Global payroll services pay your employees in every country you operate in, calculate tax and social security in each one, and file the returns local law demands. Deel and Remote both list global payroll from $29 per employee a month. There is a catch: both sell it for countries where you already own an entity.

Here is what most guides on global payroll skip. Payroll is not employment. If you have no company in India, a payroll provider can’t put anyone on an Indian payroll for you, because there is no Indian employer to register PF, ESI and tax deductions under.

India also changed more in 2026 than most countries. The PF wage ceiling rose to ₹25,000, the quarterly TDS return became Form 138, and the Labour Codes now set what counts as wages.

So this guide covers how global payroll works, what it costs, when you need an employer of record instead, and every India payroll deadline, with a calendar you can check month by month.

What Are Global Payroll Services?

Global payroll services run payroll for your staff in several countries through one provider. The provider calculates gross-to-net pay under each country’s rules, pays employees in local currency, remits tax and social security, and files the returns.

You get one contract, one set of reports and one place to approve pay. Remote describes its plan as gross-to-net calculated locally, with tax filings and statutory contributions remitted in each country.

What Does a Global Payroll Provider Do Each Month?

It turns your pay inputs into correct payslips and filings in every country. A typical month looks like this:

• Collect inputs: new joiners, exits, salary changes, bonuses, leave and expenses.
• Calculate gross to net: tax, social security and other deductions under local law.
• Pay employees: in local currency, on the local pay date.
• Remit and file: tax and contributions to each authority, by each deadline.
• Report: cost by country, entity and cost centre.

In India, that means a payslip, TDS on salary, PF and ESI deposits, and quarterly and annual tax forms.

What Is the Difference Between Global Payroll and Local Payroll?

Local payroll covers one country. Global payroll covers many through one provider, often by managing a network of local partners behind the scenes.

The rules don’t get simpler because the contract is global. Each country still has its own payroll cycle, tax tables and deadlines. What you buy is one point of control.

How Do Global Payroll Services Work?

Global payroll works in a fixed monthly cycle. You send pay inputs, the provider calculates pay and deductions, you fund the total, employees are paid, and the provider remits taxes and files returns.

The cycle only works if each step lands on time. Late inputs mean late pay, and late funding means late deposits to tax authorities.

What Inputs Does the Provider Need From You?

Everything that changes pay that month. That means joiners and leavers, salary revisions, variable pay, unpaid leave, reimbursements and tax declarations.

In India, tax declarations matter more than most places. Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, employees declare deductions on Form 124, which replaced Form 12BB, so the employer can deduct the right TDS each month.

Who Funds the Payroll, and When?

You do. Before pay day. The provider tells you the total, and you transfer it in time for salaries and statutory deposits to go out.

Funding timing matters in India because deposits run on fixed dates. TDS deducted in a month must be deposited by the 7th of the next month, as the TDS compliance calendar for 2026 sets out. So fund early.

What Are the Main Global Payroll Models?

There are four models: run payroll yourself in each country, use a global platform, use local in-country providers, or use an employer of record. The first three need your own entity. The fourth doesn’t.

When Does a Global Platform Work Best?

When you own entities in several countries and want one report across them. You keep the employer role, the registrations and the legal risk. The platform runs the calculations and filings.

When Do You Need a Local Specialist?

When one country’s rules are complex enough that a generalist misses things. India is a good example. Wages under the Labour Codes, the 50% wage rule, state professional tax and labour welfare fund rules all trip up providers who don’t run India payroll every day.

That is why many companies use an India specialist for payroll and compliance management, even when a global platform covers their other countries.

Do You Need Global Payroll or an Employer of Record?

You need global payroll if you already have an Indian entity. You need an employer of record if you don’t. That single question decides it.

The fee gap looks large. It isn’t. But the $29 assumes you already pay to run an Indian company, which an EOR fee replaces. Our guide to payrolling vs employer of record goes deeper.

Can You Run Payroll in India Without an Indian Entity?

No. An Indian payroll needs an Indian employer with its own registrations: a TAN for TDS, a PF establishment code, an ESI code and professional tax registration where the state requires it.

A foreign company with no Indian entity has none of these. So it either sets up a company or uses an EOR that employs staff on its own registrations. Our guide to how to pay employees in India compares every route.

When Should You Move From an EOR to Global Payroll?

When your India headcount is large enough that your own entity costs less than the EOR fees. Our analysis of when an Indian entity becomes cheaper than an EOR puts that at about 7 to 12 employees on a $249 fee, and 19 to 34 on a $99 fee.

Then you set up the entity and move payroll onto it. Remunance runs EOR-to-entity transfers and subsidiary formation, so your team doesn’t miss a pay day.

How Much Do Global Payroll Services Cost in 2026?

Global payroll costs from $29 per employee a month at Deel and Remote, for countries where you own an entity. An employer of record costs from $599 at both, and USD 99 to USD 249 in India at Remunance.

