Configure Silae for a first payslip without errors: the checklist

Quick answer. A Silae file is configured in order: company data and identifiers, collective agreement (by its IDCC code), retirement and insurance funds, then employee profiles and rules. A first payslip is always validated on a test case before production and before the DSN, filed by the 15th of the following month for most employers. A structured checklist prevents most start-up setup errors.

On payroll software, most errors do not come from a forgotten rule but from missing or inaccurate setup data: Urssaf identifiers, a mis-entered collective agreement, undeclared funds. A wrong value at creation propagates every month: amended payslips, DSN to correct, risk of adjustment.

This checklist describes the logic of setting up a Silae file, transferable to any payroll software. It stays at the business level: screen labels change, but the method endures. To place this work within the wider journey, see how to set up payroll for a first hire.

Before creating an employee, enter the employer's identity.

Retrieve the employer account opening notice (from the first DPAE) and copy the identifiers exactly: an error on the account number causes the DSN to be rejected.

This is the most structuring step: the activity code (statistical, assigned by Insee) is not the IDCC code (collective agreement). Identify the IDCC actually applicable to your activity, search for it on the official labour-law database, then assign it to the file. Some verified references: quick-service restaurants IDCC 1501, hotels-cafés-restaurants IDCC 1979, accounting and audit firms IDCC 0787.

The agreement sets the minimum wages, classifications and certain bonuses; it must be mentioned on the payslip (Article R3243-1 of the Labour Code). For the full method, see how to identify the right collective agreement (IDCC).

Declare the bodies the company is affiliated to:

• supplementary retirement: the Agirc-Arrco scheme, unified since 1 January 2019, mandatory for employees;
• insurance and health cover: collective health cover has been mandatory since 1 January 2016 (save exemptions); record contract numbers and employer and employee rates;
• any sector-specific funds provided by the agreement.

For each body, enter the contract number, the rates and the effective date, then attach the fund to the relevant profiles.

A profile groups a coherent set of rules applicable to a category of employees (for example "non-manager employee" or "manager").

Profile checklist:

• collective agreement and job classification;
• base salary and working time;
• social contributions per the Urssaf scale in force (the capped base relies on the 2026 PASS of €48,060, i.e. €4,005/month);
• CSG/CRDS (9.70% in total, of which 9.20% CSG and 0.50% CRDS, on 98.25% of gross);
• withholding tax (a field for the rate sent by the tax authority or the standard rate);
• variable rules left ready but inactive (overtime, absences, bonuses).

Rather than freezing approximate rates, let Silae apply the up-to-date scale and review the parameters once a year.

Before launching production, issue a test payslip and check.

If an amount is clearly wrong, correct it at profile level (rate, base, ceiling), not at the employee level, then rerun a test.

1. Wrong IDCC: false minimum wages, risk of three-year back pay in an audit.
2. Inaccurate employer account number: DSN rejected.
3. Insurance fund not entered: missing contribution, later adjustment.
4. Ceiling not updated: wrong capped bases if the year's PASS is not imported.
5. Withholding rate mishandled: the standard rate is only a default, to be replaced by the transmitted rate.

Multiple activities. Apply the IDCC of the main activity (highest revenue); per-employee segmentation may be needed.

Part-time. Check that the contractual volume correctly prorates the collective minimum and the legal minimum wage.

Taking over an existing file. First audit the consistency of IDCC / funds / rules before producing a payslip: an inherited file often reproduces an old error.

• DSN deadline: by the 15th of the following month for most employers; the 5th for companies with at least 50 employees paying within the same month.
• 2026 PASS: €48,060/year (€4,005/month); kept current in the file for capped rules.
• Supplementary retirement: the Agirc-Arrco scheme has been unified since 2019; harmonise old files still referencing two schemes.
• Agreement amendments: a collective minimum revised by amendment must be reflected.

Setting up a payroll file requires no exceptional talent: it is about faithfully transcribing legal and contractual data into structured fields. The real challenge is organisational: complete each step before the next and keep a trace for later audit.

Recently, a quick-service restaurant file was handed to us with a mis-entered agreement: the chosen IDCC did not match the real activity, creating a minimum-wage gap found in an audit. The correction spanned several months. A start-up checklist would have prevented it. As a chartered accountant registered with the French Ordre des experts-comptables, I recommend a setup audit at each file creation and an annual review (PASS, standard rate, amendments).

Hayot Expertise advice. Before the first payroll, spend two hours on this checklist: company, IDCC, funds, profiles. If you outsource, demand written confirmation of these four points from your provider. An annual setup review is far better than a retroactive correction.