immediate hire notification

A special DEÜV notification due no later than the moment employment commences — before the first shift — in industries with elevated undeclared-work risk such as construction and hospitality, sent directly to the pension insurer's data hub. See the German hire sequence.

Versicherungsnummer — social insurance number

The employee's personal pension-insurance number that keys every DEÜV report. The employer doesn't collect it from paper: if it's missing, the payroll system queries the pension insurer's data office electronically. See onboarding data in Germany.

Betriebsnummer — establishment number

The establishment identifier issued by the Federal Employment Agency — the elementary key of the social-insurance reporting procedure, required per establishment before any DEÜV report can be sent. See the registration sequence.

Unternehmensnummer (UNR.S) — enterprise number

The 15-digit accident-insurance identifier every enterprise has held since 2023, issued once the accident insurer learns of the business — and, by design, an input to the Betriebsnummer application, which is why the Berufsgenossenschaft comes first in the registration order. See why the order matters.

Berufsgenossenschaft (UV) — accident-insurance association

The sector-specific carrier of statutory accident insurance (Unfallversicherung) — financed by employers alone, levied retrospectively on pay by risk class, with registration due within a week of starting the enterprise. See employer-only costs.

ELSTER — electronic tax filing infrastructure

The tax administration's electronic filing platform. The Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung must travel through it (via the portal or ELSTER-based commercial software), and its organisation certificate has become the login for adjacent systems like the SV reporting portal. See lodging via ELSTER.

Systemgeprüft — system-tested (payroll software)

The status a payroll program earns through the ITSG's Systemuntersuchung (system examination). It matters because German law makes secured transmission from system-tested programs the only lawful channel for social-insurance reports — de-facto compulsory certification without a licence regime. See how the Systemuntersuchung works.

eAU — electronic sickness certificate

The elektronische Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung: since its introduction, employers no longer receive paper sick notes for statutorily insured employees — the employer retrieves the certificate data electronically from the employee's Krankenkasse. See sick pay and the eAU.

Entgeltbescheinigung — payslip / remuneration statement

The German payslip, whose minimum content — gross pay, each deduction, employer identifiers, the net — is fixed by trade regulation and the payslip ordinance rather than left to convention. See what must be on it.

Umlagen U1 / U2 / InsO — apportionment levies

Three employer-only levies collected with social insurance: U1 finances sick-pay reimbursement for small employers, U2 finances maternity-pay reimbursement for all employers, and the Insolvenzgeldumlage funds the wage guarantee when employers go insolvent. U1/U2 rates are fund-specific; paying U1 buys the small employer a reimbursement claim. See the Umlagen explained.

Bevollmächtigter — authorised representative in Germany

The representative with a seat in Germany that a foreign employer without a German establishment must appoint for social-insurance purposes — the in-country anchor for records and inspections, with a parallel requirement in accident insurance. See employing in Germany from abroad.

SEPA / pain.001 — euro credit transfer / payment-instruction file

SEPA is the single euro payments area whose credit-transfer scheme carries German net pay; pain.001 is the ISO 20022 XML file format in which payroll systems hand their banks a batch of salary payment instructions. See how German net pay moves.

A1-Bescheinigung — A1 posting certificate

The certificate proving that an employee posted to another EU/EEA state (or the UK) stays in their home country's social-insurance system for the posting. German employers must apply for it electronically, and the employee carries it — it binds the other state's institutions. See cross-border postings.

🇳🇿 New Zealand

One authority — Inland Revenue — collects nearly everything through PAYE and payday filing, while the Holidays Act supplies the hard part.

PAYE

Pay as you earn: the deduction taken from every pay, combining income tax and the ACC earners' levy in one composite rate driven by the employee's tax code. One monthly (or twice-monthly) payment to Inland Revenue then carries PAYE together with the other payroll deductions. See the PAYE guide.

IR330 / tax code

The tax code declaration every employee completes at the start of employment — the employee, not the employer, chooses the code, and re-declares whenever it changes. No valid IR330 means deducting at the punitive non-notified rate. See tax codes and rates.

