This article describes important features of the preliminary payroll area for using DATEV integration. Detailed information on the general use of preliminary payroll in Personio can be found in our article on this topic. 

What is the Preliminary Payroll section?

The Preliminary Payroll section combines all the payroll-relevant data in the People, Personal info, Salary, Time off, Employee changes, Documents, and Manage tabs. Here you can:

• Review personnel data, salaries, time off, documents, and data changes since the last approval.
• See details of data changes and navigate to individual employee profiles to make adjustments.
• Approve the monthly payroll and lock the Personnel Data tab, so you know exactly which data is considered for that payroll period.
• Create an export of the preliminary payroll at any time, with the current changes highlighted in the Excel file.
• After payroll approval, use the Lohnimportdatenservice to generate exports of master and transaction data send them directly to the DATEV LODAS/Lohn und Gehalt integration.
• Retrieve and view payroll-relevant documents from DATEV via the Lohnauswertungsdatenservice and distribute them to employees.
• Edit the settings for preliminary payroll via the Manage tab.

Tip:
To access this section, go to Payroll in the navigation bar on the left. 

Functions of the Preliminary Payroll section

The Preliminary payroll section is organized by payroll month and payroll group, provided this option has been activated. Here you can:

• Choose the payroll month, group and tab: Navigate to the desired payroll month using the drop-down menu at the top left.
• Approve the preliminary payroll: On the top right of the preliminary payroll table, an overview is displayed that shows the status of your preliminary payroll for the selected month as well as the date from which changes have been flagged. You can approve the preliminary payroll by clicking on the Approve payroll button on the top right of the page. An export is automatically generated.
• Generate exports: You can generate further exports at any time before and after the preliminary payroll for the relevant month is approved by clicking the corresponding button. 
• Send exports to DATEV: You can create various exports for master and transaction data and send them directly to DATEV via the Documents tab.
• Distribute DATEV exports: As soon as employee-related documents are available for retrieval in DATEV, you can view them under the Documents tab and assign and distribute them to the respective employees via the DATEV personnel number.

The section is divided into the tabs People, Personal info, Salary, Time off, Employee changes, Documents, and Manage. These are the main functions:

The Documents tab

The Documents tab is the central point of contact for generated exports and retrieved documents. Here you will find a clear representation of all payroll exports that were created in the displayed payroll period. You can download them and send them directly to DATEV. As soon as documents are available in DATEV, they can be retrieved in Personio with a click and distributed to your employees.

The following fields provide an overview and show:

• Document: The name of the document. This could be an Excel file, a generated DATEV export, or any documents retrieved from DATEV.
• Source: Indicates whether the document comes from Personio or DATEV.
• Target group: Shows whether the document is for employees or the legal entity.
• Payroll group: The document's corresponding payroll group, if enabled.
• Status: Shows whether a generated DATEV export can be transmitted to DATEV, has been uploaded to DATEV, or has already been imported into DATEV for payroll. For all other documents, the status serves as an indication of whether there has been an error.
• Created on: The creation or retrieval date of the document.
• Action: Options to download, send to DATEV or delete a document.

For more information about the individual tabs and their functions, see our article on the topic.