This article explains which employee attributes are relevant in Personio Payroll, how these attributes are interrelated, and where you maintain them in your employee profile.

What are employee attributes?

Employee attributes are the individual data fields in the employee profile that Personio Payroll requires to create a correct payslip and for official reports. Personio assigns these attributes into four groups:

Attributes that employees provide themselves as part of their new job
Attributes that the person responsible for the payroll adds
Attributes that are only required as a result of certain information job
Attributes that are only relevant in special cases

How are the attributes related?

Many attributes do not stand alone, but have an effect on other data fields. Among other things, the following attributes are interrelated in practice and complement each other in many cases:

The type of health insurance and the person group code determine the four-digit contribution group code. Each of the four digits represents a specific branch of insurance.
If “yes”, the parental status triggers the additional attribute children, which in turn influences the amount of the nursing care insurance contribution.
If a new employee does not have a social insurance number, Personio Payroll requires additional information about the first name, last name, date of birth, place of birth and collection point in order to enable advance registration for social security.

Set up employee attributes in Personio Payroll

Before you begin

To edit employee attributes in Personio Payroll, they need

administrative rights or
The role of the person responsible for payroll for the relevant legal entity

Maintain attributes in the employee profile

To be able to edit employee attributes, proceed as follows:

Navigate to the appropriate employee profile > Personal info.
Click Edit.
Select the appropriate sub-area or search for the corresponding attribute.
Enter the required information in the appropriate field.
Click on Set effective date and enter the appropriate date.
Click submit.

Attributes in the employee profile

Information provided by the employee

The following attributes are usually filled out by the employee himself as part of a new addition.

Attributes	required field	When to fill out?	Description
Different bank account holder	yes	to be completed only if the account holder differs.	A different account holder is a person whose bank details are used for a payment even though they are not the contractual partner themselves. This occurs when invoices or direct debits go through the account of a third party (e.g. partner, parents).
Academic degree	no	—	An academic degree is a title awarded by universities after completing a course of study (bachelor, master, diploma) or through a doctorate that certifies a scientific qualification.
Address, addition	no	to be completed only if applicable	An addendum (addendum of address) is an addition to the street and house number in an address field.
Type of health insurance	yes	—	Classification of how the person has health insurance (for example compulsory statutory insurance, legally voluntary or privately insured). Relevant to contribution and grant logic.
SWIFT Code	no	Only to be completed if the IBAN is foreign	The BIC (Business Identifier Code) is an internationally standardized bank code (ISO 9362) that uniquely identifies financial institutions worldwide.
Proof of parentage	yes	—	Parental status refers to the legal status of a parent (biological, adopted, foster or stepparent), which is valid for life. It is relevant for social security, as it results in an exemption from the contribution supplement for childless people in nursing care insurance.
Birthdate	yes	—	The date of birth means the day on which a person was born, consisting of day, month and year.
Place of birth	yes	—	The place of birth is the municipality or city in which a person was actually born. It is a central personal identity mark that is entered in identity cards and registers.
Statutory health insurance (collection office)	yes	—	The health insurance company or collection agency through which the social security contributions are paid (responsible job for collecting contributions).
Gender	yes	—	Indication of legal gender in accordance with official or company-side master data. Relevant, among other things, for reports, statistics and, in some cases, for billing processes.
Number	yes	—	The house number is an officially defined combination of numbers or letters that uniquely identifies a building within a street or municipality.
Highest professional education	yes	—	The highest training qualification describes a person's most qualified, successfully completed vocational training path.
Highest level of educational	yes	—	The highest school leaving certificate is the state-recognized qualification that is obtained by successfully completing a course of education at a general or vocational school.
IBAN	yes	Only to be completed if the payment method is “bank transfer”	The IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is a standardized, internationally valid account number for uniquely identifying a bank account.
Children	yes	Only to be completed, if the parent status is “Yes”	Number of children who are taken into account when calculating the contribution supplement or contribution reductions in nursing care insurance.
Child allowance	no	Only to be completed if applicable.	The child allowance is a tax amount that reduces the taxable income of parents in order to make the child's subsistence minimum (including care and education) tax-free.
Confession spouse	no	Only specify if joint assessment is made.	If a spouse is of a different denomination or religious affiliation (marriage of different beliefs), the church tax is calculated using the principle of half division in the case of joint assessment.
Address, country	yes	—	The country where the specified address is located.
Last name	yes	—	The last name (also known as a family name) is the part of the personal name that follows the first name and expresses belonging to a family.
Nationality	yes	—	Nationality describes the legal affiliation of a person to a state (nationality).
City	yes	—	In the postal address, the location in the context of an address means the city, municipality or district in which a building is located.
Postal code	yes	—	A postal code is a combination of numbers or letters within a postal address that geographically limits the delivery location.
Social security number	yes	If not existing: Maintain complete master data (first name, last name, date of birth, place of birth) and collection point.	The social insurance number (SV number), also known as pension insurance number, is a personal, twelve-digit identification number that uniquely identifies every person in Germany with the German Pension Insurance.
Tax identification number	yes	—	The tax identification number (tax ID) is an eleven-digit number that is valid for life and is used in Germany to uniquely identify people in tax matters.
Tax class	yes	—	The tax bracket determines the amount of the monthly income tax deduction from gross salary, based on marital status and life situation. There are six classes, with the election (particularly for married couples) influencing the distribution of the tax burden.
Steuerpflichtige Kirchenzugehörigkeit	yes	—	Church tax obligations in Germany apply to members of tax-eligible religious communities (primarily Protestant, Catholic, Jewish) residing in Germany. The duty begins with admission or baptism and ends at the end of the month after leaving the church.
Street	yes	—	In the context of addresses, a street address describes the physical location of a building.
Married? (Marital status)	yes	—	Marital status describes the legal status of a person with regard to a marriage or registered civil partnership (single, married, divorced, widowed, registered civil partnership, permanently living apart).
Name prefix	no	Only to be completed if applicable.	A prefix is a part of a name that precedes a last name, such as “from,” “van,” “van der,” “to,” or “from.”
Name suffix	no	Only to be completed if applicable.	A name addition is an official part of the family name that comes before or after the name.
First name	yes	—	The first name is the custom name of a person that is added to the last name and personally identifies it.

