Articles by Niko Nurmentaus
The German Minijob: Why It Exists and How Payroll Handles It
The Minijob is one of the most distinctly German things in payroll. It is a job deliberately kept small enough that, for the worker, gross pay and take-home pay are almost the same number. No income tax, no social-security deductions from the employee’s side...
Are Your Platform Workers Actually Employees? Portugal's Article 12-A and the 2025 Supreme Court Wave
Picture a food-courier or a ride-hailing driver in Lisbon. They signed up through an app, they are labeled a self-employed provider, they invoice for their work, and everyone involved has treated...
Mexico's Payroll Tax Is Rising, One State at a Time: The 2025–2026 ISN Increases
A company with a warehouse in one Mexican state, a sales office in another, and stores in a third pays the Impuesto Sobre Nóminas, the state payroll tax, separately in each one, at whatever rate that...
Guides by Niko Nurmentaus
How Collective Agreements Become Binding in Germany: Five Routes, Not One
If you have run payroll in France, Portugal, or Spain, you carry an instinct that quietly breaks the moment you cross into Germany. A German collective agreement, a Tarifvertrag, binds almost no one automatically, and yet Germany still reaches roughly 70 percent effective coverage...
Sectoral Extension of Union Agreements in Portugal: How It Works and Why the Rules Vary by Region
Picture two retail cashiers. Same chain, same job description, same cash register. One works in a shop in Oeiras, just outside Lisbon. The other works in Santarém, about an hour up the road. Neither...
