Month-end close in 10 minutes

The month-end close is the moment when Zeitflex pays for itself: recorded times become a file that the payroll office can process. It is included from the Starter plan onwards.

The process in four steps

Open Month-end close on the left and select the month at the top.

Step 1: Review

Zeitflex lists what stands in the way of payroll:

• Open clock-ins — someone is still clocked in
• Missing clock-outs on past days
• Open absence requests in the period
• Working-time violations (maximum working time, rest period, breaks)
• Mini-job limits — who is over the limit or close to it?

Work through the list. Each item is linked and takes you to the place where you deal with it.

Step 2: Calculate

Zeitflex calculates for each person:

• Working time under § 4 ArbZG (German Working Hours Act) with the break rules and your rounding setting
• Premiums for night, Sunday and public holiday work (see Understanding premiums)
• Overtime balance against the working-time model
• Absence days by type

You see a preview for each person. If something is wrong, go back to step 1 and correct it.

Step 3: Lock

Locking finalises the month:

1. Click Lock month.
2. Confirm.

After that, the times of this month can no longer be changed directly. The calculated values are recorded permanently — even if a master data entry changes later.

Step 4: Export

Choose the format:

The month changes to exported. Your tax adviser finds the files in the tax adviser portal.

The result: a locked month, finalised values and a file at the payroll office.

The four places where things get stuck

“The lock cannot be clicked.” There are still open clock-ins in the month. Zeitflex deliberately prevents a month with a running booking from being closed.

“The hours do not match my own calculation.” Usually the break rule: for more than six hours, Zeitflex deducts the statutory minimum break, even if nobody clocked it. See Recording breaks correctly.

“Premiums are missing.” Either the plan is free (premiums from Starter), or no premium rules are set up (Settings → Premiums), or the federal state is wrong and therefore the day was not a public holiday.

“I found a mistake after locking.” No reason to panic. The way forward is described under Corrections after locking.

What Zeitflex does NOT do

A good rhythm

Need more help?

If your tax adviser cannot import the file, the solution is described under Setting up the DATEV export.