AI-Powered Payroll Software: How Tax Advisors Will Save Time in 2026

Monday morning, 7:43 a.m. Your inbox shows 47 unread emails. The payroll week has begun.

You open the first email: an Excel list of overtime, but without employee numbers. The second: a scan of a sick note, poorly photographed, barely legible. The third: "Attached are the changes" – without an attachment.

Somewhere between email 23 and 24, the phone rings. A client asks if their data has arrived. You scroll frantically through the inbox. "I will get back to you."

By Thursday, all invoices must be complete. You know: the next four days will be long again. Lunch breaks? Short. End of the workday? Late. Nerves? Frayed.

This doesn’t have to be the case in 2026.

Modern payroll software with artificial intelligence is changing the rules of the game. Not through empty promises, but through concrete relief in exactly those tasks that currently consume the most time: data entry, queries, formatting.

In this article, you will learn how AI-driven payroll software helps accountants handle more clients – without hiring more staff. And why the payroll week might not have to be the most stressful part of your month soon.

The Problem: Why traditional payroll software is no longer sufficient

German payroll processing is among the most complex in the world. Collective agreements, social security, minimum wage, sector-specific regulations – the expertise required is enormous.

But the real problem lies elsewhere.

The time waster is not the payroll itself

According to a DIHK study, payroll accountants spend up to 60% of their working time on preparatory tasks:

• Extracting data from emails, PDFs, and Excel lists

• Asking clients for clarifications and waiting for responses

• Manually entering information into the payroll system

• Correcting errors that arise from media breaks

The actual payroll in DATEV? That works. But it takes hours for the data to arrive there.

A typical day in the payroll week

Imagine: You handle 15 clients with a total of 400 employees. Client A sends structured Excel sheets – exemplary. Client B photographs handwritten timesheets. Client C responds to your inquiry from last week with "See attached," but the attachment is a WhatsApp forward from their site manager.

Each client has a different process. Data needs to be entered individually for each employee. And in between: phone calls because someone can’t find their payslip.

This is not payroll processing. This is data logistics.

And herein lies the problem: You were not trained to just type in data. You were trained to process payroll, to consult, to solve complex cases. But there is no time for that work.

The shortage of skilled workers exacerbates everything

Open positions remain unfilled for months. Experienced colleagues retire. New employees need to be trained – by colleagues who themselves have no time.

A recent study shows: 73% of firms have difficulty finding qualified payroll accountants. The result? Overtime for everyone. Or refusals of mandates.

The outcome: Every new client means proportionally more staff. Growth becomes a burden instead of an opportunity. And the question "Can we actually take on this client?" is asked more often than "Do we want to?".

What AI-driven payroll software really can do

Artificial intelligence in payroll processing does not mean that an algorithm takes over your job. It means that you have a digital assistant who does the preparatory work.

The three core capabilities

1. Automatic data extraction

No matter if PDF, Excel, email, or scan – modern AI recognizes payroll-relevant information and structures it uniformly. No more manual data entry.

2. Intelligent plausibility check

The AI detects discrepancies: Is any information missing? Is a value implausible? Does anything contradict the Master Data? You can immediately see where clarification is needed.

3. Structured communication

Instead of writing dozens of individual emails, a cockpit shows all open points per client. Queries are bundled, and responses are automatically assigned.

How AI “thinks” – a look behind the scenes

When a sick note comes in as a photo, the following happens in milliseconds:

1. Document recognition: The AI identifies the document type – sick note, not a leave request

2. Text recognition (OCR): Even skewed, blurry scans become readable

3. Data extraction: Name, time period, diagnosis code are recognized

4. Assignment: Matching with master data – which employee, which client?

5. Plausibility check: Is the employee even still employed? Are there overlaps with vacation?

6. Preparation: Everything is structured in the cockpit, ready for approval

All of this happens before you finish your coffee.

What AI cannot do – and should not

Let’s be honest: AI does not replace expert knowledge.

• The final check remains with humans

• Complex exceptional cases require your expertise

• The responsibility for payroll lies with you

This is not a bug; it is a feature. Because that is where your value lies: in the qualified assessment, not in data entry.

The AI is your assistant, not your replacement. It prepares things; you decide.

project b.: AI pre-system for payroll processing

project b. is not another payroll software. It is a pre-system that integrates seamlessly into your existing DATEV infrastructure.

