Important Information for Clients: First Quarter of 2026

Please take your time to read through the following topics 1 through 11, and feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Our Process

To ensure that you and your employees receive accurate and timely payroll statements, we ask that you provide the payroll documents by the 15th of the month.

The location for storing the documents will now change.

We are now using Datev Unternehmen online! Simple, clear, and efficient.

1. Our Path to Digital Collaboration – with Datev Unternehmen Online

We want to make our collaboration with you even easier and more modern by transitioning to the Datev Unternehmen Online portal. In the future, all payroll-related and HR documents will be stored there in an audit-proof manner.

This will require a new link and new login credentials. As soon as your company’s transition is complete, you will receive an email with detailed instructions.

Here is an initial overview.

Please note that we are only transitioning payroll processing. Financial accounting will remain unchanged.

You can find more information here: www.hcsm.digital

Emails should now be used only for notifications and scheduling appointments. Going forward, all personal data should be stored directly in Datev Unternehmen online.

We will set up “Mitarbeiter online” for your employees. This will give your employees a clear, centralized location for all payroll-related documents, including all documents dating back to the switch to Datev. To log in, employees will receive a letter from Datev with all the necessary steps.

If you or your employees currently receive reports by mail, there will be no change to this process. If you’d like to receive reports digitally, please let us know.

Digitization costs money. For several years now, we at HCSM have been covering the cost of your tool to help you transition to digitization. Starting in 2026, we will be forced to pass these costs on to you.

2. Mini-job income limit as of January 2026: 603 euros

The statutory minimum wage in 2026 is 13.90 EUR/hour.

As of January 1, 2027, the statutory minimum wage will be 14.60 EUR/hour.

This means:

For part-time employees, it must be determined whether the wage adjustment will cause their earnings to exceed the 603.00 EUR threshold. If this is the case, they must either switch to a “midi-job” (603.01 EUR to 2,000.00 EUR) or reduce their monthly hours.

Certain industries have their own collectively bargained minimum wages.

The Minimum Wage Act generally applies to all employees; there are only a few exceptions.

3. Midijob Starting in 2026

Since 2023, the Midijob income limit has been raised to 2,000 EUR and will remain at that level in 2026. At this income level, employees pay lower social security contributions.

4. Child Data

Since the middle of the year, child data has been included in the electronic data sent to us by the tax office. In general, we are bound by this data. In a few exceptional cases, however, manual adjustments are still necessary. This applies to employees with stepchildren, adopted children, children living abroad, or children who were already 18 years old in 2011.

5. Private Health Insurance Certificates

Starting in 2026, certificates regarding health insurance premiums for privately insured individuals will be available electronically. In exceptional cases, a paper certificate may still be necessary.

6. Company Parties / Group Accident Insurance – Flat-Rate Taxation

Company parties or group accident insurance from 2025 may still be taxed at a flat rate, exempt from contributions, until February 28, 2026.

If a permissible lump-sum taxation is applied only after the income tax statement has been issued, this payment is subject to social security contributions. Please forward the relevant supporting documents to us as soon as possible.

7. Deadlines: Levy for Severely Disabled Persons and Artists’ Social Insurance Fund

Reports for the levy for severely disabled persons and the Artists’ Social Insurance Fund are due by March 31, 2026.

Levy for Severely Disabled Persons:

The levy for severely disabled persons, also known as the compensation levy, is a legally mandated payment for employers with at least 20 positions who do not employ the required number of severely disabled individuals. These employers are required to fill at least five percent of their positions with severely disabled individuals or, failing that, to pay the levy. The levy serves to compensate for the special burdens and is paid annually to the relevant integration offices.

Artists' Social Security Fund:

The artists' social security contribution is a legally mandated levy through which companies contribute to the social security coverage of self-employed artists and journalists. It must be paid by companies that do more than just occasionally commission work from self-employed artists or journalists and use their services for their own business purposes. The contribution is calculated as a percentage of the remuneration paid during the calendar year and remitted to the Artists’ Social Security Fund.

8. Non-cash compensation values for 2026

The monthly value is 345 euros for meals and 285 euros for lodging and rent. Accordingly, for discounted or free meals, the value is 2.37 euros for breakfast and 4.57 euros for lunch or dinner.

9. NEW: Recipient Verification by Banks

We provide you with digital SEPA transfers for your wages and salaries. The newly introduced recipient verification is not performed by us, but by the banks. A payment order may contain one transfer or multiple transfers—known as a batch transfer. For individual transfers, recipients are always verified. For batch transfers, this depends on the banks’ settings. If you have any questions, please contact your bank advisor.

10. Obligation to File an Income Tax Return for Wage Replacement Benefits

If employees received wage replacement benefits, such as short-time work benefits or sick pay, during the year 2025, or if tax classes 3 and 5 were applied, they are required to file an income tax return with their local tax office. If the tax return is prepared without tax advice, it must be filed by July 31, 2026.

11. Active Pension Act

The Act on Tax Incentives for Employees of Retirement Age has been in effect since January 1, 2026.

The active pension will be implemented in one of the next program versions of Datev. Retroactive adjustments will then be made.