The Swissdec cockpit

The salaries calculated by Swiss payroll are declared to compensation funds, insurers, pension institutions and cantonal tax authorities, following the Swissdec ELM standard. The Swissdec cockpit brings these declarations together: what is to be declared, what needs following up, and the history of what has been done. This article explains its tabs, how to produce and check a declaration, and how to mark it as declared outside Swissdec while electronic transmission is not yet open. It is intended for payroll managers and administrators.

Before you start #

• The cockpit opens with one of the three Swissdec rights: Swissdec cockpit and transmissions, SUA company certificate or Subscriptions to institutions. At Access level it can be read; marking a declaration, ordering a certificate or subscribing to an institution require Execute level.
• Everyone only sees the tasks of their Swissdec rights (declarations, SUA certificate, subscriptions, pension contributions, withholding tax corrections).
• Declarations are created from closed payrolls — see Calculating and closing monthly payrolls. Annual declarations carry every salary of the scope: if you cannot see them all, the screen says so.

Swissdec v6: declaring outside Swissdec in the meantime #

Swissdec version 6 is not yet open for certification. Electronic transmission therefore stays disabled, and the cockpit shows Waiting for Swissdec v6: “Swissdec transmission will be activated as soon as Swissdec version 6 is open for certification. Until then, declarations are checked, downloaded and declared outside Swissdec.”

In practice, for each declaration: you check it, download its file, submit it to the institution (portal, e-mail, post…), then mark it as declared outside Swissdec. The cockpit task closes.

The cockpit tabs #

Open Swiss payroll › Swissdec cockpit. The All employers filter narrows the display to one employer.

• Overview: the open Tasks, first what needs following up (failure, refusal, maintenance), then what is to be declared, each with an Open link; below, the Declarations card summarises the monthly declarations, the annual declarations and the salary certificates. When everything is done: “No open task”.
• Monthly: the monthly declarations of each closed payroll — withholding tax and FSO statistics, to the tax authorities of the cantons.
• Annual: the year’s annual declarations — compensation fund, family allowances, accident, daily allowance and pension insurance, cross-border workers — and the salary certificates to the cantonal tax authorities.
• History: every declaration made, with its receipts and notifications, filterable by year and by nature.
• Configuration: each employer’s SUA company certificate and the subscriptions to institutions.

Depending on your rights, OPA contributions and Withholding tax corrections tabs are added.

Preparing and checking a declaration #

1. In the Monthly or Annual tab, choose the declaration to make.
2. The ELM 6.0 declaration panel counts what it carries (people, certificates, withholding tax declarations, FSO lines, events, cross-border workers) and checks the file against the official ELM 6.0 schemas. If it is valid, the screen shows “Valid against the official ELM 6.0 schemas.”.
3. If it is not, click Show the schema errors to read the errors; the Data to complete list names what is missing. Complete it, then come back.
4. Click Download the XML to get the declaration file.

A declaration can also be blocked by an employer setting, for example a French cross-border worker whose telework exceeds 40 % when the employer has chosen to block: the screen says so and shows where to change the setting.

Marking a declaration as made outside Swissdec #

1. Submit the file to the institution.
2. Click Mark as declared outside Swissdec.
3. Enter the Date of the declaration, the Means of declaration (Institution’s portal, E-mail, Post or Other) and, if you wish, a Comment (optional).
4. Confirm. The message “Declaration marked as made outside Swissdec.” appears and the task closes. The declaration shows the date, the means and your name.

If it was a mistake, Remove withdraws the mark. If your workspace requires four-eyes validation, the mark is sent for validation: “Mark sent for validation: it is set when a second manager approves it.”

The changes of the month (entries, exits, OASI, family allowance and pension changes) are marked in the same way, from the Changes of the month section of each closed payroll.

Swissdec configuration #

The SUA company certificate #

The SUA certificate signs changes and subscriptions to institutions. Each employer needs one. In the Configuration tab, Company certificate (SUA) card:

1. Click Order the SUA certificate. At least one accident, daily allowance or pension contract is needed to prove the company’s identity.
2. A password arrives by post. Enter it, then click Activate.
3. The certificate becomes Active. It then renews itself.

Subscriptions to institutions #

The Subscriptions to institutions card shows, for each of the employer’s accident, daily allowance or pension contracts, whether it is Subscribed or Not subscribed. The subscription tells the insurer or pension institution that the company can be reached via Swissdec. Click Subscribe, then Send the subscription; Synchronise collects the institution’s messages, and Unsubscribe ends the subscription. An active SUA certificate is required to subscribe.

Good to know #

• The cockpit recalculates nothing: each declaration comes from a closed payroll or from the annual outputs.
• As long as Swissdec v6 is not open, nothing is sent electronically from Illizeo: you submit each file to the institution yourself.
• A failed SFTP deposit is retried twice, then reported in the cockpit.

Frequently asked questions #

The Transmit button is disabled. #

That is expected: transmission stays disabled while waiting for Swissdec v6. Download the file, submit it to the institution and mark the declaration as declared outside Swissdec.

The cockpit is empty. #

No payroll is closed, or no sub-company is calculated by Illizeo. Declarations are created when a payroll is closed.

I cannot see the Configuration tab. #

It requires the SUA company certificate or Subscriptions to institutions right.