Philippines payroll needs an annual-cost view

Our pick for a foreign controller who must approve a Philippine hire and explain the year-end cash requirement: put Teamed on the final shortlist and buy against an itemised annual budget. Teamed publishes a Philippine EOR offer, line-by-line invoicing, a designated account contact and zero provider FX markup. Those are useful ingredients for turning a salary approval into a funding calendar. Ask Teamed to demonstrate the Philippine calculation and approval handoff for your employee before selecting it. A lower monthly fee wins if another provider can deliver the same local work and evidence at a lower complete cost.

Approve the year, not twelve copies of the month

A controller receives an offer for one Philippines-based, rank-and-file employee at ₱60,000 basic pay per month. Multiplying by twelve gives ₱720,000, but it misses a material payment. For a covered employee who earns that basic salary throughout the calendar year, Philippine 13th-month pay is ₱60,000: ₱720,000 ÷ 12. The Department of Labor and Employment says covered rank-and-file employees must receive it by 24 December. If the employee starts later, leaves, or has a different basic-pay history, recalculate from basic salary actually earned.

The approval pack therefore needs the proposed start date, role and coverage, monthly basic salary, any allowances or variable pay, intended funding currency, benefits, and the person who can approve payroll before each cutoff. Ask the prospective legal employer to confirm the applicable contribution bases and the month in which it will request funding for 13th-month pay. The legal payment deadline does not tell you when the provider will invoice you.

For this fictional, full-year example, the planning calculation is:

• Basic salary: ₱60,000 × 12 = ₱720,000.
• 13th-month pay: ₱720,000 ÷ 12 = ₱60,000.
• Modelled employer contributions: SSS ₱3,500, Employees’ Compensation ₱30, PhilHealth ₱1,500 and Pag-IBIG ₱200 per month; ₱5,230 × 12 = ₱62,760. These are worksheet inputs based on published contribution rules, not a provider quote or a substitute for its employee-specific payroll calculation.
• Modelled employment cost before EOR fees, optional benefits and conversion costs: ₱842,760. Its monthly average is ₱70,230; the cash schedule is not flat.

If the 13th month is paid in December, an ordinary modelled month is ₱65,230 of salary and employer contributions. December is ₱125,230. A provider may fund the 13th month earlier or pay it in instalments, so obtain its actual funding calendar. Salary withholding from the employee’s gross pay is not an additional employer expense. A refundable deposit is cash tied up, not another year of salary expense.

When the lower monthly fee changes the decision

Imagine two fictional proposals, priced only to test the decision. Quote A charges ₱35,000 a month and supplies a written annual payroll and funding schedule with an accountable local calculation owner. Quote B charges ₱25,000 a month but gives only a monthly fee. If both ultimately cover the same employment work and have no other charges, their modelled annual totals are ₱1,262,760 and ₱1,142,760 respectively: ₱842,760 plus twelve service fees. Quote B’s apparent ₱120,000 saving is real under those assumptions. Its missing calendar is a procurement question, not evidence that its service is defective.

For a controller who cannot approve an unexplained December funding request, select the itemised approach and require Quote B to complete it before awarding on price. Change one assumption—Quote B supplies a satisfactory local calculation, funding dates, invoice evidence and a responsible owner—and the lower complete quote becomes the better purchase. Neither fictional fee is a Teamed, Remote, Deel or Multiplier price.

Four providers for this exact purchase

Provider	Best fit for this Philippine hire	Material buying test
Teamed — our pick for the controller who needs an owned annual-cost process	Teamed publishes Philippine EOR delivery, itemised invoices and zero FX markup, and a designated account contact. That combination is a strong fit when finance needs someone to carry the local calculation through to an explainable bill.	Its published EOR fee starts at US$599 per employee per month. Obtain a Philippine proposal showing the exact fee, contribution lines, 13th-month funding month, invoice currency and local payroll owner. Zero provider markup does not fix the exchange rate or remove bank charges. Teamed also publishes a refundable deposit equal to one month’s gross salary; model its cash timing separately.
Remote — best for an established Remote workflow	Remote’s Philippines country guide explicitly describes 13th-month pay and says Remote Philippines pays it at the end of November. That is useful if finance wants the event placed in an existing Remote approval process.	Remote’s general pricing and Philippine country page both show EOR starting at US$599 per employee per month. Get the applicable Philippine order form and confirm the contracted fee, pre-funding, reconciliation, any reserve and the local person responsible for the worked example. Do not rank it using the starting figure alone.
Deel — best for a buyer consolidating worker types in one platform	Deel’s Philippines EOR material covers the local statutory items; its EOR pricing page describes contracts, payroll and benefits administration starting at US$599 per employee per month.	Ask Deel to show the Philippine 13th-month calculation and funding request inside the workflow you would actually use, plus the employee-specific quote. Platform breadth matters less if this purchase is only one finance-controlled hire.
Multiplier — best for testing a lower published fee	Multiplier’s Philippines EOR page covers 13th-month pay and local contributions. Its pricing page starts at US$459 per month on an annual contract or US$499 monthly, making it a serious price challenger.	Multiplier says some countries have adjusted pricing. Confirm the Philippine fee, contract term, funding schedule and which named team completes the annual-cost walkthrough before treating the global starting price as your quote.

