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Note that this article is only relevant for you if your company is located in Germany.

Personio Payroll Implementation: Permanent establishments

This article explains how to set up permanent establishments for Personio Payroll. 

What is a Permanent establishment?

A permanent establishment is a fixed business location where employees perform work and conduct business activities. It determines social security obligations for employers and employees, affecting payroll and tax calculations, which can vary by federal state. Each employee is linked to one permanent establishment. Unlike an workplace, it doesn't need a physical location and includes remote work setups. To use Personio Payroll, each legal entity must have at least one permanent establishment assigned to it.

How to set up a Permanent establishment

To set up a permanent establishment, follow these steps:

  1. Go to Payroll > Payroll and choose a legal entity, if enabled.
  2. Open the Manage tab and click on Permanent Establishment.
  3. Click on the button to add a new permanent establishment and fill in the required information. Follow the information on validations below.
  4. Add the permanent establishment.

Validations for Permanent establishments

General Information

Attribute Validation rules ▶︎ Error message if...
Company registration number (BBNR)
  • the value is not exactly 8 characters long.
  • the first three digits of the BBNR are one of the following combinations: 000, 001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 009, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 , 109, 110, 996, 997.

Learn more about the company registration number (BBNR).

 

Address

Attribute Validation rules ▶︎ Error message if...
Street address name
  • the value is > 33 characters or < 2 characters
    ▶︎ Exception: Can be 1 capital letter long. ✅from | ✅ A | ❌ a
  • you use characters other than the following: letters, numbers, spaces, periods, commas, hyphens, slashes, apostrophes, parentheses, ampersands, quotation marks.
  • special characters (spaces, commas, apostrophes, hyphens, slashes and periods) appear more than once in a row
    ▶︎ Example: Street name,,
  • the value starts with three identical letters.
    ▶︎ Exception 1: It begins with “III.” and additional characters follow.
    ▶︎ Exception 2: It starts with “MMM-Str”.
  • the value starts with anything that is not: letters, numbers, apostrophes or quotation marks.
  • the value starts with a series of digits that are not followed by a letter, period, space or hyphen.
  • the value contains a series of digits that are not followed by a letter, period, space, hyphen, slash or comma.
  • the value contains a period that does not immediately follow a letter or number.
  • the value ends with a space or a hyphen.
Number
  • the value is > 9 characters.
  • the value contains characters other than the following: letters, numbers, commas, spaces, hyphens, slashes, parentheses and periods.
  • the first and last characters are not letters or numbers.
  • special characters (spaces, commas, hyphens, slashes and periods) appear more than once in a row.
    ▶︎ Example: ..
Postal code
  • The Country is set to Germany and the value lies outside the range 01000 to 99999.
City
  • the value has > 34 or < 2 characters.
  • the value contains characters other than the following: letters, periods, commas, spaces, hyphens, slashes, parentheses.
  • special characters (spaces, commas, periods, hyphens, slashes and parentheses) appear more than once in a row.
    ▶︎ Example: ..
  • the value starts with three identical letters.
  • the value does not start with a capital letter.
  • there is a period after a character that is not a letter.
  • the last character is not a letter, period or closing parenthesis.

 

Mailing address

If the mailing address differs from the address of the permanent establishment, you need to add additional information based on the selected address type. Some address types may not require all the validations outlined below.

Attribute Validation rules ▶︎ Error message if...
Name
  • the first character is a space.
Street name
  • the value is > 33 characters or < 2 characters
    ▶︎ Exception: Can be 1 capital letter long. ✅from | ✅ A | ❌ a
  • you use characters other than the following: letters, numbers, spaces, periods, commas, hyphens, slashes, apostrophes, parentheses, ampersands, quotation marks.
  • special characters (spaces, commas, apostrophes, hyphens, slashes, parentheses, ampersands, quotation marks and periods) appear more than once in a row
    ▶︎ Example: Street name
  • the value starts with three identical letters.
    ▶︎ Exception 1: It begins with “III.” and additional characters follow.
    ▶︎ Exception 2: It starts with “MMM-Str”.
  • the value starts with anything that is not: letters, numbers, apostrophes or quotation marks.
  • the value starts with a series of digits that are not followed by a letter, period, space or hyphen.
  • the value contains a series of digits that are not followed by a letter, period, space, hyphen, slash or comma.
  • the value contains a period that does not immediately follow a letter or number.
  • the value ends with a space or a hyphen.

Note
This field is mandatory if the address type is Standard mailing address. If the address type is International mailing address, it can be empty. If the address type is PO Box or Großempfängeranschrift, the value must be empty.
Number
  • the value is > 9 characters.
  • the value contains characters other than the following: letters, numbers, commas, spaces, hyphens, slashes, parentheses and periods.
  • the first and last characters are not letters or numbers.
  • special characters (spaces, commas, hyphens, slashes and periods) appear more than once in a row.
    ▶︎ Example: ..
Postal code
  • the Country is set to Germany and the value lies outside the range 01000 to 99999.
  • the country is set to any of the countries listed below and the value does not match the corresponding structure in the list.
Country Digits

Allowed characters 

N = number,

A = capital letter
Austria 4 NNNN
Belgium 4 NNNN
Canada 7 ANA NAN
Switzerland 4 NNNN
Denmark 4 NNNN
France 5 NNNNN
Netherlands 7 NNNN AA
Poland 6 NN-NNN
Czech Republic 6 NNN NN
Luxembourg 4 NNNN
Bulgaria 4 NNNN
Estonia 5 NNNNN
Greece 6 NNN NN
Spain 5 NNNNN
Croatia 5 NNNNN
Italy 5 NNNNN
Cyprus 4 NNNN
Latvia 4 NNNN
Lithuania 5 NNNNN
Hungary 4 NNNN
Malta 8 AAA NNNN
Portugal 8 NNNN-NNN
Romania 6 NNNNNN
Slovenia 4 NNNN
Slovakia 6 NNN NN
Finland 5 NNNNN
Sweden 6 NNN NN
City
  • the value has > 34 or < 2 characters.
  • the value contains characters other than the following: letters, periods, commas, spaces, hyphens, slashes, parentheses.
  • special characters (spaces, commas, hyphens, slashes, parentheses and periods) appear more than once in a row.
    ▶︎ Example: ..
  • the value starts with three identical letters.
  • the value does not start with a capital letter.
  • there is a period after a character that is not a letter.
  • the last character is not a letter, period or closing parenthesis.
PO Box number
  • the value is > 10 characters long.

Note
The PO Box number is mandatory if the address type is PO Box .

Please note that the content of our website (including any legal information) is intended solely for the purpose of providing non-binding information and does not constitute legal advice in the true sense of the term. The content of this information cannot and should not replace individual and binding legal advice that addresses your specific situation. In this respect, all information is provided without guarantee of correctness, completeness or of being up to date.

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