Information provided by the person responsible for payroll

These attributes usually require knowledge from the HR department or payroll and are maintained by the person responsible for payroll.

Attributes	required field	When to fill out?	Description
Department	yes	—	Organizational unit in the Organisation (for example sales or HR) to which a person is assigned.
Temporary employment	yes	—	Form of employment in which employees are transferred from a lender to a borrower (temporary work or temporary work).
Employment Type	yes	—	General term for employment law (for example fixed-term part-time, permanent part-time, fixed-term full-time or permanent full-time).
Termination date	no	Only to be completed if applicable.	Date on which the employment relationship ends.
Exit date (current employment period)	no	Only to be completed if applicable.	End date of the current employment section.
Contribution group unemployment insurance	yes	—	Number of the contribution group that determines the obligation to pay contributions in unemployment insurance. The specific figures are defined by law or procedural means.
Contribution group health insurance	yes	—	Number of the contribution group that determines whether and how a person is subject to health insurance contributions.
Contribution group care insurance	yes	—	Number of the contribution group that determines the obligation to pay contributions in nursing care insurance.
Contribution group pension insurance	yes	—	Number of the contribution group that determines the pension insurance contribution obligation.
Calculation method Hourly calculation accident insurance	yes	—	Rule on how the working time relevant to accident insurance is determined for reporting and calculating contributions (for example target hours, actual hours or full-time work guideline).
Consider in German payroll	yes	To be maintained procedural among all employees.	Indicates whether an employment relationship is active processed in payslip. If a person has already been billed, this field can no longer be changed from “Yes” to “No.”
Site	yes	—	Company or unit with its own company number (allocation under social security law for notifications and payroll run).
Employment type	yes	—	This field defines the exact type of employment (for example permanent employment, minor employment, midi job, internship or working student).
Date on which the waiver of insurance was submitted to the employer	no	Only to be completed if applicable.	Date on which the declaration was received. Relevant, for example, if a person waives it despite being insured and wants to be compulsory insurance (often in the context of pension insurance for mini-jobs).
Entry date (current employment period)	yes	—	Start date of the current period of employment (for example after reentry).
Original entry date	no	Only to be completed if applicable.	First entry into the Organisation (historical date, even though there were interruptions).
Hazard pay job(s)	no	Assigned in the area of accident insurance.	Assignment to one or more risk tariff offices of the professional association. Determines, among other things, contribution rates depending on the activity or risk.
Primary or secondary employer	yes	—	Identification of whether this Organisation is the primary employer for tax and social security purposes (relevant in case of multiple employment).
Payroll ID	yes	—	Internal ID of a person in the payroll system (technical key for unique allocation, comparable to a personnel number).
Social insurance group key	yes	—	Registration code for classifying the group of people under social security law (for example employees, trainees, interns or mini-jobs).
Occupation key	yes	—	Activity key for social security reporting and statistics based on official classifications. Composed of nine digits. If the given number has more digits, only enter the first five digits.
Compulsory accident insurance	yes	—	Indicates whether the person is subject to statutory accident insurance. This generally applies to all employees, with exceptions depending on the constellation.
Weekly working hours	yes	—	Contractually agreed regular weekly working hours (target hours).
Payment method	yes	—	A payment method defines how the employee is paid (cash payment or transfer).

