A website for payroll accountants and payroll bureaus: trust, prices per employee and recruiting

What businesses want to know before they outsource payroll

The trigger is almost always concrete: the employee who used to do payroll is retiring. The business grows from three to twelve people. The tax firm no longer takes on payroll. Or there was a back-payment after an audit, and management never wants to go through that again. People then search for terms like “Personalverrechnung auslagern” (outsourcing payroll), “Lohnbuchhaltung auslagern Kosten” (cost of outsourcing payroll) or “Kosten Personalverrechnung pro Mitarbeiter” (payroll cost per employee).

These people have little time and a strong need for security. A wrong payslip doesn't just affect the company, it affects every single employee's bank account. A payroll firm's website therefore needs to reassure more than impress. It answers four questions:

• Are you allowed to, and can you? Which services do you take on, for which industries and collective agreements, for how many employees?
• What does it cost? A price per employee and month, plus clear rules for new starters and leavers, year-end work and special cases.
• How does the month run? By when do you need the data, when do the payslips arrive, who files what with whom?
• Is the data safe? How is payroll data transmitted and stored, and who in the office can see it?

You'll find the general page plan for bookkeeping firms in the guide to the website for bookkeeping firms. This post covers what is different about wages and salaries.

Permitted scope: what you may offer on the website

In Austria, Personalverrechner:in (payroll accountant) is a profession of its own under the Bilanzbuchhaltungsgesetz 2014 (Accountancy Professions Act), with a professional exam and public appointment by the Bilanzbuchhaltungsbehörde (the accountancy professions authority). § 4 BiBuG sets the scope: payroll, representation in payroll matters and payroll levies including filing returns, but explicitly not representation in the joint audit of all payroll levies (today PLB, Prüfung lohnabhängiger Abgaben und Beiträge) and not in appeal proceedings. On top of that come advice on employees' tax assessments (Arbeitnehmerveranlagung) and submitting them as a messenger, plus advisory services connected with this scope. Important for the website: § 61 BiBuG already penalises offering activities outside your licence.

In Germany there is no separate profession with appointment. Payroll bureaus work within an exception to the reservation for tax advisers: § 6 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 StBerG (Tax Advisory Act) allows people with a commercial final examination (or equivalent training) and at least three years of practice in bookkeeping, among other things, ongoing payroll and preparing the wage tax return (Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung). Many older texts still cite “§ 6 Nr. 4 StBerG” for this; since the new version took effect on 1 September 2026, the exceptions sit in subsection 1, number 1. Anything beyond that is reserved for tax advisers.

The consequence: state the limit openly and say who takes over. “We prepare all documents for a payroll tax audit; your tax firm handles the representation” is honest and reassuring for prospects, because they see the process has been thought through. The same goes for employment law: refer to lawyers or the employers' organisation instead of promising “advice on employment law” on the website. How to advertise your professional title correctly in Austria is covered in the guide to advertising in accountancy in Austria.

Service pages in your clients' words

A “Services” page with five keywords convinces no one who is looking for a payroll firm right now. A few concrete pages work better: ongoing payroll, starters and leavers, year-end work and, if you specialise, one page per industry. Write with the words people search for in your country. In Austria that is “Personalverrechnung” or “Lohnverrechnung”, “Dienstnehmer” (employee) and “Kollektivvertrag” (collective agreement); in Germany “Lohnbuchhaltung” or “Lohnabrechnung”, “Arbeitnehmer” and “Tarifvertrag”.

• Collective agreements: Name the collective agreements you work with regularly, for example hospitality, construction, retail or trades. A business with shift work and allowances wants to know you understand its industry.
• Filings: In Austria, registration with the ÖGK (Austrian health insurance fund) before the employee starts work (§ 33 ASVG), the monthly contribution basis report (mBGM) via ELDA and deregistration. In Germany, the DEÜV filings and, in industries such as construction, hospitality or building cleaning, the immediate notification (Sofortmeldung) at the latest when work begins (§ 28a Abs. 4 SGB IV).
• Levies: In Austria wage tax, employer's contribution (DB), the surcharge on it (DZ) and municipal tax; in Germany the Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung, usually due by the 10th of the following month (§ 41a EStG), and the contribution statement to the health insurance funds.
• Year-end work: In Austria the Lohnzettel (L16), which must be transmitted electronically by the end of February of the following year (§ 84 EStG); in Germany the wage tax certificates and annual filings.
• Reports: Payroll journal, posting list for the bookkeeping or tax firm, holiday and time-off balances, payroll cost forecast for the next year.

