What payroll management covers
Payroll is a monthly process, but it commits the company on three fronts at once: employment law, social security contributions and income tax withheld at source. An error on a payslip therefore carries over into the CNSS return, the IR payment and, at year-end, the salary return.
Our engagement handles this complete cycle. It includes:
- preparing payslips from the employment contracts, the variable items of the month (overtime, bonuses, absences, leave) and the applicable rules of the collective agreement or internal regulations;
- calculating social security contributions and preparing the monthly CNSS return, including AMO, on the Damancom portal;
- calculating the IR withheld at source on each salary and preparing its payment;
- returns to supplementary pension funds and health insurance schemes when the company has joined them;
- the annual return of wages and salaries (état 9421);
- leaving documents: final settlement (solde de tout compte), employment certificate, calculation of the indemnities due.
Who this service is for
It is aimed first at companies that do not have a full-time payroll administrator: SMEs, newly formed companies hiring their first employees, subsidiaries of foreign groups with a small local team. It also suits companies that have an HR department but prefer to entrust the calculations and returns to a third party, to separate the entry of variable items from their processing.
Subsidiaries of foreign groups often have a specific need: payroll cost reporting in the group’s format, and the payroll of expatriate employees, whose social security and tax position must be examined case by case.
How the engagement runs
Taking over the file. At the start, we take over the employment contracts, the latest payslips, the CNSS returns and the IR payment statements. This review is used to set up the payroll, but also to spot past discrepancies: a pay item wrongly subjected to contributions, an indemnity treated as exempt without justification, an employee not declared for a month.
The monthly cycle. Each month, the company sends us the variable items according to a timetable agreed together. We prepare the payslips and a payroll journal, which the company approves before salaries are paid. The returns are then prepared on that basis. Electronic payment remains under the company’s control, unless it gives us a mandate to make it.
The annual deadlines. The état 9421 summarizes, for each employee, the income paid and the tax withheld during the year. Article 79 of the CGI requires it to be filed before 1 March of the following year. The figures it contains must agree with the twelve months of payroll and with the accounts: this reconciliation is part of the engagement.
Day-to-day questions. A hire, a termination of contract, a benefit in kind, an employee going on maternity leave: each of these events changes the payslip. We answer these questions as they arise, before the month’s payroll is prepared.
What you receive
- The month’s payslips and the payroll journal.
- The social security and tax returns ready to be filed electronically, or filed electronically under a mandate.
- A statement of social security charges and IR payable, with their due dates.
- The payroll entries to be integrated into the accounts, or their direct posting if we also keep the accounts.
- At year-end, the état 9421 and the reconciliation between payroll, returns and accounts.
Frequently asked questions
Who remains responsible for the returns when payroll is outsourced?
The employer. The CGI requires the employer to withhold IR on each salary and pay it to the Treasury, and it is the employer who declares its employees to the CNSS. The firm calculates and prepares; the company provides accurate information and pays on time. That is why the timetable for sending the variable items is set from the start.
Do you need to change software or organization?
No. The company sends us its information in whatever form suits it: a spreadsheet, a time-tracking export or a simple email for a small team. What matters is that it is sent regularly.
Can you take over a payroll during the year?
Yes. A mid-year takeover requires retrieving each employee’s cumulative figures since January, as they are used for the annual return. We check them at the takeover, rather than in February when preparing the état 9421.
How are public holidays, leave and overtime handled?
According to the Labor Code and the company’s internal rules. Public holidays and leave change the month’s salary, whether they are taken off or worked. The company only needs to report them in its variable items; the calculation is made from that information.
How much does outsourcing payroll cost?
The price depends on the number of employees, the complexity of the variable items and the returns to be prepared. Our guide to outsourcing payroll details what drives the cost and what to compare between two offers.
