How do I configure and manage international customers?

In the company settings, you can define whether a company is an international customer and configure relevant payroll-specific settings.

This is particularly relevant for companies without a German tax ID or with specific requirements for tax handling and document availability.

Navigate via the headline menu to Company > Settings > General.
In the "International payroll" section, activate the option to mark the company as an international customer. This setting determines whether wage tax calculation and remittance should be suppressed.

Under "Document availability" you can also choose whether payroll documents should be provided in English.

Notice

If a company is marked as an international customer, it can be saved and processed even without a German tax ID.
After saving, you will receive a message confirming that tax suppression has been saved successfully.

In addition, all employees are automatically excluded from the ELStAM procedure to ensure compliance with tax regulations.

For international customers, a mandatory address of the authorized representative ((in accordance with §28f SGB IV) must be recorded to ensure that social security notifications are addressed correctly and in compliance with legal requirements.
If International payroll is enabled, an additional section „Address of authorized representative according to §28f SGB IV“ appears under: Master data > Company data > Business address

The address entered here is used exclusively for social security notifications.In reports and on the payroll statement, the standard business address will continue to be displayed.
Once this data has been saved, you can maintain all tax-relevant information and payment details in the employee profile to ensure correct tax handling and SEPA file creation.

Navigate via the headline menu to Employees and open the relevant employee profile.
Under Tax > General information, click the edit icon (top right) to enter edit mode.

You will see the message:“Employees of international customers cannot be registered for the ELStAM procedure.” The field “Exclusion from ELStAM procedure” is not editable.
If International payroll is enabled, the Tax section in the employee profile is extended.

For international customers, no wage tax is calculated and no wage tax documents are generated.

If the employee’s tax liability should be remitted via the employer, you can add it in the employee profile under: Tax > Income tax prepayment assessment . The tax liability will then be processed as a separate payroll item (Income tax prepayment assessment) and transferred via SEPA to the selected tax office.

Notice

In practice, employees often pay their tax liability themselves.
Click Add to open the input form and create a new prepayment assessment.

You can define the validity period and the quarterly tax liability for the current year. Past or already created quarters cannot be selected.

Under Payment details, select the responsible resident tax office and define the payment reference.The bank details are filled automatically.
After saving, the payment file and the net deduction are generated quarterly and in the month before the due date (mid-quarter).This ensures timely payment in line with payroll processing deadlines.

The payment files are generated in February, May, August, and November, with due dates on March 10 (Q1), June 10 (Q2), September 10 (Q3), and December 10 (Q4).

Additional validations ensure that periods do not overlap and completed quarters cannot be edited.

Note: If an employee leaves before the payment month, the SEPA file will not be generated earlier. A note will appear on the payroll statement:

“The income tax prepayment for the current quarter will not be remitted by the employer due to the termination.”