How to run payroll in Türkiye: from the attendance ledger to the payslip

What are the steps in preparing payroll?

Payroll is a four-step cycle that runs in the same order every month. First you fix the days worked, then you calculate earnings and deductions, a second person checks and approves the result, and finally each employee receives their own payslip.

1. Close the attendance ledger. Lock the month's records of work, leave, sick leave, absence and overtime. Confirm mid-month joining and leaving dates. See the attendance ledger guide.
2. Calculate earnings and deductions. Add the month's extra payments to gross pay. Subtract statutory deductions such as social security premiums, income tax and stamp tax, then other deductions such as advances or enforcement orders.
3. Check and approve. Compare the draft results with last month and with the inputs. Approval should come from someone other than the person who prepared the calculation.
4. Deliver payslips. Give each employee the payslip for the approved payroll in a way that shows them only their own record.

Which items take you from gross pay to net pay?

Net pay is gross pay plus the period's extra payments, minus the employee's share of premiums and taxes. Rates, brackets, exemptions and ceiling or floor amounts change from period to period, so the table below names the items only. Take current values from official sources.

What should a month-end payroll checklist include?

A month-end checklist lets you tick off, one by one, the points where errors most often appear before payroll is approved. It covers inputs, calculation and outputs together. Using the same list every month stops the check depending on who runs it.

• Is any employee missing a pay record, or did anyone's pay change this month?
• Are the day counts right for people who joined or left during the month?
• Do unpaid leave, sick leave and absence days match the attendance ledger?
• For anyone hired during the year, have you obtained the cumulative tax base from the previous employer?
• Do total gross, net and employer cost move against last month in a way you cannot explain?
• Does the summary you will use for the SGK declaration and the tax return show the same figures as payroll?

What does Turkish law say about payslips and payroll deductions?

Labour Law No. 4857 requires employers to give each employee a payslip showing how their pay was calculated. Premium deductions rest on social security legislation, and tax deductions on the income tax and stamp tax laws. The values set under these laws are updated periodically.

Under Article 37 of Labour Law No. 4857 (İş Kanunu), whether wages are paid at the workplace or through a bank, the employer gives the employee a statement of the pay calculation, signed or carrying the workplace's own stamp. It shows the payment date and the period covered, extra payments such as overtime, weekly rest day and public holiday pay, and every deduction separately: tax, insurance premium, advance offsets, alimony, enforcement and so on. These transactions are exempt from stamp tax and fees.

Social insurance and unemployment insurance premiums are calculated under Law No. 5510, income tax under Income Tax Law No. 193 and stamp tax under Stamp Tax Law No. 488. This page gives no rates or amounts. For current values, follow announcements from the Revenue Administration (GİB) and the Social Security Institution (SGK).

Where does payroll in spreadsheets break down?

Spreadsheet payroll works for a small team, but once formulas, inputs and history mix in one file, errors become hard to find. Most problems come not from the calculation logic but from missing data, data entered in the wrong period, and pay files circulating by email without control.

• The cumulative tax base breaks: the year-to-date base is carried over by hand from last month's file, and one copying error affects every month that follows.
• Formulas fail silently: after you insert a row or sort the sheet, a cell points at the wrong row and the sheet produces the wrong net without any error.
• Attendance and payroll drift apart: leave and absence days sit in a separate file, and a missing day is skipped on its way into payroll.
• A closed month changes: someone reopens and corrects an old file, and the figure you reported no longer matches the figure you hold.

How does payroll work in Sora İK?

Sora İK combines the pay on each employee card with the month's extra payments and deductions to produce monthly payroll. The result first appears as a draft, is finalised after review and can no longer be edited. Its scope is staff insured under Article 4/1-a (service contract) and paid a standard monthly salary.

You enter pay as gross or net with an effective date, and the calculation runs in both directions; the year-to-date tax base is tracked from finalised months. Sora İK maintains period parameters such as the minimum wage, premium limits and the tax schedule centrally, each with its official source. Issues such as an employee with no pay record appear as warnings before you finalise.

The payslip of a finalised payroll opens only to that employee, on their self-service screen. The payroll summary downloads as CSV, and Sora İK sends nothing to public authorities automatically. On the roadmap: attendance ledger and leave data flowing into payroll automatically, generation of SGK e-Bildirge (electronic premium declaration) and MUHSGK (combined withholding tax and premium return) files, and payslip distribution by email. Payroll consultancy is not included in any plan.

For plans and prices, see Sora İK pricing. For the scope of the calculation and the cases outside it, see Payroll (Türkiye) — full feature list.

What should IT and management watch in payroll data?

Pay data is among the most sensitive information a company holds; a leak means both a personal data breach and internal unrest. Keep payroll access as narrow as possible, make sure every view is logged, and never let the person who prepares the calculation also approve it.

• Least privilege: only people whose job requires it should see pay and payroll. In Sora İK the system administrator role has no view of pay unless granted, and you can create a custom read-only payroll role for your mali müşavir (certified public accountant).
• View logging: in Sora İK, opening pay and payroll records leaves an entry in the audit log. Review who opened which pay record monthly.
• Segregation of duties: the person who prepares the draft and the person who finalises it should be different. Put this in writing as an internal rule.
• Account security: require two-factor authentication on every account with payroll permission; in Sora İK the company owner can enforce it company-wide.
• Exported files: the CSV payroll summary contains personal data. Decide where it is stored and who receives it in your KVKK (Türkiye's Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698) policy; for more, see the HR software security guide.

Modules that work with payroll

Payroll is only as accurate as the attendance and leave records that feed it and the controls on who can reach pay data. The guides below cover the steps before and after payroll.

• Puantaj guide: The attendance ledger, day codes and a checklist before payroll.
• Annual leave tracking guide: Tracking annual leave through entitlement, balance and approval steps.
• HR software security guide: A vendor-neutral IT checklist for role-based access, two-step verification and audit logs.
• HR metrics guide: Formulas and worked examples for employee turnover and absenteeism, plus a set of HR metrics to track regularly.

Frequently asked questions

Is payroll the same as a payslip?

No. Payroll is the combined calculation of earnings, deductions and net pay for every employee at the workplace in a given month. The payslip is the part of that calculation that belongs to one employee, and it is handed to that employee. Article 37 of Labour Law No. 4857 requires the payslip to show the pay period, extra payments and deductions separately.

Who should check the payroll calculation?

Someone other than the person who prepared it: in small businesses often the certified public accountant, in larger teams the payroll officer's manager. The reviewer compares the draft with last month, asks why figures moved and only then approves. Segregation of duties catches both mistakes and unauthorised changes early.

Does Sora İK submit the SGK declaration itself?

No. Sora İK is not linked directly to any public authority and submits no declarations. Today you download the summary of a finalised payroll as CSV and use it to prepare the declaration or tax return. Generating SGK e-Bildirge and MUHSGK files is on the roadmap; even then, you will upload the file to the official system yourself.

Who can see payroll data?

Your role definitions decide. In Sora İK, the company owner and HR see pay fields, while the system administrator role does not by default; a certified public accountant can be given a custom read-only role. Employees see only their own payslip. Opening anyone else's pay or payroll record is recorded in the audit log.

Is payroll consultancy included in the plan?

No. Sora İK is calculation software; a service that prepares payroll on your behalf is not part of any plan. That service is planned as a separate offering but is not available yet. If you are interested, you can register interest through the sora-ik.com contact form. For incentives, exemptions and contract-specific decisions, keep working with your certified public accountant.