Hire Employees in Myanmar

Two routes exist. Registering a Myanmar entity gives you direct employment, followed by SSB and Internal Revenue Department registration.

An Employer of Record removes that setup. The EOR is the legal employer, runs payroll, files SSB returns and withholds income tax, while day-to-day direction stays with you.

SSB obligations begin at five workers. Below that threshold registration is not mandatory; at or above it, it is, and there is no opt-out for either party.

Employer contributions in Myanmar are among the lowest anywhere in absolute terms. The SSB takes 3% from the employer and 2% from the employee, but only on wages up to MMK 300,000 a month, a maximum of MMK 9,000 and MMK 6,000 respectively.

These rates have been in force since 1 April 2014 and have not been raised under any Union Tax Law up to 2026.

Because the ceiling sits well below professional salary levels, employer cost behaves as a flat MMK 9,000 per head. On a MMK 800,000 salary the effective employer rate is about 1.1%, and the remaining MMK 500,000 is outside the SSB system entirely.

Break-even rule of thumb: EOR fees begin to exceed the running cost of a Myanmar entity somewhere between 20 and 30 employees, late, because there are so few contributions for an entity to save. Model both, see EOR vs Entity.

SSB is Myanmar’s statutory social insurance under the Social Security Law 2012, covering medical care, maternity, work injury and survivors’ benefits.

Contributions are 3% employer and 2% employee on wages capped at MMK 300,000 a month. Wages above the cap are not subject to SSB at all; wages below it are charged at the rate against actual wages.

Coverage is broad. Myanmar nationals and foreign nationals employed in Myanmar are both covered, for any continuous period of employment. Temporary and contract workers are also covered where the contract duration meets the statutory threshold. There is no opt-out once the business has five or more workers.

What counts toward the base matters. Regular and guaranteed components, basic salary and regular allowances, count. Overtime pay is included in the monthly wage base. One-off bonuses typically do not. Confirm marginal cases with the township SSB office.

Contributions fund medical care for insured persons and registered dependants, with no waiting period, at SSB-registered clinics and hospitals.

Gross monthly salaries in kyat. The effective employer rate falls steeply above the MMK 300,000 ceiling.

Benchmarks below are gross monthly salaries in kyat. Because contributions cap at MMK 300,000 of wages, employer cost is effectively a flat MMK 9,000 above that level.

Payroll is monthly. The SSB return and payment are due by the 15th of the following month, and late payment triggers penalty interest.

Income tax is progressive from 0% to 25%, withheld monthly and remitted to the Internal Revenue Department. Employees earning below MMK 4,800,000 a year, MMK 400,000 a month, are exempt.

Reliefs include a 20% personal allowance capped at MMK 10,000,000 a year, dependent deductions, and SSB contributions themselves.

An individual is treated as resident after 183 days of presence in the country. Myanmar does not offer a dedicated expatriate income tax incentive, though companies in Special Economic Zones such as Thilawa can access separate corporate reliefs.

Show the SSB withholding line distinctly on the payslip, alongside personal income tax, rather than merging them.

Progressive bands administered by the Internal Revenue Department, applied after the personal allowance and other reliefs.

The minimum wage is set by the National Minimum Wage Committee and reviewed periodically. The figure in current circulation is MMK 4,800 a day for covered sectors, but because it is subject to review, verify the applicable rate before each payroll cycle rather than carrying it forward.

Leave entitlements are modest by regional standards. Employees receive 10 working days of paid annual leave after one year of service, plus casual leave accruing at one day per 18 working days.

There are approximately 20 public holidays a year, which is high, and several fall across multiple days during Thingyan in April.

Employers commonly add allowances on top of base pay, and those regular allowances count toward the SSB base.

Contracts should record pay, hours, leave, notice and termination terms.

Four separate 30-day deadlines apply. Register the company with the township SSB office within 30 days of starting operations or crossing the five-employee threshold. Register each new employee within 30 days of joining. Register dependants to unlock medical benefits. Deregister leavers within 30 days.

Keep SSB records for at least seven years.

Overtime pay is included in the monthly wage base for SSB purposes, up to the MMK 300,000 cap.

Because the cap is low, overtime on a salary already above MMK 300,000 attracts no additional contribution at all, the marginal employer cost of overtime is nil for most professional staff.

One-off bonuses generally sit outside the SSB base, but regular guaranteed allowances do not.

Myanmar observes around 15 public holidays a year, including several days for Thingyan in April. Buddhist observances follow the lunar calendar and are confirmed annually.

Myanmar observes around twenty public holidays a year, including several days for Thingyan in April and Buddhist observances whose dates follow the lunar calendar. Dates and any substitution rules are set out below.

SSB provides medical care, maternity, work injury and survivors’ benefits under the Social Security Law 2012.

Medical care extends to registered dependants with no waiting period, at SSB-registered clinics and hospitals, but only where dependants have actually been registered, which is a separate step.

An unemployment benefit framework exists in the Social Security Law 2012, but its operational status varies. It would be funded from the same 2% and 3% pool. Confirm the current position with the township SSB office before relying on it in any severance planning.

There is no mandatory thirteenth month payment.

Termination follows Myanmar employment law, with notice and severance set by statute and contract.

Deregister leavers with the SSB within 30 days. That deadline is as binding as the registration one and is more easily missed.

Final pay including accrued leave is due on separation and must be reflected in the month’s SSB return and income tax withholding.

Where redundancy is involved, check whether the unemployment benefit is operationally active before setting expectations with the employee.

Foreign nationals employed in Myanmar under a local contract are generally covered by SSB on the same 3% and 2% basis, up to the same MMK 300,000 cap. There is no expatriate carve-out.

Residence for income tax purposes arises after 183 days of presence.

Myanmar offers no dedicated expatriate income tax incentive. Special Economic Zones such as Thilawa provide corporate tax holidays and reliefs, but those operate at company rather than individual level.

Corporate income tax is 22% and commercial tax generally applies at 5%.

The dominant compliance failure here is overpayment, not underpayment. Most Myanmar SSB errors trace back to a payroll system running the rate against full gross rather than the capped base. Apply the MMK 300,000 cap to every insured person, every month, before computing 2% and 3%.

The 30-day windows are easy to miss, particularly deregistration of leavers, which has no natural prompt in most payroll cycles.

Do not assume the unemployment benefit is available. It exists in the Social Security Law 2012 but its operational status varies.

Note also that overtime counts toward the base while one-off bonuses generally do not; that dependants must be separately registered for medical cover; and that records must be kept for seven years.

Work backwards from the start date. An EOR hire takes three to six weeks; entity formation runs three to six months.

Configure the MMK 300,000 cap before the rate, not after, that single setting prevents the most common error in Myanmar payroll.

Verify the current minimum wage, diarise all four 30-day windows, file by the 15th each month, and retain records for seven years.