Employer social insurance and payroll tax in Syria — 2026 rates

Published 25 August 2026 · rates verified August 2026 · by WorkLink, operator of the employer-of-record service for Syria

Global payroll references either skip Syria or copy each other's guesses. This page is different: it is published by the team that actually runs Syrian payroll every month, and every rate on it is re-verified against counsel quarterly. If a rate changes, this page changes — and the date stamp with it.

The rates at a glance

The ceiling is the rule everyone misses

Both social insurance contributions are calculated on the insurable salary, and the insurable salary is capped at SYP 240,000 per month — about USD 1,644 at the reference rate. Below the ceiling, contributions are proportional. Above it, they are flat: the employer pays roughly USD 278 a month whether the salary is USD 2,000 or USD 10,000.

The practical consequence for a foreign employer: the statutory burden of a senior hire is, in absolute terms, the same as a mid-level one. Syrian payroll gets proportionally cheaper as salaries rise — the opposite of most European systems.

Net-to-gross: how an agreed net salary becomes a gross

Most missions into Syria are agreed on a net salary — what the employee actually receives. The employer then grosses up so that after the 15% payroll tax and the 7.1% employee contribution, the agreed net remains. Below the ceiling both deductions are proportional, so net = gross × 0.779. Above the ceiling the employee contribution is a flat amount, so only the tax scales with the salary.

Worked example — gross USD 2,000 per month

Note both contributions hit the cap here: a USD 2,000 gross is already above the USD 1,644 ceiling, so the social insurance lines would be identical for a USD 5,000 salary. Three more examples, either side of the ceiling, are in what it costs to employ someone in Syria.

Declaration and payment

The employer registers each employee with the social insurance authority and the payroll tax file at the start of employment, then calculates, declares and pays both the contributions and the withheld tax on the statutory calendar — and deregisters the employee when the employment ends. Registration timing matters: it is the governing step in putting someone on payroll in Syria, and its duration is set by the authorities.