The close of the calendar year brings both celebration and complexity for HR and payroll teams. While employees may be planning time off or looking forward to year-end bonuses, your team is focused on compliance, reporting, and ensuring a smooth transition into the new year.
For U.S.-based employers with an international workforce, year-end preparation can be especially nuanced. Payroll calendars, tax-year periods, reporting obligations, and employee document requirements vary by country. Early preparation is critical.
The checklist below highlights important steps that can help your organization streamline year-end activities, reduce compliance risk, and prepare employees and payroll teams for a successful start to the new year.
Although many employees associate year-end with holidays and remaining time off, it is often one of the busiest periods for HR and payroll teams.
Deadlines vary by country, and not every country follows a January-through-December tax year. Review the applicable payroll and tax calendars for each location and confirm:
Work with your International Service Team or in-country payroll provider to confirm the requirements that apply to each payroll.
An employee’s circumstances may have changed during the year because of a move, marriage, divorce, birth, death, or another life event.
To support accurate payroll reporting and delivery of employee tax documents, ask employees to review and update their personal and contact information before the final payroll cutoff.
Key items to review include:
Clearly communicate when and how employees should expect to receive their year-end tax or wage statements.
Provide country-specific guidance when document names, delivery methods, deadlines, or employee responsibilities differ. Employees should understand:
If you are a Paylocity user, consider sending an announcement through Community. Make sure employees without regular access to a company computer or company email address also receive the necessary information.
Review the benefits, allowances, reimbursements, awards, and other noncash items provided during the year to determine whether any amounts must be reported through payroll.
Examples may include:
Confirm that taxable benefits have been valued correctly and reported during the appropriate payroll or tax year.
Learn More: ACA Compliance Guide for Employers
Tax elections, withholding exemptions, reporting obligations, and employee-document requirements vary by country.
Before completing year-end processing:
Paylocity clients should direct country-specific questions to their International Service Team.
Begin preparing for the final payroll well before the submission deadline for each country.
Confirm that the final payroll includes all required year-end payments and adjustments, such as:
Before approving the payroll, reconcile payroll totals to funding records, general ledger information, tax reports, and year-to-date employee balances.
After the final applicable payroll has been completed, review and retain the payroll records needed to support year-end reporting and future audits.
Reports may include:
Employers should follow applicable country-specific record-retention and data-protection requirements. Paylocity recommends downloading and securely retaining important reports, pay statements, and tax documents regularly rather than relying solely on long-term system availability.
Year-end employee documents, filing deadlines, and delivery requirements vary by country. Some countries follow the calendar year, while others use a different financial or tax year.
The table below identifies the primary year-end document employees receive or access in each country. Employers should confirm current requirements and deadlines with their International Service Team or in-country payroll provider.
|
Country |
Year-End Employee Document |
Deadline |
|
Australia |
Income Statement |
Finalized by July 14 |
|
Canada |
T4; Québec: RL-1 |
Last day of February |
|
China |
Annual Individual Income and Tax Withholding Information |
By the end of February |
|
France |
No separate annual form; final Bulletin de paie |
Provided with the final payroll payment |
|
Germany |
Lohnsteuerbescheinigung |
Generally by the end of February |
|
India |
Form 16 |
June 15 |
|
Mexico |
CFDI de Nómina |
Issued with each payroll payment |
|
Netherlands |
Jaaropgaaf |
Usually January or February |
|
Spain |
Certificado de Retenciones e Ingresos a Cuenta del IRPF |
Must be provided before the annual income-tax filing period begins. |
As a leading cloud-based HR and payroll provider, Paylocity is here to help your HR team tackle the year-end rush.
From benefits and payroll to talent and workforce management, we empower you to build a modern, engaged workplace. With our all-in-one platform and client-first service approach, we’re more than just a software provider — we’re your partner in success every step of the way, all year long.
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Between constantly changing employment laws and updates to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), keeping your workplace compliant can be a time-consuming and costly challenge. Eliminate the stress and stay up to date with our Compliance Dashboard. View compliance alerts and get a bird’s eye view of what you need to do to avoid fines and penalties.
