Country guide · 9 min read · Updated October 2026
Payroll in Morocco: the month, the calendar and a salary worked through
How a payroll month runs in Morocco: the deadlines, contributions one by one, a salary worked through to net pay and employer cost, income tax, overtime, the year's holidays, and how your people there can be paid every month now.
How does payroll work in Morocco?
Salaried employees are paid at least once a month, in dirhams. Each month the employer pays CNSS contributions: 6.40% for family allowances on all pay, and 1.05% and 7.93% on pay up to MAD 6,000. The employee pays 0.52% and 3.96% on the same pay. Each side also pays 2.26% into the AMO, the health insurance scheme. Income tax runs from 0% to 37% across six bands. Payroll opens in Morocco when a client needs it.
Know the month's deadlines
Five deadlines shape a payroll in Morocco. Each one is the employer's to meet.
| Deadline | What is due |
|---|---|
| At least once a month | Wages for salaried employees. Workers are paid in at least two payments a month, no more than 16 days apart |
| Each month, on the dates the CNSS sets | The month's CNSS and AMO contributions and the vocational training tax, every share, with a declaration of each employee's pay |
| Within the month after the wages are paid | The income tax withheld from them, to the tax administration |
| Before the 1st of March | The year's declaration of salaries, with each employee's pay and tax for the year before |
| When employment ends | Final pay for staff paid by the hour or the day: within 24 hours of a dismissal, or 72 hours when they leave of their own accord |
CNSS contributions paid late carry an increase of 3% for the first month. Each month or part month after it adds 0.5%.
Work out contributions one by one
The CNSS collects every contribution on pay: social security in three branches, health insurance through the AMO, and the vocational training tax. Only short-term benefits and the pension stop at a monthly ceiling.
| Contribution | Employer | Employee | The pay it is worked out on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family allowances | 6.40% | Nothing | All of it |
| Short-term benefits, including cover for loss of employment | 1.05% | 0.52% | Up to MAD 6,000 a month |
| Pension | 7.93% | 3.96% | Up to MAD 6,000 a month |
| AMO health insurance | 2.26% | 2.26% | All of it |
| AMO, the employer's own contribution | 1.85% | Nothing | All of it |
| Vocational training tax | 1.6% | Nothing | All of it |
| Together, on pay up to the ceiling | 21.09% | 6.74% |
Contributions are worked out on all pay, allowances, bonuses and benefits in kind included. Some allowances, repayments of expenses the job required, and pay for ending employment are left out, on conditions and up to limits a regulation sets.
The employer deducts the employee's share each time wages are paid, and pays every share to the CNSS. The law covers salaried employees with no condition of nationality.
Follow one salary through the month
Take a salary of MAD 10,000 a month, all of it taxable, for an employee with two dependants. Here is the same salary for a Moroccan national and for an expatriate.
| A Moroccan national | An expatriate | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | MAD 10,000 | MAD 10,000 |
| CNSS, from the employee, on the first MAD 6,000 | MAD 268.80 | MAD 268.80 |
| AMO, from the employee | MAD 226 | MAD 226 |
| Income tax | MAD 501.56 | MAD 501.56 |
| Net pay | MAD 9,003.64 | MAD 9,003.64 |
| CNSS, from the employer | MAD 1,178.80 | MAD 1,178.80 |
| AMO, from the employer, both contributions | MAD 411 | MAD 411 |
| Vocational training tax | MAD 160 | MAD 160 |
| The employer's cost for the month | MAD 11,749.80 | MAD 11,749.80 |
The two columns match, because the CNSS, the AMO and income tax apply to both in the same way. The next section works the income tax through.
Work out income tax band by band
Income tax starts from gross taxable pay: gross pay, less the allowances the law exempts. The costs of the job come off it at 35%, where the year's gross taxable pay is up to MAD 78,000. Above that, they come off at 25%, up to MAD 35,000 a year. The employee's own CNSS and AMO contributions come off too. What is left is net taxable income.
| Net taxable income a year | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to MAD 40,000 | 0% |
| From MAD 40,000 to MAD 60,000 | 10% |
| From MAD 60,000 to MAD 80,000 | 20% |
| From MAD 80,000 to MAD 100,000 | 30% |
| From MAD 100,000 to MAD 180,000 | 34% |
| Above MAD 180,000 | 37% |
These bands apply to income from 1 January 2025. The tax they give is then reduced by MAD 600 a year for each dependant, up to MAD 3,600.
