Moldova: A Guideline to Payroll and Employer of Record

Establish your presence globally with Neeyamo as we help you go beyond borders to manage your international payroll and hire new talent in Moldova.

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Overview

An Eastern European country, Moldova, though intensely beautiful, only sees a little over 145,000 visitors a year, making it one of Europe’s least visited countries. Over the years, whilst focusing on the development of the country and aiming for a tourism boost, Moldova, which was once the least visited European country, has climbed its way up slowly, making it the third least visited. Similar to the country, the workforce within the country is also constantly boosting and developing their skills. 

Do your organization's expansion plans require hiring employees in Moldova? Do you lack a physical entity in the country – a key requisite to hire local talent? Neeyamo – one of the top Global payroll providers, assists organizations worldwide with onboarding and managing employees in Moldova- processing payroll and tax services, providing business payroll software, managing local compliance requirements, benefits, and more.

Tools And Instances

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Global Payroll

Neeyamo’s global payroll solution covering 180+ countries

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Global Work

A tech-based EOR solution to manage your extended workforce

Facts And Stats

Capital

Chisinau

Currency

Moldovan Leu

Official Language

Romanian

Fiscal Year

1 January - 31 December

Date Format

DD/MM/YYYY

Country Calling Code

373

Time Zone

UTC +03:00

Global Payroll

Overview

What is Global Payroll?

Handling payroll for a widespread workforce can pose a significant challenge for any organization, and the added complication of compliance can make things worse. If companies spend more time processing payroll, it directly impacts day-to-day operations and their overall productivity. The solution to this is to outsource payroll services using an outsourced payroll provider such as Neeyamo.

What is a payroll system?

Over the years, Neeyamo, an International Payroll Provider, has observed these complexities and strived to provide global payroll solutions through a single technology platform – Neeyamo Payroll. Neeyamos global payroll systems ease the process for companies looking to outsource their global payroll requirements and aid them in maneuvering the tricky payroll system in Moldova. Neeyamos payroll software provides the perfect solution for all your global payroll needs – for employees working in primary geographies, the long-tail region, remote or internationally located.

How is payroll calculated?

Neeyamo acts as your personalized Payroll Calculator. Ensuring adherence to local regulatory requirements using multi-level controls. Providing timely and accurate payroll, courtesy of our experts worldwide and using a tech-based integrated smart helpdesk solution with seamless support experience manned by payroll experts - Neeyamo has all your payroll needs covered.

Payroll Taxes

Payroll tax is the percentage amount retained from an employee's salary and paid to the government to invest in the general population's welfare. These are statutory in nature and are levied from both the employer and employee. Additional statutory contributions are made by employers towards aiding both short-term and long-term benefits for their employees.

Employee Taxes

Employee Contributions 

  • Social Security Contributions - 6%
  • Health Insurance - 4.5% 

Income tax in Moldova is fixed at 12.00%

Tax deduction allowances include:

  • Personal allowance - 27,000 MDL
  • Major personal allowance - 31,500 MDL
  • Spouse’s major allowance - 19,800 MDL
  • Allowances for dependent - 9,000 MDL

Employer Taxes

  • Social Security Contributions - 18%
  • Health Insurance - 4.5%

Payroll Cycle

Overview

Undoubtedly, payroll is a critical process for any organization. The pay cycle in Moldova refers to the period for which an organization pays its employees, and this can vary depending on the pay frequency that the organization chooses to adopt.

Frequency

Moldova employees expect to be paid monthly on the 25th of each month.

13th Month Cycle

In Moldova, 13th month pay is not mandatory.

Global Work

Overview

An Employer of Record (EOR) service provider helps you eliminate the hassle of handling complexities while onboarding a new employee in an international location. They help bridge the gap that otherwise mandates organizations to have a local registered entity and a local bank account, prior to making a job offer to an international hire.

 An EOR service provider acts as a legal employer, facilitates salary payments, and manages other statutory requirements such as health insurance, payroll taxes, and employee benefits, ensuring compliance with local tax laws and regulations. 

This allows organizations to focus on collaborating with the employee in Moldova for operational tasks, with the knowledge that they have a cost-effective solution to support their global payroll & HR requirements, as they continue their global expansion. 

Neeyamo, a global payroll provider using its Cloud-based Payroll system and HR system, strives to provide its customers with a seamless employee management experience and offers global payroll compliance and EOR aspects with our Global Payroll Technology Stack.

HR Mandates and Practices

Minimum Wage

The minimum wage in Moldova is calculated monthly, and the current minimum wage in Moldova is MDL 4,000 per month.

Effective January 1, 2024. The changes are:

  • Monthly minimum wage: Increased to 5,000 Moldovan lei from 4,000 lei, applicable for a full work schedule of an average of 169 hours per month.
  • Hourly minimum wage: Set at 29.58 lei.

Overtime

The overtime working hours are limited to 120 hours in a year, which can be increased to 240 hours by mutual agreement between employer and employee.

