What a Swissdec certification really guarantees, and what it leaves to you

Swissdec standardises a transmission channel

Swissdec is an exchange standard between payroll software and the recipients of the declarations. It defines the format ELM, the unified procedure by which payroll software transmits the data intended for the recipients provided by the standard, including the AVS, occupational pension, accident insurers and withholding tax. What a certificate attests is that a tested product can build and transmit these messages in accordance with the version of the standard mentioned on the register line.

This scope is narrow, and that is its strength. The certificate concerns a named product, not the vendor's whole suite, and one generation of the standard, not all. It says nothing about the real settings installed at your company, the wage type plan, the collective agreements applicable to your trade, nor the accuracy of the hours and allowances entered each month by your administration.

• The wage type plan and its settings at your company
• Trade rules and collective agreements
• The accuracy of monthly entries and hour statements
• Taking over the data from the old software
• Connecting the payroll software to the rest of your tools

Basic and plus, the difference lies in the insurances connected

The register distinguishes two main levels, to which separate mentions for the KLE and SUA standards are added. The level Swissdec certified basic covers the salary declaration proper. The level Swissdec certified plus adds two procedures that live outside the annual statement, the accident and occupational illness notice under the KLE standard, and the change notices to insurances under the SUA standard. The plus certificate therefore signals that a product has been tested on these two procedures in addition to the salary declaration. What that changes in daily use depends on the product and the insurer, and is checked with the vendor.

As of 23 August 2026, among the programs we compare, a single product carries the plus level, Abacus's payroll accounting, certificate No. 1003.21, complemented by the KLE 1.1 and SUA 1.1 standards in part. KLARA occupies an intermediate position, with a basic level on ELM and separate KLE 1.0 and SUA 1.0 certificates, the KLE certificate No. 2134.17 carrying the mention of a partial certification for accident insurance.

ELM 5.0, 5.1, 5.3, 5.5, what a version number says

ELM evolves by generations, and the register publishes one page per standard. A product certified on ELM 5.0 has been tested on that generation. Nothing allows deducing that it has been tested on ELM 5.3. Several versions sometimes appear on the same line, some certified, others self-validated by the manufacturer.

It is the reading of the asterisk that counts. In the register, a version followed by an asterisk signals a version self-validated by the manufacturer, and not a certification passed before Swissdec. Crésus Salaires carries ELM 5.0 certified with 5.1 and 5.3 self-validated, certificate No. 1034.23. WinBIZ displays the same construction under certificate No. 1028.25, KLARA under No. 1134.25. The nuance changes the evidential value of the line, without saying how the software behaves.

For an SME, the useful generation is the one its environment expects. This point is asked directly to its compensation office and its insurer, rather than to the software supplier, and it weighs more than collecting the highest number.

Eight entries out of twelve match a line of the official register

Our comparison of Swiss management software lists twelve entries for eleven distinct products, Sage 50 Switzerland and Infoniqa ONE 50 designating the same software after the takeover of Sage's Swiss subsidiary. Eight of these twelve entries match a register line, recorded on 23 August 2026. Abacus payroll accounting, certified plus, ELM 5.5 to 5.0, No. 1003.21, with AbaSalary in basic under No. 1179.22. SelectLine Lohn, basic, ELM 5.0, No. 1078.23. bexio Lohnbuchhaltung, basic, ELM 5.0, 5.1 and 5.3, No. 1142.24. Odoo, basic, ELM 5.0 and 5.3, No. 1203.25.

Four entries complete this survey. Infoniqa appears under two lines, Infoniqa ONE 50 Lohn, basic, ELM 5.0, No. 1041.26, and Infoniqa ONE 200 Personal, basic, ELM 5.0, No. 1042.24. Crésus Salaires by Epsitec SA, basic, ELM 5.0 with 5.1 and 5.3 self-validated, No. 1034.23. WinBIZ, entered in the register under the product name WinBIZ by FIDUCIAL WinBIZ SA, basic, No. 1028.25. KLARA, published by ePost Service AG, basic, ELM 5.3, 5.1 and 5.0, No. 1134.25. Sage 50 Switzerland adds no line to the register, since it is the product that became Infoniqa ONE 50.

