As soon as a business has employees, a series of legal obligations around wages arises. Payroll accounting ensures the right deductions are made from gross salary, employer shares are added, and all amounts are delivered on time to the responsible bodies. The net salary determines what employees are paid out; the reports determine whether AHV, pension fund, and insurers are correctly maintained.
The main deductions in Switzerland: AHV/IV/EO (total 10.6 %, split in half, i.e. 5.3 % each for employee and employer), unemployment insurance ALV (total 2.2 %, 1.1 % each), occupational-pension contributions (BVG/pension fund, per the plan rules), and non-occupational accident insurance (NBU) at the employee's expense. For employees liable to withholding tax, the tax-at-source deduction is added. Besides its own shares, the employer bears occupational accident insurance (BU) and administrative costs.
The process: a monthly payslip per employee with gross, deductions, and net; ongoing booking into the financial accounts; interim or annual settlement with the AHV compensation office, pension fund, and accident insurer (wage-sum report); and at year-end the salary certificate for each person as the basis for their personal tax return. Many businesses use ELM (unified wage-reporting procedure), which transmits the data directly to social insurers.
What to watch for: correct handling of child and family allowances, expenses (genuine expenses are not salary, flat-rate expenses need an approved policy), the 13th monthly salary, holiday and overtime compensation, and the correct treatment of illness, accident, and maternity (daily allowances). Errors in social insurance surface at the periodic AHV audit and are charged retroactively.
A fiduciary office often runs payroll as a module alongside the financial accounts. As a guide, the payslip costs around CHF 15–40 per employee per month, plus the annual closing and reporting work; smaller setups are frequently billed as a flat fee (no guarantee).