A few categories of people are exempted from working overtime, specified under Article 105 of the Code. The payment for overtime work gets calculated at an hourly base wage rate. Overtime payment calculation is as follows:

  • Two hours of overtime - Extra 150% of the hourly rate
  • Above two hours of overtime - Extra 200% of the hourly rate

Data Retention Policy

The controller and processor must ensure that the data is kept in a form that permits the identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data was collected or for which it is further processed. When the processing has finished, and there is no consent of the data subject for further data processing, the data must be (Article 11 of the Law on Personal Data):

  • destroyed;
  • transferred to another controller, only if the same purpose of processing applies; and/or
  • transformed into anonymized data for statistical purposes or for the purposes of historical or scientific research

Hiring and Onboarding Requirements

Hiring

You must hire employees using a fixed- or indefinite-term contract to meet Moldova’s employment compliance laws. Fixed-term contracts are allowed but cannot exceed five years. All employment contracts should be in the employee’s local language and must include employment terms, including contract duration, job obligations, place of work, work schedule, and compensation. Offer letters and employment contracts should both include compensation amounts in Moldovan leu instead of another currency.

Onboarding

In Moldova, the following documents are generally required to complete an employee’s onboarding processes

  • Candidate Full Name
  • National Identification Number/CNP
  • Date of Birth
  • Id Number
  • Nationality
  • Address, City and Municipality
  • Email
  • Contact Number
  • Bank Name
  • Bank Account Number
  • Copy of Valid Identification Card
  • Residence Permit

Probation

Probationary periods of up to 3 months, and six months for officials, are allowed and may not be renewed.

Fixed-term contracts may also have probation periods, but they may not exceed 15 calendar days for a contract of between three and six months or 30 calendar days for a term of greater than six months.

Leave

Public Holiday

The following holidays are recognized in Moldova:

  • January 1: New Year's Day
  • January 7: Orthodox Christmas Day

  • January 8: Orthodox Christmas Holiday

  • March 8:  International Women's Day

  • April 24: Orthodox Easter Sunday

  • April 25: Orthodox Easter Monday

  • May 1: Labour Day

  • May 2: Easter of Blajini

  • May 9: Victory Day

  • June 1: Children's Day

  • August 27: Independence Day

  • August 31: National Language Day

  • December 25: Christmas Day 

Annual Leave

Employees are generally entitled to 28 calendar days of paid annual leave, not including public holidays. The vacation may be taken in parts, but at least one part must be of at least 14 calendar days.

Sick Leave

Employees are eligible for paid sick leave if they present a medical certificate. State social insurance pays for sick leave.

Maternity Leave

Women employees in Moldova can avail themselves of maternity leave. Employees are also entitled to partially paid leave for caretakers of children below three years of age. The number of days gets prescribed as follows:

  • Maternity and pre-natal leave - 70 calendar days
  • Postnatal holidays- 56 calendar days (can be extended to 70 days with the approval of the employer)

Paternity Leave

A male employee gets paternity leave of 14 days; such leave should be claimed within 56 days of birth.

Termination

Notice Period

Employees are generally entitled to one month’s notice of dismissal or two months if the business is liquidated or a redundancy.

Employees are also entitled to one day per week to seek new employment.

Severance

Employees are generally eligible for severance pay equal to one week’s wages for every year worked, with a minimum of one month’s wages if they are terminated due to economic reasons.

Employees dismissed for just cause are generally entitled to two weeks of pay.

Visa

Types of Visas

The Republic of Moldova offers the following types of visas to foreign nationals:

  • Moldova Airport Transit Visa (Type A): allows the holder to enter and stay in the international area of a Moldova airport as they wait to catch another flight to a third destination.
  • Moldova Transit Visa (Type B): which is issued to visa-required foreign nationals who will transit through the territory of Moldova on their way to a third destination. It allows the holder to transit through Moldova for a maximum of 5 days.
  • Moldova Tourist Visa (Type C or Short-Stay Visa): which is issued to visa-required foreign nationals, allowing them to enter Moldova for up to 90 days in a 180-day period for tourism, business, visit, cultural and sports events, official missions, and other short-term travel purposes.
  • Moldova Long-Stay Visa (Type D): allows the holder to enter Moldova with the purpose of requesting a residence permit, which allows them to stay for longer than 90 days.

Application Procedure

  1. Foreigners should approach the embassy or diplomatic representative of Moldova at their residence country for an application form.
  2. All the required documents must be submitted with a prescribed fee.
  3. Background checks, such as medical and legal checks, are made by authorities to process the application.
  4. Once approved, the department issues a Visa.

When entering the country for employment, a Work Permit is mandatory with a Visa to enter Moldova.

Employee Background Checks

Legal and Background Checks

 background check refers to validating information of the said personnel or entity for any business purpose. The purpose could be for making a partnership deal or during the hiring process. An effective background check is required to investigate whether an individual is the same as claimed during the hiring process. 

Moldova background verification will basically advise if the individual is who they claim to be; the process covers confirmation of the candidates' criminal record, education, employment history, and any other activities from their past.

Last updated on November 06, 2023

If you have any queries or suggestions, reach out to us at irene.jones@neeyamo.com

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