Conditional attributes

These attributes only become mandatory when a certain information is provided job in the profile, for example in the case of multiple employment, membership in a professional pension fund or a current allowance.

Attributes	required field	When to fill out?	Description
Type of multiple employment	no	When multiple employment is “yes.”	Classification of what type of parallel employment exists (for example, several jobs at the same time, differentiation of main and secondary employers).
Start of training	no	In the case of vocational training.	Start date of vocational training (relevant for groups of people, tax and social security law and notifications).
End of training	no	In the case of vocational training.	End date of vocational training (relevant for groups of people, tax and social security law and notifications).
For private insurance: Payment by	no	Only for privately insured employees.	Who pays the contributions or bonuses (for example employee, employers or shared).
Start of exemption from pension insurance obligations	no	If exemption is granted.	Date from which an exemption from pension insurance obligation applies (if legally possible and approved).
Start waiver of pension insurance exemption	no	Only to be completed if applicable.	Date from which a person would like to voluntarily be subject to pension insurance despite being exempted from pension insurance (typically in a mini-job).
Calculation of employer subsidy for voluntary health insurance	no	For employees who have voluntary statutory insurance.	Method or parameter for determining the employer subsidy for people who are voluntarily insured by law.
Factor	no	Only fill out if tax class “4 with factor” is used, otherwise leave it empty.	The factor method (tax class 4 with factor) is an option for married couples or partners to distribute income tax according to the individual income distribution. A factor calculated by the tax office already takes the splitting rate into account when deducting it monthly.
Date of birth is unknown	no	Only fill out if the date of birth is unknown.	Indicator that there is no date of birth (special case, usually for data migrations).
Statutory health insurance different from collection agency (mini-job, short-term employment)	no	Only for mini-jobs or short-term employment.	Information if the reporting or billing collection agency (for example the mini-job center) does not match the person's actual health insurance.
IBAN professional pension fund	no	Only if you are a member of the professional pension fund.	Account for payments to the professional pension fund.
Indicator of multiple employment	no	In the case of parallel employment.	Technical sign that there are parallel jobs.
Versorgungswerk membership number	no	Only if you are a member of the professional pension fund.	Identification number in the professional pension fund.
Total monthly contribution to private nursing care insurance (employee and employer contribution)	no	With private nursing care insurance.	Total private nursing care insurance contributions (employee and employer contributions combined) per month.
Name professional pension fund	no	Only if you are a member of the professional pension fund.	Name of the care facility.
Flat-rate tax calculation	no	Only with person group key 109 and 120.	Indicators or parameters as to whether and how a flat tax is applied and calculated (for example for certain minor occupations).
professional pension fund	no	Only if you are a member of the professional pension fund.	Purpose or reference for unique assignment.
Travel expenses: provision of meals	no	Only to be completed if applicable.	Indicates whether and when meals were provided. Affects meal allowances and deductions.
Pension type	no	—	Type of pension (e.g. old-age pension or disability pension).
Pension type (Other)	no	—	Free text if the pension type is not included in the catalog.
Start of retirement according to pension notice	no	—	Free text if the pension type is not included in the catalog.
Tax-free benefit: Collective transport	no	Only to be completed if applicable.	Indicator for the tax-free or lump-sum employer benefit “collective transport” (relevant for payroll tax).
accident insurance actual minutes	no	If the calculation method for accident insurance is “actual hours.”	In fact, working time recorded in minutes is used for accident insurance instead of standard target values.
accident insurance actual hours	no	If the calculation method for accident insurance is “actual hours.”	Working time is actually recorded in hours, which is used for accident insurance instead of standard target values.
Transition area	no	Only with Midijob	Indicates whether the employment is in a transitional area (formerly glide zone, midi job). Affects the calculation of contributions.

Attributes for special cases

These attributes only concern specific groups of employees or rare constellations, such as civil service relationships, cross-border commuters or different places of employment.