Payday filing

New Zealand's per-payday reporting regime: every time employees are paid, the employer files an Employment Information return with Inland Revenue — within 2 working days of the payday for electronic filers. Filing and paying are separate rails: the return carries no money. See the payday-filing guide.

Employment Information (EI) return

The return filed for each payday under payday filing — per employee: gross earnings, PAYE, KiwiSaver deductions and employer contributions, ESCT, student loan and child support deductions, plus start and finish dates. It travels from payroll software via Inland Revenue's gateway, by file upload, or on-screen in myIR. See what the EI return carries.

myIR

Inland Revenue's online portal — where employers register for tax accounts, file or upload Employment Information returns, set up direct debits and manage the whole IRD relationship. See setting up in myIR.

IRD number

The New Zealand tax identifier for both people and entities. Employers need their own before registering as an employer (offshore entities apply through a dedicated process), and every employee's IRD number rides on each EI return. See the offshore IRD number application.

NZBN

The New Zealand Business Number — a business identifier allocated automatically to NZ-registered companies and available to other businesses. It identifies the business in dealings across agencies but is not the payroll key; the IRD number is. See employer identifiers.

KiwiSaver

New Zealand's workplace retirement savings scheme: eligible new employees are automatically enrolled (with an opt-out window), employees contribute a chosen percentage of gross pay, and the employer must pay a compulsory contribution on top — subject to ESCT. Current rates and the legislated rises are in the KiwiSaver guide.

ESCT

Employer superannuation contribution tax — deducted from the employer's KiwiSaver (or other superannuation) contribution before it reaches the fund, at a per-employee band rate fixed each 1 April from the prior year's earnings. The EI return reports employer contributions net of it. See ESCT bands.

ACC

The Accident Compensation Corporation — New Zealand's universal, no-fault injury insurer, which replaces personal-injury litigation. Employers don't register: ACC invoices its Work levy annually in arrears from payroll data Inland Revenue passes over. See the ACC invoice.

Earners' levy

The employee-side ACC levy funding non-work injuries — collected invisibly inside PAYE (capped at a maximum income level) rather than invoiced. It is why an NZ "PAYE" deduction is more than income tax. See the current levy rate.

Student loan deductions

Extra deductions for employees with an SL tax code: a fixed percentage of pay above a repayment threshold for the main job, and from the first dollar on secondary jobs — remitted with PAYE. Inland Revenue can also instruct compulsory catch-up deductions (SLCIR), and employees can add voluntary ones (SLBOR). See student loans in payroll.

Holidays Act 2003

The statute governing annual holidays, public holidays, sick and bereavement leave — and New Zealand payroll's hardest problem, because it defines annual holidays in weeks and prices each week with a greater-of test between ordinary weekly pay and average weekly earnings, recalculated every time leave is taken. See the Holidays Act guide.

Ordinary weekly pay (OWP)

What an employee ordinarily receives for a week's work under the Holidays Act — with statutory inclusion and exclusion lists, and a four-week averaging formula as fallback where no ordinary week can be identified. One arm of the greater-of test for annual holiday pay. See how holiday pay is priced.

Average weekly earnings (AWE)

Gross earnings over the previous 12 months divided by 52 — the other arm of the Holidays Act's greater-of test. Each week of annual holidays must be paid at whichever of OWP or AWE is higher at the moment the leave is taken. See the greater-of test.

BAPS days (day-based entitlements)

Bereavement leave, alternative holidays, public holidays and sick leave — the Holidays Act entitlements measured in days rather than weeks. They are paid at relevant daily pay (what the employee would have earned that day), with average daily pay as the fallback where that is impracticable or pay varies. See day-based leave.

IR56 taxpayer

An employee who registers with Inland Revenue and accounts for their own PAYE through payday filing — the arrangement that applies when the employer (typically a non-resident with no sufficient presence in New Zealand) has no PAYE obligation of its own. See the offshore-employer asymmetry.

PAYE intermediary

A person approved by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue to take over an employer's PAYE and ESCT obligations by statute: the intermediary runs a trust account, files and pays in the employer's stead, and once the employer has supplied the information and funds, responsibility for applying the PAYE rules sits with the intermediary. See the intermediary regime.

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