Year-End HR Checklist
A year end HR checklist for small businesses: payroll and tax statements, holiday balances, records cleanup, policy updates and next year's compliance calendar.
- Typical schedule yearly
- The checklist 4 sections, 19 items
- Variables
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Use this checklist in the last weeks of the year and the first weeks of the new one. It collects the recurring HR tasks that only come up once a year and are therefore easy to forget, from salary statements to holiday carry-over and the policy review.
Who owns it
HR or the office manager owns the run. Payroll, whether in-house, an accountant or a payroll provider, owns the payroll items, and managers confirm holiday balances and overtime for their teams. Assign items to the right person in the run so you can see in January what is still open.
Common pitfalls
- Holiday balances checked too late. If unused holiday expires or must be paid out, people need time to take it. Send balances to managers in the autumn, not in the last week.
- Assuming last year's numbers. Contribution rates, tax thresholds and minimum wages often change at the start of the year. Confirm the new values with your payroll provider or the authorities.
- Missing the statement deadlines. Year-end salary statements and filings have fixed deadlines that differ by country, such as the Lohnausweis in Switzerland, the P60 in the UK or the W-2 in the US. Adapt this to your jurisdiction; it is a practical checklist, not legal advice.
- Keeping data forever. Year-end is a good moment to delete personnel data that has passed its retention period.
Schedule this run yearly in Runbook and it appears with the same items every December, with last year's run as a record of what was done.
The checklist: Year-end HR close {{year}}
Payroll and tax
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All salary changes, bonuses and leavers for
{{year}}processed in payroll -
Year-end salary statements produced and sent to employees by the local deadline
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Required annual filings to tax and social insurance authorities submitted
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Contribution rates, tax thresholds and minimum wages for the new year confirmed with payroll
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Benefits, pension and insurance contracts checked for changes from 1 January optional
Time and leave
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Holiday balances for
{{year}}sent to managers and employees in good time -
Carry-over or payout of unused holiday handled according to policy and contracts
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Overtime balances reviewed and settled or carried over as agreed
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Holiday entitlements and public holidays for the new year set up in the HR system
Records and data
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Personnel files complete for everyone who joined in
{{year}} -
Records past their retention period deleted, including unsuccessful applications
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Access to HR systems reviewed and removed for people who no longer need it
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Employee contact and emergency details confirmed as up to date optional
Policies and planning
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Employee handbook and policies reviewed for legal or company changes
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Changed policies communicated and acknowledgements collected
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Mandatory trainings due next year identified (e.g. safety, data protection)
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HR calendar for the new year created: review cycles, pay reviews, filings, trainings
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Headcount and HR budget for next year agreed with management
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Year-end gifts or bonuses checked for tax treatment optional
Checklist as Markdown
Frequently asked questions
What should be on a year-end HR checklist?
Payroll and tax statements, holiday and overtime balances, a cleanup of personnel records, a policy review, and a plan for next year's HR calendar. The exact filings and deadlines depend on the country, so add your local ones to the template.
When should I start year-end HR tasks?
Start in the autumn with holiday balances and the budget for next year, so people can still take their leave. The payroll and filing tasks run from December into the first weeks of the new year.
What is an HR compliance calendar?
It is a list of recurring HR deadlines across the year, such as filings, pay reviews, training renewals and policy reviews. Creating it at year-end means the next year's deadlines are known up front. Recurring checklists for each item make sure they are actually done.
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