Amendment, addendum or payroll instruction?
Three documentation routes are common, listed from most to least paperwork; confirm the instrument needed for each country and change:
A contract amendment changes a term of the employment contract itself. The employee signs it, the EOR countersigns, and the new term replaces the old one. Remote requires an amendment for any salary or title change but auto-generates the amendment letter for a salary-only increase below +15% over 180 days, except in Germany, Portugal, Ukraine and Indonesia, where it says wet signatures are required or other complications exist. Since September 5, 2025, some Deel amendments, including gross salary and job title changes, no longer need additional review and can take effect immediately, depending on country regulations. Deel also accepts backdated effective dates, subject to compliance review.
An addendum is a supplementary document attached to the contract without rewriting its core terms, typically for a recurring car or remote-work allowance, a bespoke benefits arrangement or a retention bonus with conditions. Which of the two a change needs varies by country, so the EOR’s local counsel decides the form and you decide the substance.
A payroll instruction tells the provider what to process. For a payment already authorized by the contract or policy, an instruction may be sufficient, but confirm documentation, tax treatment and any approval duties. A new bonus entitlement, stipend or benefit change may need revised terms, employee consent or separate enrollment documentation.
Track the effective date and payroll deadline separately
The amendment deadline is the date by which the EOR needs the amendment request for that month’s payroll. At Remote it is the 5th: requests received later go into the following month’s payroll, and the signed amendment must be back before the payroll cutoff. If the provider names no separate amendment deadline, ask for it. Legal documentation may be due by the effective date, earlier than payroll’s operational cutoff.
The payroll cutoff is when the month’s payroll inputs, including bonuses and expenses, freeze. Remote’s standard cutoff is the 11th at 23:59 UTC, with some countries on the 16th. Deel’s EOR cutoff is the 20th of the month in most countries, a change it first announced in 2023. For the full monthly cycle, see running payroll through an EOR.
Work back from the effective date. If the EOR needs to draft an amendment and collect signatures, ask whether two to three weeks is enough for this case. The legal documentation deadline still applies. A request on 25 June for a raise effective 1 July leaves little time for either signer.
A five-step raise and promotion example
Take a software engineer in Germany on EUR 90,000 who will become a Senior Software Engineer on 1 July. The promotion comes with a 12% raise.
Step 1: Approve and cost it internally. The raise is EUR 10,800 gross per year (90,000 to 100,800, or EUR 7,500 to 8,400 per month). As a sensitivity assumption, a flat 22% employer-cost allowance would produce roughly EUR 13,200 of total incremental annual cost. Contributions use different rates and bases, and statutory ceilings matter: both salaries are above the 2026 health-insurance ceiling of EUR 69,750. Calculate the actual incremental contributions, levies and benefits for this employee instead of applying the allowance to the full raise. Work out the full cost in the global payroll calculator before the promotion conversation.
Step 2: Classify the change against the decision table. Title plus salary means one amendment covering both. Remote’s automated flow does not apply, even though 12% is under its +15%/180-day threshold, because the flow covers salary-only increases and excludes Germany. The Nachweisgesetz also requires the change to be documented by the effective date.
Step 3: Submit early, with the effective date attached. In the first week of June, submit the amendment request with only the new title, the new gross salary and the July 1 effective date. That leaves about four weeks for drafting and signatures before the July 1 documentation deadline, and the request is well ahead of Remote’s July 5 deadline.
Step 4: Complete signatures by July 1, then verify payroll. Once the employee and the EOR have signed, the platform shows the amendment as active. Then verify payroll processing before the provider’s cutoff, which for Germany is the 16th at Remote and the 20th at Deel. If documentation is still pending as July 1 approaches, escalate then and confirm which documents are needed and when the employee must be paid; do not wait for the payroll cutoff.
Step 5: Check the payslip and update your records. With the change processed on time, July gross pay should be EUR 8,400 and there should be no arrears line. Update the salary band and organization chart before announcing the promotion. If the employee also received an equity refresh, update the equity ledger.
Suppose a USD 500 monthly raise adds USD 100 in employer costs and USD 25 in benefits each month. The recurring increase is USD 625, or USD 7,500 for twelve months. If the contract also charges USD 20 once to process the change, the first-year increase is USD 7,520. Enter your own figures in the workbook, including any proration, contribution caps, benefit changes and provider fees.