Prices were opened on Deel’s and Remote’s pricing pages on 4 November 2026. Neither payroll price includes salaries or statutory costs.

What Does a $29 Payroll Fee Include?

Calculation, payment and filing. Remote’s plan lists gross-to-net calculated locally, tax filings and statutory contributions remitted in each country, and reports by country, entity and cost centre.

What it doesn’t include is the entity. You still run the company, its bank account, its registrations, its audit and its director.

What Costs Sit Outside the Payroll Fee?

Statutory costs and the cost of being an employer. In India, employer PF, EDLI and admin charges reach ₹3,250 a month per employee at the ₹25,000 cap. Add ESI at 3.25% for lower salaries and gratuity at about 4.81% of wages.

Our guide to employer contributions in India prices each one. These are the same whichever provider runs your payroll.

Why Do Global Payroll Prices Look So Different?

Because the services underneath are different. A $29 payroll fee assumes you are already the employer, with your own entity, registrations and legal risk. A $599 EOR fee buys the employer as well as the payroll.

India specialists sit in between. Remunance’s fee of USD 99 to USD 249 includes the employer role, because we employ your team on our own registrations. So compare like with like: payroll with payroll, and employment with employment.

What Does India Payroll Cost for a 10-Person Team?

It depends on whether you own the entity. Everything does. Here are both routes for 10 people, fees only:

• Global payroll on your own entity: 10 × $29, which is $290 a month, or $3,480 a year, plus the full cost of running an Indian company.
• Remunance EOR, no entity: 10 × USD 99 to USD 249, which is USD 990 to USD 2,490 a month, or USD 11,880 to USD 29,880 a year.
• Global EOR at $599: 10 × $599, which is $5,990 a month, or $71,880 a year.

At 10 people, the entity question dominates. Our HR outsourcing cost guide walks through the same maths at 5 and 25.

How Does Payroll Work in India?

Indian payroll starts from cost to company (CTC), splits it into salary components, then deducts tax and social security from the employee and adds employer contributions on top. Since 21 November 2025, the Labour Codes decide what counts as wages for those contributions.

The four Labour Codes took effect on 21 November 2025, replacing 29 older labour laws. Our guide to the India Labour Codes in 2026 covers what changed for payroll.

How Do You Build a Compliant CTC Breakup in India?

Keep basic pay and other wage components at half of total pay or more. Under the Codes, if excluded allowances exceed 50% of total remuneration, the excess is added back to wages, and PF and gratuity follow.

Let’s say you offer ₹12 lakh, or ₹1 lakh a month. Wages must then be at least ₹50,000 a month. Put ₹40,000 in basic and the extra ₹10,000 is added back anyway. Our guide to salary structure in India shows a full breakup that works.

What Gets Deducted From an Indian Payslip?

Four things for most salaried employees: income tax, employee PF, employee ESI on lower salaries and professional tax.

• TDS on salary: income tax, deducted monthly against the employee’s projected annual tax.
• Employee PF: 12% of PF wages, capped at ₹3,000 on the ₹25,000 ceiling.
• Employee ESI: 0.75% of wages, for employees on wages up to ₹21,000.
• Professional tax: set by state, ₹200 a month and ₹300 in February in Maharashtra.

The gap between gross salary and take-home pay is usually larger than foreign employers expect.

What Does the Employer Pay on Top?

Employer PF, ESI and gratuity, plus any benefits you offer. Employer PF is 12% of PF wages up to ₹25,000, with EDLI and admin at 0.5% each, under rates notified in July 2026.

ESI is 3.25% from the employer and 0.75% from the employee, on ESIC’s published rates. Gratuity accrues at 15 days’ wages per completed year.

What Changed in Indian Payroll in 2026?

Three things. The PF ceiling rose from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 on 17 September 2026. The Income-tax Act, 2025 took effect on 1 April 2026 and renamed the core forms. And the EPF Scheme, 2026 replaced the 1952 scheme.

Form 130 replaces Form 16, and Form 138 replaces Form 24Q, the Income Tax Department confirms. Our EPF Scheme 2026 guide covers the PF changes in full.

What Are the India Payroll Deadlines Each Month?

TDS on salary is due by the 7th of the following month, and PF and ESI by the 15th. Quarterly TDS returns on Form 138 fall due on 31 July, 31 October, 31 January and 31 May. Form 130 goes to employees by 15 June.

EPFO asked employers to file the April 2026 ECR and pay by 15 May, as NewsBytes reported. ESIC requires payment within 15 days of the last day of the month.

Pick a month below to see every national deadline it triggers.

Which India Payroll Deadlines Are Quarterly or Annual?

Form 138 is quarterly and Form 130 is annual. The Form 138 for April to June is due on 31 July, and the January to March return on 31 May. Form 130 is due by 15 June after the tax year ends.

Our explainer on how the payroll calendar in India works adds the state dates for professional tax and LWF.

What Happens to Deadlines in a Split Month?

