Payroll services in Switzerland
Outsource payroll and comply with the regulations
Because of the strict legal requirements, payroll is particularly demanding. We take it over completely, including social insurance, tax at source and the particularities of collective labour agreements. We provide these payroll services in Switzerland from Dübendorf, for businesses in Zurich and across the country.
Base fee and one person included in the subscription, each additional person from CHF 25 per month, excluding VAT
Services
What we take on for you
We take over payroll completely, including social insurance, tax at source and the particularities of collective labour agreements. Open each line to see what it includes.
Monthly payroll processing
Punctual and correct payslips for your team, delivered digitally.
Social insurance
Old-age and survivors’, disability, income compensation and unemployment insurance (AHV, IV, EO, ALV), family allowances (FAK), occupational pensions (BVG), accident insurance (UVG) and daily sickness allowance insurance (KTG): all reports and annual statements.
Annual declarations
Salary certificates (Lohnausweise) and annual reports to all offices, on time.
Personnel changes
Joiners and leavers, salary changes, changes in workload and maintenance of master data.
Tax at source
Tax at source (Quellensteuer) for cross-border commuters and foreign residents, including checking the tariff.
Payment preparation
The salary payments are ready in your e-banking. Only you can approve them.
What really takes work in payrollFour things that look simple from the outside and are not. If you know them, you also understand why the rates look the way they do.
Salary certificates are counted, not heads
What counts are all employees paid during the calendar year, not the headcount on a particular date. A business with four permanent employees and three summer temps has seven salary certificates at the end of the year, and that is what the price is based on.
Hourly wages involve more work than monthly salaries
With varying workloads, there is also holiday and public holiday pay, the share of the 13th month’s salary and checking the timesheets. That is the reason for the higher rate, not that the payslip looks different.
Tax at source has its own deadlines and its own tariffs
The tariff depends on marital status, number of children and canton, and it changes every year. Depending on the canton, the settlement is monthly or quarterly, regardless of your VAT period.
Absences cause the most work
Illness, accident, maternity or short-time work: calculating continued pay, settling daily allowances, posting differences and reconciling with the insurer. This is the part that is most often left lying internally.
Four reasons to hand over payrollMistakes are expensive, salaries are confidential, deadlines do not wait, and the rules change constantly.
Mistakes are expensive
Incorrectly settled social insurance contributions often only come to light during an audit, and then retroactively for several years.
Salaries are confidential
In small businesses, not everyone wants to see what their colleagues earn. With an external provider, this is cleanly separated.
Deadlines do not wait
Salary certificates, annual declarations and tax-at-source returns have fixed dates. We keep track of them.
The rules change constantly
Contribution rates, thresholds and tax-at-source tariffs change every year. We work with them every day anyway.
Prices
One person included, plus an amount per additional person
Payroll is not priced in packages but is made up of components. All rates exclude VAT.
Base fee and first person
Master data, social insurance, salary certificates and annual declarations, plus the payroll for one person.
includedin every accounting subscription
Each additional person on a monthly salary
The normal case: a fixed workload and a constant salary.
CHF 25per person per month
Each additional person on an hourly wage
Varying workloads, with holiday and public holiday pay.
CHF 30per person per month
Employees subject to tax at source
A surcharge for the settlement and the report to the canton, also for the first person, not a separate package.
CHF 35per person per month
Industry fund or collective labour agreement
GastroSocial, Parifonds and other joint committees.
CHF 30per month
An example
A business with 4 employees on a monthly salary pays 3 × CHF 25 on top of the accounting subscription, a total of CHF 75 per month, excluding VAT. The base fee and the first person are included in the subscription.
If hourly workers, tax at source or an industry fund are added, the price calculator works it out in 2 minutes, including the accounting if you would like to hand over both.
Calculate your priceMonthly salary or hourly wage?From the outside, both look the same. In the payroll, they are not, and that is also where the difference in the rates above comes from.
Basis of the payslip
Monthly salary
A fixed workload and a constant amount. The payslip is the same every month.
Hourly wage
Hours recorded from timesheets or time tracking. Every month looks different.
Holidays and public holidays
Monthly salary
Included in the salary. Taking holiday does not change the payslip.
Hourly wage
With irregular assignments, shown as a supplement; the usual rates are 8.33% for 4 weeks and 10.64% for 5 weeks of holiday. With a regular workload this is not allowed: Art. 329d para. 2 CO prohibits replacing holidays with money while the employment lasts. The salary is then paid when the holiday is taken.
13th month’s salary
Monthly salary
Usually as a thirteenth payment in December or in two halves.
Hourly wage
As an ongoing supplement of 8.33% on the hourly wage, calculated every month.
What has to be done each month
Monthly salary
Prepare the payslip and the payment. Adjust the master data when there are changes.
Hourly wage
Read in and check timesheets, calculate supplements, prepare the payslip: noticeably more work.
Where mistakes happen
Monthly salary
With changes in the middle of the month and with continued pay during absences.
Hourly wage
With the supplement rates, with overtime and when timesheets are corrected afterwards.
Our rate
Monthly salary
CHF 25 per person per month.
Hourly wage
CHF 30 per person per month. The difference is the work, not the care.
Many businesses have both. That is not a problem. We charge per person according to the type of wage, and in the price calculator you simply enter both numbers.
