Let's imagine Finance approves a £4,000 sales commission. The company's commission statement may read as complete, but the salesperson who did the work has still received £0.
Between those two facts, payroll needs the right employee and legal entity, an amount in payroll currency, a payment schedule or run, enough context to review the request, and time before the payroll lock. After processing, finance still needs the payroll result, the employee's confirmed receipt and a comparison with the approved commission statement.
The clean workflow keeps two linked records where your company owns the sales record that proves its commercial calculation and the employer of record owns the payroll record that turns an accepted instruction into taxable pay and applies employment obligations. A shared reference connects them through review, payroll, disbursement and reconciliation.
This division keeps commercial and employment decisions with their proper owners. Your company decides who won an account, which rep gets split credit and how its plan applies to the sale. The EOR, as legal employer, determines and implements the employment and wage obligations that apply to the resulting instruction. It may challenge or reject an instruction; company approval cannot settle a legally disputed earned-wage question by itself.
Keep two records and connect them with one reference
A commission crosses from a commercial system into an employment system. Each system needs a different kind of truth.
Give every approved statement a stable reference such as SC-2026-09-014. Put that reference in the payroll request description and retain the detailed calculation in your own controlled record. Borderless's current adjustment guide allows a description of up to 255 characters, which is enough for a reference and short instruction. It is too short to replace the underlying commission statement.
The company's payroll-ready packet should contain:
- employee name and the identifier used in the EOR platform;
- employment country and legal-employer record;
- commission statement reference and plan version;
- earning or calculation period;
- approved amount and source currency;
- amount to apply in the employee's payroll currency;
- approval date and authorized approver;
- intended payroll run or effective date;
- one-time or recurring treatment;
- an exception flag for a late item, correction, dispute or employment exit.
The live Borderless form verifies several of these fields. A user selects the legal entity and employee, chooses Commission, enters an amount displayed in the employee's payroll currency, chooses a one-time or recurring schedule, and can select a payroll run for a one-time item. If the plan calculates commission in another currency, settle the conversion rule and approved local-payroll amount before submission. The public guide does not describe an automatic sales-commission conversion step.
The earning period deserves its own field in the company packet even when the payroll screen does not request it. In the United States, for example, federal commission rules can require a deferred commission to be allocated back across the workweeks in which a covered nonexempt employee earned it, followed by additional overtime calculations. That rule does not apply to every salesperson or country. It shows why a correct amount can still be an incomplete payroll instruction.
Move the commission through six distinct states
The handoff works best when every state has an owner, evidence and a stop condition.
1. Calculated: the company proves the earning event
Sales operations applies the plan to the commercial record. It identifies the credited transaction, handles account splits, checks cancellations or collection conditions, and calculates the amount.
This state ends with a commission statement, not a payroll request. If two managers disagree about account ownership, the company must resolve that dispute. Sending both versions to an EOR shifts a commercial decision to the wrong party.
2. Approved: finance freezes the company's calculation
An authorized approver confirms the plan version, period, amount and payroll currency. Mark the company's statement approved and lock its reference. Later discoveries should create a versioned delta rather than silently rewriting the record used for payroll.
Check the employment terms before approval when the result depends on an earning condition, payment-date rule, forfeiture term or clawback. For the broader employment terms, see Borderless's contracts guide. Internal commercial approval supplies the calculation and rationale; the legal employer must still validate the employment treatment and any mandatory local obligation.
3. Submitted and validated: payroll accepts a usable request
In Borderless, the Payroll Adjustments page accepts commission requests and displays the employee, legal entity, amount, payroll currency, frequency, effective dates, payroll jurisdiction, contract reference and payroll lock date. A one-time request can be attached to a specific run. Without a selected run, Borderless applies it to the next applicable payroll run.
The request begins as Pending Review. It can move to Approved, Processed or Rejected. A rejection means the request could not be approved for compliance reasons. Keep the approved commission statement open until payroll accepts the instruction or returns a precise issue to its company owner.
