What is global payroll?
Global payroll is the process of paying employees in more than one country, each under its own rules for income tax, social security, pensions, payslips and reporting, while giving the company one view of pay and employment costs. It can run through local providers in each country, a single global payroll platform, or an employer of record.
Also calledinternational payrollmulti-country payrollglobal payroll management
Compare the softwareBest AI payroll software →All 10 payroll vendors →
- Scope
- Employees in several countries
- Calculated
- Under each country's rules
- Without an entity
- Employer of record
How global payroll works
Each country's payroll is still calculated locally: gross-to-net rules, employer contributions, filing deadlines and payslip requirements differ, and many countries require a local entity or registration before a company can employ people there. A global payroll setup collects changes such as hires, leavers, salary changes and expenses centrally, sends them to in-country payroll engines or partners, approves the results, funds the payments in local currencies and brings the costs back into the ledger as payroll journals by entity. Where a company has no entity in a country, it can hire through an employer of record instead. Deel, Remote and Rippling run payroll across many countries on one platform; finance teams usually care most about consistent journals, currency handling and a single cost report.
Common questions
Do you need a local entity to run payroll in another country?+
Usually, or at least a local employer registration. Without one, companies typically employ staff through an employer of record, which is the legal employer and runs payroll in that country.
What is the difference between global payroll and an employer of record?+
Global payroll pays people the company employs itself through its own entities. An employer of record employs the people on the company's behalf, so the provider runs payroll as the legal employer.
How does global payroll reach the general ledger?+
Each country's payroll produces a journal of wages, taxes and contributions by entity and cost centre, converted where needed, which is posted to that entity's ledger and reconciled against bank payments.
Global payroll software
Part of Accountio’s accounting technology coverage · Glossary