Here is the year's income tax on that salary of MAD 10,000 a month, with two dependants.
| For the year | |
|---|---|
| Gross taxable pay | MAD 120,000 |
| Less the costs of the job, at 25% | MAD 30,000 |
| Less the employee's CNSS | MAD 3,225.60 |
| Less the employee's AMO | MAD 2,712 |
| Net taxable income | MAD 84,062.40 |
| 0% on the first MAD 40,000 | Nothing |
| 10% on the MAD 20,000 from MAD 40,000 to MAD 60,000 | MAD 2,000 |
| 20% on the MAD 20,000 from MAD 60,000 to MAD 80,000 | MAD 4,000 |
| 30% on the MAD 4,062.40 from MAD 80,000 to MAD 84,062.40 | MAD 1,218.72 |
| Tax before the family reduction | MAD 7,218.72 |
| Less MAD 600 for each of two dependants | MAD 1,200 |
| The year's tax | MAD 6,018.72 |
| Withheld each month | MAD 501.56 |
The employer withholds the tax from each payment of wages. It pays the month's tax to the tax administration within the month after.
Pay overtime at the right rate
| Outside agriculture | What it earns |
|---|---|
| Overtime from 6:00 to 21:00 | The hour's wage, plus 25% |
| Overtime from 21:00 to 6:00 | The hour's wage, plus 50% |
| Overtime on the weekly rest day, from 6:00 to 21:00 | The hour's wage, plus 50%, even where a rest day is given in its place |
| Overtime on the weekly rest day, from 21:00 to 6:00 | The hour's wage, plus 100%, even where a rest day is given in its place |
| Work on a paid holiday, where the law allows it | The wage for the work, plus an equal amount on top. By agreement, a paid day off can replace the extra amount |
Normal hours outside agriculture are up to 44 a week. They can be spread unevenly across the year, with no more than 10 normal hours in a day.
Overtime is paid in one payment, with the wage it belongs to. It is worked out on the wage and its extras, leaving out family allowances, tips and repayments of expenses.
Mark the year's public holidays
A decree lists the paid holidays. On them, private employers may not have their staff work, except in the cases the Labour Code allows, such as work that must run without a break.
| Holiday | When |
|---|---|
| Independence Manifesto Day | The 11th of January |
| Amazigh New Year | The 14th of January |
| Labour Day | The 1st of May |
| Throne Day | The 30th of July |
| Oued Ed-Dahab Day | The 14th of August |
| Revolution of the King and the People | The 20th of August |
| Youth Day | The 21st of August |
| Unity Day | The 31st of October |
| Green March | The 6th of November |
| Independence Day | The 18th of November |
| Islamic New Year | The 1st of Muharram |
| The Prophet's Birthday | In Rabi al-Awwal |
| Eid al-Fitr | In Shawwal |
| Eid al-Adha | In Dhu al-Hijjah |
The Islamic holidays follow the moon, so their dates move each year. New Year's Day, the 1st of January, is a holiday in public administrations. It is not on the private employers' list.
Monthly-paid staff lose no pay for a holiday. Staff paid by the hour or the day are paid for it as if they had worked, where they worked the day before it or 13 days in the month before it.
Keep pay above the floor, and in dirhams
| The rule | |
|---|---|
| Minimum wage | MAD 17.92 an hour outside agriculture, from 1 January 2026. MAD 97.44 a day in agriculture, from 1 April 2026 |
| Currency | Wages are paid in Moroccan currency, whatever the contract says |
| When wages are paid | Salaried employees at least once a month. Workers in at least two payments a month, no more than 16 days apart. Not on the employee's rest day, with a narrow exception for building and public works |
| Seniority bonus | A share added to pay as service grows: 5% after 2 years, 10% after 5, 15% after 12, 20% after 20 and 25% after 25 |
| Thirteenth month | Not required by the Labour Code. It is owed only where a contract, a collective agreement or custom sets it |
| Unused annual leave | Paid when the contract ends, for leave built up and not taken |
See what is changing
| When | What changes |
|---|---|
| 1 January 2026 | The family reduction is MAD 600 a year for each dependant, up to MAD 3,600 |
| 1 January 2026 | The minimum wage outside agriculture is MAD 17.92 an hour |
| February 2026 | Unity Day, the 31st of October, is a paid holiday |
| 1 April 2026 | The minimum wage in agriculture is MAD 97.44 a day |
| 16 July 2026 | Guards employed by security companies are paid for their hours at work as working time, not as attendance hours. A security company has nine months to bring in line the contracts that arise from service contracts it signed before this date |
Payroll opens in Morocco when a client needs it
Payroll opens in Morocco when a client needs it.
When it opens, it will work as our payroll does in the Gulf and Egypt, from one record. Your entity will submit the files and pay its people.
It will go live only after two months side by side with your current provider, once the numbers match.
Have your people in Morocco paid every month, now
PEO, part of Global Kinect EOR, pays your people in Morocco every month in dirhams, with benefits and compliance handled.
Hiring in Morocco without an entity of your own is Global Kinect EOR.
Common questions.
When are CNSS contributions and income tax due in Morocco?
Do expatriates pay social security in Morocco?
Can Global Kinect run our payroll in Morocco?
Need your people in Morocco paid every month?
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