The payroll lock is an operating deadline, not an earning rule. Borderless's 2026 UK payroll schedule, for example, says adjustments must be approved before the displayed lock date for that run. Missing the lock can change the processing path or pay date. The next applicable run is usable only when it also meets the contract and local legal payment deadline. Escalate a conflict to the legal employer before promising a later date.
4. Processed: the adjustment becomes payroll
Borderless defines Processed as successfully included in payroll. Payroll then applies the relevant deductions, reporting and employee payment process for the jurisdiction. The employee can access a paystub through Borderless for the documented country schedules.
Do not substitute an estimated take-home figure for the approved payroll amount. Tax, social contributions, other earnings, benefits and prior-period adjustments can change net pay. Reconcile the approved amount and actual payroll output separately.
5. Disbursed and received: the money reaches the employee
Processed proves inclusion in payroll, not bank settlement. The country schedule should identify the expected payday, while the employee verifies the deposit in the nominated account. Borderless's UK schedule says exact delivery timing can depend on the employee's bank.
Keep the commission item open when the payslip exists but the deposit is missing. The employee should report the missing receipt and confirm their bank details. Ask Borderless or the payroll contact to identify the responsible payment team and trace whether the transfer is delayed, failed or returned. The hiring company keeps the approved commission reference open and supplies any funding or instruction evidence requested. This escalation is a recommended control; the public Borderless material reviewed for this article does not document an exact employee-payroll transfer or reissue workflow.
Before relying on a specific reissue route, confirm the responsible payment team, employee notification path and expected resolution time for that payroll.
6. Reconciled: both records close on the same result
After payroll, compare five things:
- the approved commission statement;
- the Borderless request and final status;
- the gross commission line and total payroll output on the paystub for that run;
- confirmed receipt of the total net payroll deposit in the employee's nominated account;
- the company's next commission-ledger balance.
Record the approved commission, gross commission included in payroll, total net payroll deposit, transfer result, payment period and exception owner. Do not compare a £4,000 gross commission directly with the bank deposit: the deposit normally combines the employee's net base pay, net commission and any other payroll items after deductions. Close the item only when the commission records match the gross payroll line and the employee has received the total net payroll deposit. A payroll variance or failed transfer creates a controlled exception tied to the original reference.
This final step catches errors that a Processed status alone cannot answer: the wrong employee, wrong amount, wrong period, duplicated input, or a correct payroll item tied to the wrong commission statement.
Worked month: £4,000 approved, then a £500 late credit
Assume a UK-based account executive is employed through an EOR and paid monthly. The figures below are hypothetical.
The employee's base salary is £4,000 per month. The company's written plan pays 5% on eligible collected revenue. For the August calculation period, sales operations verifies £80,000 of eligible revenue:
£80,000 x 5% = £4,000 commission
Revenue operations creates statement SC-2026-09-014. Finance approves £4,000 on September 9 for the selected September payroll run. For this illustration, assume Borderless payroll has confirmed that the £4,000 field is treated as a gross commission input before deductions for this employee and jurisdiction. The company submits a one-time Commission adjustment for £4,000 in the employee's payroll currency, selects the intended run, and puts August commission, SC-2026-09-014 in the description. This assumption makes the arithmetic usable; it does not claim that the field has the same semantics in every jurisdiction.
The expected pay before statutory and other deductions is:
Finance watches the request move from Pending Review to Approved and then Processed. After payroll, it compares the £4,000 statement with the gross commission line on the payroll output. It does not expect the bank deposit to equal £4,000 because the deposit is the employee's total net payroll after deductions. Finance marks the statement paid only after the gross line reconciles and the employee confirms receipt of the total net payroll deposit in the nominated account.
Now assume one eligible £10,000 invoice was missing from the approved sales file. The company finds it after the payroll was processed:
£10,000 x 5% = £500 underpayment
Keep SC-2026-09-014 as the evidence for the original £4,000. Create an approved £500 delta with its own version or reference, point it back to the original statement, and identify the intended correction period. Then use the correction path confirmed for that employee and country.
