# Payroll for a sole trader with employees
Source: https://norman.finance/de/en/help-center/payroll-sole-trader-employees
Updated: 2026-10-06

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You operate an Einzelunternehmen or work as a self-employed freelancer and employ two people. The payroll belongs to those employees. Money you take for yourself is an owner's drawing, not a third managing-director salary. The [profit and drawings rules in § 4 EStG](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__4.html) distinguish private withdrawals from business expenses.

Your route is: confirm the bookkeeping setup → obtain the two payroll calculations → file wage tax → make payments → reconcile the payroll records in Norman.

## 1. Confirm the setup before the first month

Payroll in Norman is built for GmbH and UG: calculating the month, filing the Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung and paying salaries from Norman are not available to an Einzelunternehmen. Your payroll provider or tax advisor runs the payroll, and you keep the bookkeeping side in Norman as described in step 4.

Agree who will calculate payroll and transmit the employer reports. Do not change your legal form to GmbH just to obtain a payroll option.

## 2. Obtain the monthly payroll package

Provide the reviewed employee details, agreed salaries, current tax and insurance data, work schedules and any changes for the month to the agreed payroll preparer. Obtain the two payslips, payroll summary, wage tax return amounts, fund contribution amounts and payment instructions.

Check that the package includes both employees and the correct month. Keep your own drawings separate. If there are no changes, the recurring task is to confirm that fact and review the new month's package.

## 3. File wage tax and pay the amounts

Have the responsible preparer complete the employer's Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung and give you the transmission receipt. Confirm the result rather than treating a preview as a filing.

Arrange net salary, Finanzamt and health-fund payments according to the package and applicable due dates. Confirm separately who handles the social-insurance reports. Your personal income tax payment and your drawings remain outside the employees' payroll.

## 4. Bring the evidence into Norman

Upload the payroll summary and supporting documents under **Documents**. Import or sync the corresponding business-bank payments and match the documents to the relevant transactions. Use the payroll expense categories agreed for your EÜR setup, with no payroll input VAT.

For ordinary EÜR bookkeeping, review the actual payments and their allocation with the payroll summary; uploading the summary alone does not create the expenses. If payroll has instead been posted through an agreed Ledger setup, payments clear the recorded liabilities rather than creating the expenses again. Keep one consistent method so the summary and bank payments are not counted twice.

## 5. Finish the month and prepare the year

Keep together the two payslips, wage tax transmission receipt, contribution evidence and matched payments. Check that recorded employee costs include the applicable employer contributions, while private drawings and personal income tax remain separate.

Repeat monthly. At year-end, reconcile the payroll totals with the appropriate bookkeeping report and give the records to whoever prepares your EÜR and income tax return. Those annual returns are separate from the employer's wage tax filings. See [exporting categories and supporting documents](/de/en/help-center/exporte-kategorien-belege).