Attributes	required field	When to fill out?	Description
Billing-relevant data in absentia	no	—	Indicates whether and which absence data (such as sickness benefit or maternity protection) is directly effective for billing.
Divergent allocation control	no	—	Different treatment of charges (for example U1, U2 or insolvency money surcharge) compared to standard logic.
Work permit valid until	no	—	Work permit expiration date (relevant for the compliance check).
Application of contribution rate for marginal professional pension fund (group of persons 190)	no	—	Indicates whether the contribution rate provided for this purpose is applied to members of the pension fund for minor employees (group of persons 190).
Application of church tax cap	no	—	Indicates whether a church tax cap (church tax limit) is taken into account in the payroll tax calculation, if applicable to the person or region.
Residence permit valid until	no	—	Expiry date of the residence permit. Used for documentation and may be relevant to employment eligibility.
civil servant status	no	—	Indicator of whether there is a civil service relationship (special logic for social security and pensions).
Are you undergoing external vocational training in accordance with SGB III - Section 76?	no	—	Indicator for this special form of training (relevant under reporting and funding law in accordance with Section 76 SGB III).
Inventory protection	no	—	Protection provision under which an earlier legal situation or previous parameters continue to apply.
Inventory protection valid since	no	—	Date from which the inventory protection scheme applies.
Employment as part of the Federal Voluntary Service	no	—	Indicator for federal volunteer service (own social security treatment).
Place of employment (federal state, street, house number, city, zip code, state)	no	Only if the place of employment differs from the permanent establishment.	The address and region of the actual place of employment. Relevant, among other things, for reports and statistics.
Special standard age limit (65 years) for employees in mining and professional soldiers	no	—	Special license plate for the different age limit in accordance with Section 235 SGB VI.
Special relation to employer	no	—	Special relationship (for example, shareholder-management or dependents) that may influence the classification in tax and social security law.
Operating number of the payroll run job (BBNRAS), if different from permanent establishment	no	—	Independent operating number of the billing job, provided that this does not match the permanent establishment.
Paid time off in the event of “child ill” is excluded by	no	—	Basis on which paid leave of absence in the event of illness of a child is excluded (contractually, collectively or operationally).
External benefits (one-off payment, unemployment, health, long-term care and pension insurance)	no	Only if there is more than one job subject to social security contributions.	Compensation from further employment, which must also be taken into account in the respective insurance.
Cross-border workers France: State of employment	no	—	Information on the federal state of the place of employment required for cross-border commuters.
Reason for time limit extension	no	—	Reason why a time limit is being extended (employment law documentation).
Is the employee entitlement to daily sickness benefits?	no	—	Indicates whether there is daily sickness benefit coverage (relevant primarily for private insurance).
Is paid time off excluded in the case of “child ill”?	no	—	Indicates whether paid leave of absence is excluded if a child is ill.
Is a seasonal worker	no	—	Indicator of seasonal employment.
Annual tax adjustment	no	Only if there is an allowance.	Indicates whether the employer carries out the annual payroll tax adjustment (if permitted).
Tax exemption or additional amount (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly)	no	Only if there is an allowance or additional amount.	Amounts from ElStAM or assessment that reduce or increase the payroll tax calculation (allowance).
Name resolution at birth	no	—	Part of the birth name (for example “from”, “van” or “to”), relevant for official data.
Name addition at birth	no	—	Part of the birth name, relevant for official data.
Certificate of enrollment valid until	no	—	Validity date of the enrollment or study certificate (typically for working student status).

Note
If a mandatory attribute has not been defined, Personio displays payslip as a blocker or warning message when processing the payroll. Complete the missing information before approval to avoid delays in payroll run or legal reporting.

FAQ

Do I have to fill out all attributes for each employee?

No. Mandatory attributes from groups one and two are required for most employment relationships. Attributes from groups three and four only become relevant if the respective requirement is met, for example membership in the professional pension fund or a midi job.

What happens when a mandatory attribute is missing?

Personio Payroll displays a warning message as soon as a required attribute is missing. Complete the information before approving the payslip, otherwise some reports cannot be created correctly.

How do employee attributes differ from historical employee data?

Employee attributes are the current data fields in the employee profile. Historical employee data, on the other hand, shows the history of these attributes for months before switching to Personio Payroll. For more information, see the paraphrased article on historical employee data in the table above.

Does this overview also apply to preliminary payroll accounting or DATEV Integrations?

No. The attributes and tab described here apply to Personio Payroll. Different fields and processes may apply to preparatory payroll accounting or external DATEV Integrations.
Can I edit multiple attributes for multiple employees at the same time?

Find the answers you need

manage employee attributes in Personio Payroll