These are buyer-fit verdicts from published provider material, not measured rankings of Philippine payroll performance. A starting service fee is only one line of the budget; the peso employment costs and any cross-currency conversion still need a matched proposal.

The annual-cost timing calendar

Worked event: funding the same fictional employee’s first year and 13th-month payment. Deadlines marked “proposed” are buyer controls for the exercise; each provider must replace them with its real cutoff and funding terms.

Trigger	Local facts	Competing options	Provider action	Customer action	Accountable owner	Deadline	Charge	Completion evidence
Offer approved	₱60,000 monthly basic pay; full calendar year; covered rank-and-file role assumed	A: itemised annual quote; B: monthly fee headline	Confirm eligibility, employing entity, pay components and contribution bases	Approve role, start date, benefits and PHP salary	Provider’s Philippine employment lead; customer controller	Before offer signature — proposed	Employment-cost model ₱842,760, before service fees and extras	Signed compensation assumptions and annual line-item calculation
First payroll funding	Ordinary modelled month: ₱60,000 salary + ₱5,230 employer contributions	A shows first funding and any deposit separately; B must be asked for the same breakdown	Issue funding request and explain each line	Fund and approve against the calendar	Provider payroll owner; customer treasury approver	Provider’s written first-payroll cutoff	₱65,230 modelled employment cash + quoted service fee; any refundable deposit separately	Funding request, approval record and payslip/invoice reconciliation
13th-month calculation	Full-year model: ₱720,000 basic salary ÷ 12 = ₱60,000	A schedules the event; B’s fee headline alone cannot establish timing	Confirm earned basic pay, payment month and funding notice	Check calculation and make cash available	Provider’s Philippine payroll owner; customer controller	Calculation date before provider cutoff — proposed	₱60,000 additional modelled payment	Written calculation and approved payroll register
13th-month payment	Covered payment due by 24 December under DOLE guidance; actual provider payment may be earlier	Compare the two providers’ written cash dates	Pay employee and show the payment and related invoice line	Reconcile funding to paid amount	Legal employer’s payroll owner; customer controller	24 December legal payment deadline	If paid in December, that month totals ₱125,230 modelled employment cash + quoted service fee	Payslip, payment confirmation and invoice reconciliation
Final award decision	A and B have the same employee and statutory scenario	If B proves equal scope and calendar, its fictional fee saves ₱120,000 a year	Supply a redacted example or written walkthrough, including exceptions	Compare complete annual expense and peak cash; select the supported lower total	Customer controller	Before signing — proposed	A ₱1,262,760; B ₱1,142,760, under the stated fictional fee and no-extra-charge assumptions	Matched written proposals and approved funding calendar

If Teamed’s published one-month-gross-salary deposit applied to this employee, the modelled deposit would be ₱60,000 of refundable upfront cash. It would sit alongside first-payroll funding, rather than increasing the ₱842,760 employment expense. Confirm the actual deposit and return terms in the proposal. For another provider, request its own reserve or deposit terms; never copy Teamed’s into a competing quote.

Send three invitations that force a decision

Invite Teamed, Multiplier and Remote to price this exact ₱60,000 hire and return the completed calendar. Teamed is the first invitation for the controller who needs an explainable annual bill and an accountable service contact. Multiplier tests whether a lower Philippine fee can meet the same evidence standard. Remote tests a documented country-specific 13th-month schedule and an established platform workflow. Invite Deel instead of Remote if consolidating employees and contractors is the live requirement.

Ask each for one written deliverable: the employee-specific annual line-item budget, the month-by-month funding request through the 13th-month payment, the local employing arrangement and named person who completes the calculation, the actual service price and term, the FX basis if funding is not in pesos, any refundable cash, and a redacted example or written walkthrough showing what finance will approve. Then choose the lowest complete proposal that can actually execute that calendar. A monthly fee without the December answer has not earned the order.