Payroll Compliance Audit Procedures 2024/25

Afternoon everybody, I want to invite you all here today…Payroll Compliance Audit Procedures…

Papaya supports our international growth, allowing us to recruit, relocate and keep employees anywhere

Embrace making use of technology to handle Global payroll operations throughout all their Worldwide entities and are really seeing the benefits of the performance supplier management and using both um local in-country partners and various suppliers to to run their Worldwide payroll and using the innovation then to gain access to all that data in terms of reporting and managing all their workflows automations Integrations And so on so in a great position to join our chat today so prior to we begin there’s.

International payroll refers to the procedure of handling and distributing staff member payment across numerous nations, while complying with diverse regional tax laws and regulations. This umbrella term includes a vast array of procedures, from collaborating payroll operations like computing earnings, withholding taxes, and distributing payslips to managing diverse currencies, tax systems, and employment laws worldwide.

Worldwide vs. regional payroll.
Global payroll: Managing staff member settlement across numerous countries, dealing with the intricacies of different tax laws, employment regulations, and currencies.
Local payroll: Processing payroll within a single nation, adhering to its specific legal and regulatory requirements.
While regional payroll is simpler due to consistent regulations and currency, global payroll needs a more sophisticated technique to preserve compliance and accuracy throughout borders and different legal jurisdictions.

How does global payroll work?
When managing global payroll, the goal is the same just like local payroll: to ensure employees are paid properly and on time. International payroll processing is just a bit more complicated given that it needs collecting and combining data from different locations, using the pertinent local tax laws, and making payments in different currencies.

Here’s a summary of global payroll processing steps:.

Data collection and consolidation: You gather employee information, time and presence data, compile performance-related rewards and commissions, and standardize information formats for consistency across places and employee types.
Compliance research: You guarantee the company is adhering to labor and any other relevant laws in each nation (like GDPR in the EU, for example).
Payroll computation: You apply country-specific tax rates and reductions, account for advantages and allowances, and change for currency exchange rate if paying in regional currencies.
Evaluation and approval: You conduct internal audits to make sure the accuracy of estimations and get approval from the finance or HR department.
Payment processing: You prepare payments in the required format and start fund transfers through proper banking channels.
Reporting: You produce payslips, distribute them to employees, and prepare reports for internal stakeholders, keeping paperwork for tax authorities and other regulatory bodies.
After these payroll-specific actions, you may require to respond to any employee queries and solve prospective issues in payment processing, update your records and systems for the next payroll cycle, and periodically (quarterly, for example) evaluate payroll data for patterns and prospective optimizations.

Challenges of international payroll.
Managing a global labor force can present special obstacles for companies to take on when setting up and executing their payroll operations. A few of the most important challenges are listed below.

Tax regulations.
Navigating the diverse tax guidelines of several countries is among the biggest difficulties in worldwide payroll. Non-compliance with regional tax laws, including social security contributions, can lead to considerable penalties and legal problems. It depends on businesses to stay informed about the tax responsibilities in each country where they run to make sure correct compliance.

Employment laws.
Each country has its own set of labor laws and regional laws that govern employment practices, consisting of payroll. These can differ substantially, and organizations are required to comprehend and abide by all of them to avoid legal problems. Failure to follow local employment laws can cause fines, litigation, and damage to your company’s reputation.

International payments and currency conversions.
Handling international payments and currency conversions is another major difficulty in multi-country payroll. Paying staff members in their regional currency– especially if you use a labor force throughout many different nations– requires a system that can manage exchange rates and transaction charges. Organizations also require to be prepared to deal with cross-border payments, which have different rules and requirements that can vary by area.

happening across the world and so the standardization will provide us exposure across the board board in what’s actually happening and the capability to manage our expenses so looking at having your standardization of your elements is very crucial because for example let’s say we have different bonus offers throughout the world however we have various names for them if we have a subcategory to categorize them to be benefits then when we run our Global reporting we can get all the rewards around the world for 60 plus nations we might be running in and after that we have the capability to bring that to one currency exchange rate which is going to be crucial to be able to supply the presence and managing the costs that our company is seeking to for us to support you can go to the next slide FIFA so what’s out there when we look at payroll services so obviously we know with large um or a large footprint in organizations you may be doing it internal that could be done on in-house software application with um for instance sap or success factor so you’re utilizing their their software application engine to do behavioral processing you can use an outsourcer or a BPO model where you’re working with a company that’s going to you’re going to be assigned a specialist to do the processing for you among the um most likely main um common uh suppliers out there for an extended period of time that began in the in the 90s was the aggregator model therefore the aggregator design’s been probably with us for the last 15 years or so which was sort of the design that everybody was taking a look at for Worldwide payroll management but what we’re discovering is that the aggregator design doesn’t particularly supply sometimes the flexibility or the service that you might need for a particular country so you might may use an aggregator with a few of your areas throughout the world where others you may pick a BPO or Outsource it or maybe even have some internal if you have a big population let’s state for instance you have 2 000 workers in Brazil you might be searching for a a software.

