Payroll for Small Business Without an Accountant: What You Need to Know

What are the most common causes of payroll errors?

Three categories of errors repeat in small businesses. First: incorrect contribution base (which changes during the year — minimum wage, allowances). Second: incorrectly recorded working time (too many or too few hours, which miscalculates overtime or meal allowance). Third: wrong tax bracket applied (the wrong bracket for an employee means the employer withholds too much or too little).

Each of these errors is retroactive — the tax authority applies it to the full year, not just the month in which it occurred.

What payroll changes need to be tracked?

The minimum wage increases every year on 1 January. Tax allowances (personal allowance, allowances for dependants) are adjusted annually. Contribution rates change rarely, but when they do, they must be updated for every payroll run.

The problem for small businesses: nobody is assigned to track these changes. An external accountant knows this; internal HR without a specialist often doesn't notice — and processes months of payroll using outdated parameters.

When to do payroll in-house and when to outsource?

Outsourcing payroll to an accounting service costs €10–€30 per employee per month. For 5 employees, that's €50–€150 monthly. The value: the accountant handles legal compliance, tracks regulatory changes, and submits the required reports.

In-house makes sense when you have 20+ employees and your own HR department. Below that threshold, outsourcing is often cheaper than the time internal HR spends tracking legislation and running manual calculations.

What elements must appear on a pay slip?

A payslip must contain: employee and employer name and address, month of calculation, gross salary, contribution base, employee and employer contributions by category, taxable income, income tax advance, net salary, allowances (meals, transport), total payment, and payment date.

Without any of these elements, the payslip is incomplete — which is the tax authority's basis for a fine.