A note on keeping it current: payroll changes every year, with new collective agreements, benefit-in-kind values or the minimum wage in Germany. A short page “What's new in payroll”, updated every January, shows expertise and is searched for at the turn of the year. Only write what is certain there, and date every statement.

Showing prices per employee transparently

Neither Austria nor Germany has a fee schedule for payroll firms. Fees are free, and you may advertise prices. Prospects almost always compare by a single figure: the price per payslip or per employee and month. If you write “price on request”, you lose that comparison before it starts. How to structure packages and prices for bookkeeping and payroll in general is covered in the post on prices in bookkeeping.

Three things will save you arguments later. First: mark whether prices are net or gross (in Austria § 5 Abs. 2 ECG requires this; in Germany you give consumers the total price under § 3 PAngV). Second: say what a month with late data costs. Third: explain why a payslip in a business with shift allowances costs more than in an office with five salaried staff. A sample calculation for a typical business (“8 employees, 2 starters a year”) makes the price tangible and is readily picked up by search engines and AI assistants.

Monthly routine and cut-off dates: getting payroll data on time

The biggest source of stress in any payroll firm is data that arrives late: hours sent on the last day of the month, a new starter you only hear about after they've begun. The website is the right place to set the ground rules before anyone becomes a client. A page “How a month with us works” also shows prospects that you are organised.

What a new business has to hand in when it switches to you is best listed as a checklist: latest payslips, payroll accounts, employment contracts, previous service periods, outstanding holiday entitlements, access details. With the document checklist you can create such a list to print or send.

Trust and data protection for payroll data

Payroll data is among a company's most sensitive data. It includes special categories under Art. 9 GDPR: health data (sick leave, disability) and, in Germany, religious affiliation for church tax. On top of that come garnishments, maintenance obligations and salaries that nobody in the business should know about anyone else. The website has to show that you take this seriously.

• Transmission: An upload portal or the interface of your payroll software, not an unencrypted email attachment. Say so explicitly, even if some clients would find email more convenient.
• Contract: External payroll processing is usually classed as processing on behalf of the client under Art. 28 GDPR. Clarify the classification for your firm and state that you provide the data processing agreement.
• Storage and access: Where is the data stored, who on the team has access, how is cover arranged during holidays?
• Confidentiality: In Austria, payroll accountants are bound to professional secrecy under § 39 BiBuG. In Germany there is no statutory professional secrecy specific to payroll bureaus; contractual confidentiality and binding staff to it matter all the more there.
• Liability: In Austria, professional indemnity insurance is a requirement for practising. In Germany it is not mandatory but strongly recommended. One sentence about it on the website is reassuring.

Trust also comes from people. Show who prepares the payroll, with photo, professional title and area of responsibility, and who steps in during holidays or illness. Small payroll firms in particular get asked: “What happens if you're off sick?” An honest answer (cover within the team or by a partner firm) is a strong argument. Show reviews and client logos only with written consent; in Austria that consent also releases you from professional secrecy.

Recruiting: the website as a careers page

Many payroll firms say: “I can't take on new clients anyway.” That is often true, but it is an argument for a good website, not against it. Experienced payroll accountants are scarce on the job market, and anyone applying looks closely at your website: how organised is the office, which software do you use, what are the cut-off dates like, is there remote work?

Stating the salary pays off in Germany too: the EU Pay Transparency Directive (EU) 2023/970 requires applicants to learn the starting pay or its range before the interview; the transposition deadline expired on 7 June 2026. Germany had not passed an implementing act when the deadline expired; stating the salary now means you are prepared. How to present your team so that it appeals to clients and applicants alike is covered in the post on the team page.

Imprint and common mistakes

In Austria the imprint must include the professional title “Personalverrechner:in” with the state that conferred it, the Bilanzbuchhaltungsbehörde as supervisory authority, the Chamber of Commerce (UBIT trade group) and the BiBuG 2014 as the professional regulation. The details are in the guide to the imprint for accountancy professions in Austria. In Germany, what matters is the scope of activity under § 6 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 StBerG described in words; see the guide to the imprint for bookkeepers in Germany.

Checklist for your payroll firm's website