Payroll in Norman: start here

With payroll in Norman you run the payroll for the managing directors and employees of your GmbH or UG yourself:

• Norman calculates wage tax, solidarity surcharge, church tax and social-insurance contributions.
• It produces payslips and the Lohnkonto, and books everything to the Ledger.
• You file the Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung straight from Norman via ELSTER.
• You pay net salaries, contributions and wage tax in one transfer from Norman.

Payroll is part of the Max plan. The company owner and the company's tax advisors can open it. You find it in the sidebar under Payroll, right below Taxes.

What you need before you start

For the company:

• the Betriebsnummer from the Bundesagentur für Arbeit, with the date and reference of its letter;
• membership of your Berufsgenossenschaft (accident insurer) with the 15-digit Unternehmensnummer;
• the company's Steuernummer and federal state, and an SKR03 or SKR04 chart of accounts;
• access to the SV-Meldeportal, the free reporting portal of the social insurance. You sign in with the company's ELSTER organisation certificate from Mein Unternehmenskonto.

For each person:

• the contract with monthly salary and start date;
• tax ID, tax class, church and child allowances from the ELStAM notice;
• the IBAN for the net pay.

For employees, also:

• their health fund with its Betriebsnummer and Zusatzbeitrag;
• their pension insurance number and the personnel questionnaire details;
• the agreed working hours.

Six steps to your first payroll

On the Payroll page, Start here shows the same steps and ticks each one off once it is done.

1. Set up the employer. Betriebsnummer, Berufsgenossenschaft, contact person and levies. See Set up the employer.
2. Add the people you pay. Yourself as managing director and every employee. See Add people.
3. Calculate and approve your first month. Under Payroll, calculate the month, check it and approve it. See Run payroll for one director and two employees.
4. File the Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung. Under Tax reports, compute the period and submit it. See File wage tax.
5. Pay the month. Net salaries, contributions and wage tax in one transfer. See Pay from Norman.
6. Send social insurance reports in the SV-Meldeportal. Norman prepares the figures, you send them. See Social insurance reports in the SV-Meldeportal.

How this looks over several months, with a new hire and a raise, is shown in the example of the first three months.

Every month

If the 10th falls on a weekend or public holiday, the deadline moves to the next working day. The health funds publish the exact banking days for contributions every year.

If the month is not approved by the Beitragsnachweis deadline, save a contribution plan under Social contributions. You then report and pay the estimate; the next month evens out the difference.

Which filing period applies to you?

How often you file depends on the previous year's wage tax (§ 41a (2) EStG):

In your first year, the wage tax of the first full month, scaled to twelve months, decides. In Norman you choose the period yourself when you compute the Anmeldung under Tax reports. For quarterly filing, approve all three months first.

What payroll covers

Payroll covers managing directors, including those exempt from social insurance with private or voluntary statutory health insurance. It also covers employees on a fixed monthly salary with full statutory insurance, earning more than €2,000 and up to €6,450 gross a month (2025: €6,150). Part-time on a fixed monthly salary works too. Payroll years are 2025 and 2026.

It does not cover:

• mini-jobs and midi-jobs;
• multiple employment;
• one-off payments such as bonuses or Christmas pay;
• hourly wages;
• benefits in kind such as a company car;
• employer subsidies to health and care insurance;
• employments lasting up to four weeks.

Payroll is available for GmbH and UG. As a sole trader, read Payroll for a sole trader with employees.

All guides

• Set up the employer
• Add people: directors and employees
• Run payroll for one director and two employees
• Run payroll for a director-only GmbH or UG
• Example: the first three months
• Joiners, leavers and pay changes
• File wage tax and finish payroll in your books
• Pay salaries, contributions and wage tax from Norman
• Send social insurance reports in the SV-Meldeportal
• Which absence type to choose
• Correct the gross salary in an approved month