particular company is simply pertinent to that particular um side so um how do you currently handle your Glo your multi-country payroll so be excellent to get an idea here of the audience and if we’re utilizing internal BPO aggregator or the mix of the regional in-country companies so I’ll give that a couple of um second side to so Travis what what do you think um the attendees will be selecting today um I’ll be curious I think DPO Outsource uh mainly since I think that has actually always been a truly attract like from the sales position however um you know I might picture we could see a bargain of In-House too yeah I think from the I think for we have actually seen that individuals are searching for a model that’s going to work so depending upon um how it’s presented in your in the mix we may have that and then naturally in-house provides the capability for someone to control it um the circumstance specifically when they have large worker populations however I do I do think that um the local and the accounting companies are ending up being a lot more popular because we can connect it through with innovation and I understand we’ve been um type of for lots of several years the aggregator was the option the design that was going to tie it together but we’re finding there’s various various pieces to depending upon who you’re dealing with and what nations you are often you the aggregator design will work for you but you really need some proficiency and you know for example in Africa where wave does a great deal of business that you have that local assistance and you have software that can take care of the circumstance so Eva what does the what does the uh poll results provide us be able to see the outcomes.

Using a company of record (EOR) in new areas can be an efficient method to start recruiting workers, however it could likewise result in unintentional tax and legal consequences. PwC can help in identifying and mitigating risk.
When an organisation moves into a brand-new country, utilizing a company of record (EOR) to engage personnel frequently makes sense. Resolving an EOR, the organisation does not need to develop a local presence of its own for work law purposes. It has no liability to the employee as a company, and it prevents all HR responsibilities such as needing to offer benefits. Operating in this manner likewise makes it possible for the company to consider using self-employed specialists in the brand-new country without needing to engage with challenging problems around work status.

Nevertheless, it is essential to do some research on the brand-new area before decreasing the EOR route. Every country has its own taxation and legal guidelines around employing people, and there is no assurance an EOR will fulfill all these objectives. Stopping working to attend to particular crucial concerns can result in considerable monetary and legal threat for the organisation.

Inspect key employment law problems.
The first vital issue is whether the organisation may still be treated as the actual employer even when running through an EOR. The essential concerns to ask are:.

Does the EOR hold any essential licence to perform its operations in the country?
Does the EOR have a legal presence in the nation?
Is the EOR acting in accordance with any labour loaning laws existing in the nation?
In some countries, an EOR– such as an employment service– should be registered with the authorities. Countries may also, or additionally, need an EOR to have a subsidiary company registered there. Also, labour loaning rules may forbid one business from supplying personnel to act under the control of another entity.

Such laws do not just have an influence on the EOR alone. The outcome of a breach could be that the organisation is treated as the worker’s real company, either immediately or after a given duration. This would have significant tax and work law consequences.

Ask the vital compliance questions.
Another important concern to consider is whether the organisation is confident that an EOR will comply with local employment law requirements and provide proper pay and advantages.

Even if the organisation is at no threat of being considered to be the employer, it is still essential from a reputational viewpoint that employees are engaged with proper terms. This will consist of concerns such as compliance with any minimum wage and paid vacation requirements, working hours rules and pension arrangement, for example. The organisation needs to likewise be satisfied all tax and social security responsibilities are being met by the EOR.

One issue here is that if the organisation currently has employees in a country where it prepares to use an EOR, personnel engaged through an EOR may be able to claim comparability of pay and benefits with those employees.

If the organisation has no experience or understanding of the appropriate rules in a specific country, it must at least ask the EOR comprehensive concerns about the checks made to ensure its work design is compliant. The agreement with the EOR might consist of provisions needing compliance that can be kept track of.

Making all these checks might even become a regulative requirement. In future, organisations may be needed to make disclosures of this details under ecological, social and governance reporting requirements including the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.

Protect service interests when using employers of record.
When an organisation employs an employee straight, the agreement of employment generally includes service protection arrangements. These may include, for instance, provisions covering confidentiality of information, the assignment of intellectual property rights to the company, or the return of company property at the end of work. There may even be post-termination obligations, such as bars on poaching customers or clients.

If utilizing an EOR, organisations will need to think about whether they need such defenses– and, if so, how to protect them. This will not always be required, however it could be crucial. If an employee is engaged on tasks where substantial copyright is produced, for example, the organisation will need to be wary.

As a beginning point, organisations must ask the EOR whether its agreements with employees include such arrangements, and whether the arrangements reflect the laws of the specific country. It will likewise be essential to develop how those provisions will be enforced.

Think about migration issues.
Typically, organisations want to hire local personnel when working in a brand-new country. But where an EOR works with a foreign national who needs a work license or visa, there will be extra considerations. In lots of areas, just an entity with a presence in the nation can sponsor a visa, or the sponsor might have to be the entity for which the employee will really be supplying services. It is essential to discuss this with the EOR ahead of time.

Get the basics right.
Before choosing how to continue, organisations need to talk to possible EORs to establish their understanding and technique to all these concerns and risks. It likewise makes sense to undertake some independent research into the legal and tax frameworks of any new country. Corporate tax (irreversible facility) and individual withholding tax requirements will be relevant here. Payroll Compliance Audit Procedures

In addition, it is vital to evaluate the contract with the EOR to develop the allotment of liabilities between the parties. For example, which entity will pick up any termination expenses or monetary liability for failure to abide by compulsory employment guidelines?