> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hr-easy.nlead.ch/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Payroll declarations

> AHV, Quellensteuer, BVG, EMA, the Lohnausweis, and the Swissdec ELM Jahresmeldung.

Swiss payroll produces a stream of obligations towards insurers and authorities. The
platform implements them as tracked artefacts with an explicit submitted state, not as
exports someone remembers to send.

## Social insurance

| Insurance     | Covers                                       | Contribution                                                            |
| ------------- | -------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **AHV/IV/EO** | Old age, disability, income compensation     | Split employer / employee                                               |
| **ALV**       | Unemployment                                 | Split, with a threshold above which a supplementary rate applies        |
| **UVG**       | Accident — occupational and non-occupational | Occupational borne by the employer; non-occupational typically deducted |
| **BVG**       | Occupational pension (second pillar)         | Split, per the pension fund's plan                                      |
| **KTG**       | Daily sickness benefit                       | Per the policy                                                          |
| **FAK**       | Family allowances                            | Employer, cantonal rate                                                 |

Rates, contract numbers and validity periods are configured per legal entity in
[payroll master data](/guides/payroll/master-data#versicherungen). The engine reads
them; the declarations address the right recipient from them.

## Quellensteuer

Employees taxed at source — typically foreign nationals without a C permit, and
cross-border commuters — have withholding tax deducted at a **cantonal tariff**
determined by their canton, civil status, partner's employment, children, and church
tax liability.

The platform holds:

* A per-employee **Quellensteuer profile**, with the marriage/partner and cross-border
  records where those apply.
* Imported **cantonal tariffs**, whose entries carry up to four decimal places — one of
  the reasons the engine is [decimal end to end](/guides/payroll/overview#money-is-never-a-float).
* Monthly **QST reports** per canton, with first-class **corrections** for prior
  periods, because retroactive QST adjustments are routine rather than exceptional.

## EMA — event notifications

Wage-relevant events reported as they occur: joiners, leavers, and material changes.
Drafting is `HR_STAFF`+; **submitting** is `ADMIN`+, because a `TRANSMITTED` submission
means the authority has the data and corrections become a formal procedure.

## Lohnausweis

The year-end salary certificate every employee receives and files with their tax
return. Generated from the year's locked runs, mapped through the Lohnart catalog into
the certificate's fields, with human-supplied Angaben for the items that require
judgement — expense arrangements, company car, further-education contributions.

It carries a **2D barcode** encoding its data for the tax administration. The platform
implements the official swissdec specification, and the reference artefacts are
committed in the repository verbatim so the barcode contract cannot drift.

Submitting locks the certificate. A later change is a corrected certificate, not an
edit.

## Quellensteuerbescheinigung

A separate annual document for employees taxed at source, recording what was withheld
over the year. Viewing is `HR_STAFF`+; generating is `ADMIN`+, because the output is the
employee's tax record.

## Swissdec ELM Jahresmeldung

The year-end electronic declaration to insurers and authorities over the
**Einheitliches Lohnmeldeverfahren**. The interface is a carrier grid — the recipients
across the categories that must be declared — and each is drafted and then transmitted
individually.

The transmitter contract (XSD, WSDL and sample messages) is committed verbatim in the
repository as the authoritative specification, so the declaration format is pinned
rather than reconstructed.

<Warning>
  Transmission goes to the **production** endpoint unless the declaration is explicitly marked as a
  test. Use test mode for the first declaration to any new carrier.
</Warning>

## AHV splitting

A negative year-to-date AHV wage — typically after a large retroactive correction — has
to be distributed manually across contribution years. The split feeds the
AHV-Lohnbescheinigung, so viewing is `HR_STAFF`+ but filing is `ADMIN`+.

## The calendar

| When              | What                                                         |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Monthly           | Payroll run, payment batch, FIBU transfer, EMA, QST reports. |
| Quarterly         | Cantonal QST settlement, where the canton requires it.       |
| Annually, January | AHV-Lohnbescheinigung, ELM Jahresmeldung per carrier.        |
| Annually, January | Lohnausweis and QST-Bescheinigung to employees.              |

<Card title="Running year end" icon="calendar-check" href="/guides/payroll/year-end">
  The sequence, the reconciliation step, and what to check before submitting anything.
</Card>