Three entries with no register line, and what their vendors write instead

Absence from the register informs first about the product's architecture. Banana Comptabilité Plus does not appear among the certified manufacturers, and its vendor itself indicates that there is no payroll module in the product, pointing to a third-party service and the import of summary entries into the journal. Payroll therefore leaves the accounting software by construction.

The same logic at smallinvoice, absent from the register on 23 August 2026, whose documentation refers payroll and social insurances to the E-Salaer third-party integration. Run my Accounts does not appear in the list of certified manufacturers either, the vendor providing the payroll service itself in its service offer. A nuance also exists inside the Abacus range, where AbaNinja is not certified, the certified payroll of the same group going through AbaSalary or the payroll accounting.

What these cases have in common is a connection to build. As soon as payroll lives elsewhere than the accounts, someone has to guarantee that the entries come back, that the periods agree and that the data takeover holds at closing time.

The certificate number is the reference point that does not move

Names move, numbers stay. Sage 50 Extra became Infoniqa ONE 50 after the takeover of the Swiss subsidiary by the Infoniqa group. KLARA Business AG became ePost Service AG. A decision-maker who searches the register for his software by its commercial name misses his own line, while the certificate number identifies the tested product without ambiguity.

The checking gesture is done online, with no tool or particular access. You open the public list of certified programs, search for the manufacturer rather than the brand, read the exact product name, note the level, the ELM generation and the number. This survey, dated the day it was made, is cited as such in an offer, and it is redone at each contract renewal.

What we check when an SME shows us its payroll software

We sell no licences. When a company asks us whether its tool is in order on the payroll side, we first record the register line, with level, generation and certificate number, then we look at what happens around the software. That is almost always where the real frictions are, in the back-and-forth between payroll, accounting and time entry.

We work with the fiduciary in place, never against it. A fiduciary knows its clients' wage type settings and the customs of their trade, which is not our craft. Ours begins when a piece of data has to circulate cleanly between two programs, when a takeover has to be documented, or when what a certificate covers has to be described in black and white before a purchase decision rests on a misunderstanding.

Where these answers come from

Every fact on this page can be checked at the source. The links open directly the website of the vendor or body concerned.

• Swissdec, official list of certified softwarePublic register of certified manufacturers and products, with basic or plus level, ELM generations and certificate numbers. Read on 23 August 2026.
• Swissdec, ELM 5.5 standardPage of the ELM 5.5 standard and list of the products certified on this generation. Read on 23 August 2026.
• Swissdec, ELM 5.3 standardPage of the ELM 5.3 standard, with Odoo S.A., product Odoo, certified basic, certificate No. 1203.25. Read on 23 August 2026.
• Swissdec, ELM 5.0 standardPage of the ELM 5.0 standard, with SelectLine Lohn No. 1078.23, Infoniqa ONE 200 Personal No. 1042.24, Infoniqa ONE 50 Lohn No. 1041.26 and Lohnbuchhaltung für Odoo by braintec AG No. 1103.24. Read on 23 August 2026.
• Banana, payroll managementThe vendor indicates the absence of a payroll module in the product and points to a third-party service with import of summary entries. Read on 23 August 2026.
• smallinvoice, integrationsList of native connectors, including E-Salaer for payroll and social insurances. Read on 23 August 2026.
• Run my Accounts, payroll outsourcingScope of the payroll service provided by the vendor, statements, withholding tax, annual declarations and salary certificates. Read on 23 August 2026.
• Crésus Salaires, specificationsEpsitec SA product sheet mentioning the Swissdec certification, payslips and salary certificates and the sizing in brackets. Read on 23 August 2026.
• Infoniqa, release on the Swiss portfolioRelease of 12.01.2022, takeover effective on 01.12.2021 and correspondence Sage 50 Extra to Infoniqa ONE 50. Read on 23 August 2026.
• KLARA, API documentationOfficial documentation of the REST API, 97 entry points spread over five domains, only three of them for payroll. Read on 23 August 2026.
• Infoniqa, scope of the REST resourcesOfficial list of the REST resources per version, limited to Common, Finance, Operations and Archive. Read on 23 August 2026.
• bexio, fiduciary directoryPartner programme reserved for fiduciaries, directory announcing over 1'000 firms and statuses from Silver to Platinum. Read on 23 August 2026.

SURVEY OF 23.08.2026

Frequently asked questions