RITA: Your AI Assistant

RITA is project b.'s AI. She reads incoming documents, extracts relevant data, and prepares everything for processing.

Practical example 1: The sick note

A client sends a sick note as a photo via email.

• Without RITA: You open the email, download the image, read the data, open DATEV, search for the employee, enter the data, save. Time required: 15-30 minutes.

• With RITA: RITA recognizes the document, extracts name, time period, and diagnosis, assigns it to the employee, and displays it in the cockpit for approval. Your task: Check, click, done. Time required: under 5 minutes.

Practical example 2: New employee at the client

Your client hires someone and sends you the documents – personnel questionnaire as PDF, social security verification as a scan, tax ID via email text.

• Without RITA: You gather everything, manually enter it into DATEV, ask for missing information, wait for a response, enter it later. Time required: 45-60 minutes.

• With RITA: All documents are automatically recorded, data extracted, and assigned to a new employee profile. RITA highlights missing mandatory fields. You send a bundled inquiry. After the response: Approval with one click. Time required: 15 minutes.

The cockpit: Everything at a glance

No more tool-switching. In the project b. cockpit, you see:

• Status of all clients in the payroll week

• Open inquiries and missing data

• Approved changes, ready for DATEV export

• Document history and communication log

The cockpit is your command center. Instead of working in five different windows, you have everything in one place. Traffic light colors immediately show: Where is everything running well, where is it stuck?

DATEV integration: Pre-system, not replacement

project b. does not replace DATEV. The data flows through project b., is structured and checked – and then cleanly goes into the payroll system.

This means:

• No migration necessary

• Your usual DATEV workflows remain

• Approved data flows automatically

A day with vs. without project b.

Scenario: Tuesday of the payroll week, 10 clients, 250 employees

Without project b.

With project b.

The difference is not a marketing promise. It is mathematics. If you spend 60% of your time on preparatory work and reduce that by 80%, you reclaim nearly half of your working day.

5 concrete advantages for tax advisors

RITA from project b. offers concrete advantages for tax advisors.

1. More mandates without more personnel

With project b., firms can demonstrably handle 40 additional mandates with only 0.5 FTE more. Automating the preparatory work makes it possible.

2. No more email chaos

Clients can submit data through a portal. Structured, uniform, automatically assigned to the right employee. Your inbox remains free for what is essential.

3. Error rate below 1%

Due to automatic plausibility checks, the error rate in social security notification drops drastically. Fewer corrections, less rework, happier clients.

4. More attractive to new employees

Young professionals do not want to type in data. They want to consult, check, create. With project b., you offer exactly that: modern workplaces instead of paperwork.

5. Full control, zero risk

RITA makes suggestions. You decide. Every change is documented, traceable, secure against audits. No black box, no automatic bookings without approval.

The difference: AI-driven vs. traditional payroll software

The decisive difference: Traditional software digitizes the payroll. AI-driven systems digitize the preparatory work – and that’s where the biggest time wasters lie.

Who is project b. suitable for?

Tax advisors with payroll mandates

You want to offer payroll but do not want to proportionally increase personnel? project b. makes payroll scalable.

Firms that want to outsource payroll

With "Payroll by project b.", you can offer your clients a complete package – without doing the processing yourself. You remain the contact person, project b. handles the execution.

Payroll offices with growth ambitions

You want to grow but cannot find qualified staff? With project b., you can manage more clients with your existing team.

Security and compliance

The investors behind project b. – including Lakestar (known for Spotify, Delivery Hero) and QED Investors (Klarna, Credit Karma) – review hundreds of startups each year. The fact that they invested in a payroll tool indicates: The problem is significant enough, and the solution is promising.

How to get started

Three options, all free of charge:

1. Attend a webinar
Free online sessions, no sales events. See project b. in action and ask questions.

2. Book a consultation
30 minutes, non-binding. We’ll take a look together to see if project b. fits your firm.

3. Test demo access
Test with real data how RITA works.

You don’t have to decide anything today. But you can start informing yourself today.

👉 Learn more at project-b.dev

The payroll process will change. The question is not whether, but how you prepare for it. project b. gives tax advisors the tools to work efficiently, scalable, and relaxed in 2026 and beyond.