Who runs the payroll
Your payroll, handled confidentially
The salary data stays in your own system; we work in it with our own access and do not pass anything on. Only those who work on your mandate have access. If you wish, we answer your employees’ questions about deductions or salary certificates.
Melanie GiangCo-founder
Silvio BörlinCo-founder
EmiliaAccounting & Payroll
OkiAI on the team
HarveyChief Happiness Officer
Kriesbachstrasse 30, 8600 Dübendorf · Monday to Friday, 9 am to 6 pm
Meet the whole teamClient reviews
What our clients say
Genuine Google reviews
4.9 out of 5 from 26 Google reviews, as of 10 October 2026
Reviews in German, as published on Google.
Platinum and implementation partner
bexio’s highest partner level, which comes with ongoing certification. Listed in the official directory of accounting firms.
Platinum partnerListed in bexio’s directory of accounting firmsRAB505484Licensed audit expertIn the register of the Federal Audit Oversight Authority (RAB)Both entries are public. One click is enough to check them.
The payroll year
What happens when
The rhythm stays the same, even if contribution rates and tariffs change every year. We record specific dates in the agreement. Here you can see what you can expect.
Every month, including joiners and leavers
Timesheets and changes come to us, we run the payroll, and you receive the payslips and approve the payment in your e-banking. A fixed process with fixed dates. For joiners and leavers, there are also the registration and deregistration with AHV, BVG and UVG and the final payslip with holiday credit and the pro rata 13th month’s salary. This runs alongside, not as a special assignment.
In January
Salary certificates for all employees paid in the previous year, the annual declaration to the compensation office (Ausgleichskasse), and the payroll totals reported to the accident insurer (UVG) and the daily sickness allowance insurer.
When the fund carries out an inspection
Compensation offices and insurers carry out periodic inspections. We compile the documents and answer the questions. You do not have to search for anything.
The initial meeting
Let’s spend 30 minutes on your accounting
The initial meeting is free and without obligation. Together we look at where your business loses time today and which of that work we can take on. Afterwards, you know where you stand.
Who would you like to talk to?
30 minutes, without obligation, by video or at our office in Dübendorf. Both of them hold the initial meeting personally.
Prefer email? info@onaccounting.ch
Questions and answers
Frequently asked questions
How is the price made up?
The accounting subscription includes the base fee and the payroll for one person. Each additional person costs CHF 25 on a monthly salary and CHF 30 on an hourly wage, per month. A business with 4 employees on a monthly salary therefore pays CHF 75 per month on top of the subscription. If tax at source or an industry fund is added, we charge the corresponding surcharges. All amounts exclude VAT.
How do we send the timesheets?
Whichever way suits you: as a file from your time tracking, as a spreadsheet or via the software. We set up the route once, and after that it works the same way every month.
Do you also handle registration with the social insurance schemes?
Yes. When employees join or leave, we register and deregister them with AHV, BVG and UVG. For new companies, we set up the affiliations from scratch.
We have a collective labour agreement. Do you know it?
We regularly work with businesses covered by a collective labour agreement (GAV), above all in building services and the finishing trades. Holiday and public holiday pay, the 13th month’s salary and Parifonds contributions are routine for us.
Who answers our employees’ questions about their payslips?
We do, if you wish. Many businesses pass questions about deductions or salary certificates directly to us. That takes the load off the management, and the answer is correct.
Do you only work with businesses from the region?
Our office is in Dübendorf, and many clients come from Zurich and the Zurich Oberland. We can look after you from anywhere in Switzerland, because timesheets and payslips are handled digitally.
Can you do just the payroll, without the bookkeeping?
With fewer than twenty employees, generally not. We run payroll for clients whose financial accounting is also with us. The reason is a professional one: wage accounts, accruals for social insurance and the salary certificates have to match the annual accounts at the end of the year, and that is only reliable if both are in the same hands. From around twenty employees, we look at it case by case. Ask about it in the initial meeting, and we will tell you straight away.
How do you protect our employees’ salary data?
Salary data is among the personal data that requires particular care. It stays in your own system; we work in it with our own access and do not pass anything on. Only those who work on your mandate have access. We are contractually bound to confidentiality, also after the end of the mandate, and we process the data in accordance with the revised Federal Act on Data Protection (revDSG). In small businesses, this is an argument in itself, by the way: with an external provider, nobody in the team sees their colleagues’ salaries.
What happens in the event of illness, accident or maternity?
We calculate the continued pay, report the case to the relevant insurer, post the daily allowances received and reconcile the difference with the salary paid out. That sounds simpler than it is: between entitlement, waiting period, the amount of the daily allowance and what you actually transfer, there are several calculations. This is exactly the part that is most often left lying internally.
Do you also handle short-time work?
Yes. Short-time work compensation (Kurzarbeitsentschädigung) requires its own settlements, separate recording of the hours lost and reconciliation with what the unemployment insurance fund reimburses. We have set this up and handle it alongside. However, you submit the application yourself, because it relates to your business.
What happens when someone leaves?
We prepare the final payslip with holiday credit, the pro rata 13th month’s salary and any overtime, deregister the person with AHV, BVG and UVG and issue the salary certificate for the current year. If you wish, we also check whether any deductions need to be corrected in the month of leaving.