In this article, you'll learn how to view and manage the payroll journal in Personio Payroll.
Note
This feature is currently in the beta stage and is being rolled out to all customers in phases.
General
What is the payroll journal?
The payroll journal is a comprehensive monthly report that breaks down all compensation components for all employees paid during a pay period. Starting with the total gross pay, all tax and social security deductions, all net pay and deductions, and the final payment amount are documented. The payroll journal serves as the basis for verifying payroll figures.
The document is generated automatically when your monthly payslip is approved. The Payroll Journal provides you with a complete overview of:
- the cumulative total of all compensation components included in the total gross pay
- tax and social security deductions, broken down into employee and employer contributions
- Total of all net earnings and deductions, plus the payment amount
The payroll journal consolidates all payroll data into a standardized format, making it easier to verify calculations and track costs.
What is a payroll journal used for?
The payroll journal is generally required in the following cases:
- Compliance and Audits: Providing payroll records for pension insurance and tax audits
- Quality Assurance: Review of payroll data for all employees and identification of errors
- Retroactive changes: Reviews of amendments and their impact on actual and past payroll periods.
- Historical certificates: Complete documentation of employees' payroll data throughout the period of their employment
Retention period
Like almost all payslip documents, the payslip journal is subject to specific retention periods. The payroll journal falls under the category of accounting documents and must be retained for eight years in accordance with Section 257(4) of the German Commercial Code (HGB).
Manage the Payroll Journal in Personio Payroll
Before you begin
To access the payroll journal for your organization's payslip processing, please ensure the following:
- Your payslip is processed through Personio Payroll
- As an administrator, you need access to Payroll and the Documents tab
- At least one payroll period must have been released.
Access to the payroll journal
To access the payroll journal in Personio Payroll, follow these steps:
- Open the payroll section.
- Go to the Documents tab.
- Search for the "Payroll Journal" document and click to open it.
Structure of the Payroll Journal
Note
The following payroll journal is for illustrative purposes only and does not contain any data relating to actual people.
The payroll journal includes the following information, among other things:
- Pay-related information about the employee
- the total gross amount, as well as a breakdown into pre-tax gross, recurring payments, and one-time payments
- Tax and Social Security Deductions
- Net pay and deductions, as well as the amount paid
Retroactive changes
If you make retroactive amendments to your payslip, Personio Payroll automatically reflects these in your payslip journal:
- Amendments are included in the payroll journal for the payroll period in which they are processed.
- Payroll journals created in the past will remain unchanged as historical certificates.
For example, if an employee’s salary is adjusted retroactively for January, February, and March in April, these amendments are included in the April payroll journal.
Actual restrictions
The first version of the payroll journal focuses on monthly reporting. The following features are not currently available:
- Create an annual payroll journal
- The consolidated payroll journal with year-to-date balances is available only upon request
FAQ
When is the payroll journal created?
The monthly payroll journal is created when the payslip is approved. A draft of the payslip is not currently available.
Where can I view the payroll journal?
You can view the payroll journal under Payroll in the Documents tab.
In what format is the payroll journal provided?
The payroll journal is currently available to you only as a PDF document under "Payroll" in the "Documents" tab.