Ask Borderless payroll operations to confirm the supported submission path and permissions for a commission correction after the original adjustment status is Processed.
If finance discovers the £500 before the payroll lock, it should contact payroll and use the confirmed adjustment route for that request state. Borderless's public commission guide does not document screen editability for every state. If finance discovers the difference after lock or processing, preserve the original record and issue a distinct correction instruction. Do not overwrite the evidence that explains the first payslip.
Route the exception by what changed
“Commission correction” can describe several different events. Use the cause to choose the route.
Payroll errors need classification before correction. UK HMRC correction guidance uses different routes for wrong pay, payment dates and leaving data, and warns that repeated fields can create duplicate records. A reporting correction is separate from changing what the employee earned.
Recovery is a separate decision again. UK Acas deduction guidance lists the circumstances in which money can be taken from wages and includes commission within wages. California regulator deduction guidance applies different restrictions to offsets. These examples defeat a global rule that every overpayment can be netted against next month's commission.
Exit makes the earning rule and payroll calendar collide
At exit, make an open-commission inventory before final payroll closes. For every item, record the earning event, current status, expected decision date and plan clause. Then give the legal employer enough time to apply the country process.
For a company-initiated termination, Borderless's current termination process says the client requests termination in the platform and waits for Borderless, the legal employer, to finalize the details and communication. The guide asks for at least 5 business days in the United States and 7 business days elsewhere as a general rule, with longer timelines possible in some jurisdictions.
The plan and local law determine whether an item is earned and when it is payable. In Great Britain, Acas commission guidance says the contract should explain what happens when employment ends. It also says that without a written contract, earned but unpaid commission remains due even if the payment date falls after the employee leaves. HMRC has a payment-after-leaving payroll route for later UK payments, with tax, reporting and written confirmation requirements.
Those UK rules illustrate the decision. They do not create a global answer. For another country, ask the EOR to confirm the final-pay deadline, later-payment route and permitted recovery treatment against the actual plan and employment documents.
The operating rule
Your company applies its sales plan and approves a payroll-ready commercial record. The EOR validates the instruction and determines the employment treatment as legal employer. Close the item only after the approved record, payroll output, employee receipt and company ledger reconcile. Route late items, errors, entitlement changes and exits according to what actually changed.
If an amount may arise from an agency relationship that ended when employment began, use the local agent transition to determine its source and recipient before sending it to employee payroll.
If you are still defining the role and commission terms, use the unpublished local S1 draft on the first sales hire. Replace or remove this editorial link before publication. For the wider control environment, use the Borderless guide to global payroll compliance.
Frequently asked questions
Who calculates commission for an EOR-employed salesperson?
The hiring company should calculate and approve commission under its own plan because it owns quotas, account attribution, crediting and commercial disputes. The EOR needs the approved payroll instruction and supporting employment context, then determines and implements the employment obligations as legal employer. Payroll review does not transfer sales-plan ownership to the EOR, and company approval does not override mandatory wage rights.
Can Borderless process a commission payment?
Yes. Borderless's current support guide lists Commission as a payroll adjustment type. The business selects the employee and legal entity, enters the amount in the employee's payroll currency, chooses the schedule and can select a one-time payroll run. The request then moves through review and processing statuses.
What happens if commission is approved after payroll lock?
Do not promise the employee an off-cycle date without confirmation. Borderless's public guide says a one-time request without a selected run goes to the next applicable payroll run. The current public material reviewed for this article does not establish universal commission off-cycle availability. Confirm the country, legal deadline and supported route for the specific employee.
Can we subtract a clawback from next month's commission?
Only after the company has applied the plan and the legal employer has confirmed a valid local recovery method. A canceled sale, a payroll overpayment and a duplicate instruction are different events. Wage-deduction rules vary, so a negative commission line is not a safe global default.
What if commission becomes payable after the employee leaves?
Keep the item open with a named owner, earning condition and decision date. The plan, employment documents and local law determine entitlement and timing. The EOR should confirm the post-employment payroll route. Do not treat account closure or final payroll as proof that the commission disappeared.