You file on the normal dates, but you calculate with care. September 2026 was a split month for PF, because the ₹25,000 ceiling began on the 17th.

So the September ECR needed two calculations. Splits like that are where a generalist payroll provider is most likely to get it wrong.

What Are the Biggest Challenges of Global Payroll?

The hardest parts are rules that change, currency timing, data protection and local benefits. India had all four in 2026.

How Do You Keep Up With Rule Changes?

By using a provider that runs that country’s payroll every day, with people who read the gazette notifications the week they are published rather than the quarter after. In 2026, India changed its PF ceiling mid-year, its tax forms at the start of the year and its EPF scheme in June.

A global platform hears about these changes from its local partner. A specialist lives them. Our guide to payroll compliance in India lists the laws that still apply.

How Does the DPDP Act Affect Payroll Data in India?

It sets rules for collecting, storing and sharing employee personal data, including payroll data. Consent manager provisions apply from 13 November 2026, and most obligations from 13 May 2027.

Payroll holds the most sensitive data you keep: bank details, tax IDs and salaries. Our guide to the DPDP Act for employers covers what to change.

How Do Currency and Funding Timing Affect Payroll?

Late funding means late statutory deposits. Every time. If your transfer lands after the 7th, TDS goes in late. After the 15th, PF and ESI do too.

So agree a funding date that sits several working days before the first deposit. Ask too what conversion margin the provider applies.

Why Do Local Benefits Complicate Global Payroll?

Because every country defines them differently. In India, statutory bonus applies to employees on wages up to ₹21,000 a month, gratuity follows the Code on Social Security and health cover is usually a group policy the employer arranges.

None of those exist in the same form in the US or UK. So a global template rarely fits India without local changes.

How Do You Choose a Global Payroll Provider?

Choose on accuracy in your hardest country, not on the lowest per-head price. Cheap payroll that files late is expensive. Then check deadlines, reporting and support.

1. Ask who calculates pay in India: the provider’s own team or a partner.
2. Ask for their filing record: TDS, PF, ESI and Form 138, on time.
3. Ask how they handle split months and mid-year rule changes.
4. Ask which currency you fund in and what conversion margin applies.
5. Ask who answers your employees’ payroll questions, and in what time zone.
6. Ask whether they can move you to an EOR, or off one, as you grow.

Our guide to fully managed payroll in India shows what a full monthly service should include.

What Should You Ask About India Specifically?

Ask how they apply the 50% wage rule, how they handle the ₹25,000 PF ceiling and which states’ professional tax and LWF they file. A provider that can’t answer those three in one call is learning on your payroll.

Ask too for a sample payslip and a sample Form 130.

Should You Use One Provider for Every Country?

Not always. One provider is simpler, but a specialist in your largest or most complex country often gets it right more often. Many companies run a global platform for most countries and an India specialist for India.

That is also how a shadow payroll for seconded staff is often handled.

What Reports Should a Global Payroll Provider Give You?

Three, every month. A payroll register by employee, a cost report by country and cost centre, and proof of every statutory deposit.

In India, proof means the TDS challan, the PF ECR and the ESI challan for that month. If your provider can’t send those within days of each deadline, you can’t show an auditor that you paid. Ask for them in the contract, not as a favour.

When Is an Employer of Record Better Than Global Payroll for India?

When you don’t have an Indian entity, or don’t want to run one yet. That covers most foreign startups. An EOR gives you payroll plus a legal employer, so you can hire in days instead of waiting 10 to 16 weeks to set up a company.

That is where the best EOR in India earns its fee. An EOR also fits when you are testing the market, hiring a handful of people, or converting contractors into employees. In each case, the cost of running your own entity would outweigh the EOR fee.

What Does an EOR Add on Top of Payroll?

The employment itself. The EOR issues the contract under Indian law, with IP assigned to you, registers employees under its own PF and ESI codes, deducts TDS under its own TAN and runs exits and full and final settlement.

Our guide to EOR payroll services shows what that looks like month by month.

How Fast Can an EOR Put Someone on Payroll?

Fast. Remunance sends offers the same working day the contract is signed. The start date then depends on the candidate’s notice period, usually 30 to 90 days in India.

How Does Remunance Run Payroll in India?

Remunance is the best EOR in India for companies that want India payroll done right, with or without their own entity. Our founding team has run payroll and hiring in India for 22+ years, first as Remunance Systems, which was later acquired by ADP.

We have hired 1,200+ employees for clients across 34 Indian cities. Corporate Connect named us India’s Best EOR Service Provider 2024.

• No Indian entity: we employ your team under our own PF, ESI, professional tax, LWF and TAN registrations, from USD 99 a month, capped at USD 249.
• Your own entity: we run payroll and compliance under your registrations.
• Every month: payslips, TDS, PF, ESI and professional tax deposits and returns, on time.
• Every year: Form 130 for every employee.
• One invoice: salary, statutory costs and our fee, line by line.

See our Employer of Record services or the full breakdown on our EOR India pricing page.

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