Which pension rate applies to the September 2026 wage?

19.9 %. The new rate applies from the July 2026 wage; for wages up to and including June 2026 the rate is 18.8 %. At the same time the unemployment rate fell from 1.2 % to 0.1 %, so the total stays 28 %.

What is the lowest contribution base in 2026?

34,570.00 denars per month, which is 50 % of the average gross salary of 69,141 denars applying to calculations in 2026.

Is the lowest base reduced for half-time work?

No. Article 15, paragraph 1 of the Law on Contributions exempts from the floor only a defined set of bases, and the salary for part-time work is not among them, so the full 34,570.00 denars applies there too.

What is the difference between the minimum wage and the lowest base?

The minimum wage is a floor on what is paid to the employee — 38,507 denars gross from the March 2026 wage. The lowest base is a floor on the amount contributions are calculated from — 34,570.00 denars. Both apply at the same time and they are not the same.

What is the highest base?

1,106,256.00 denars per month for employees, or 829,692.00 denars for the self-employed, for 2026.

Payroll contributions: rates, the lowest and the highest base

The figures are for 2026 · last checked 15.09.2026

Contributions are calculated from the gross salary at a total rate of 28 %, but not from any amount at all: the law sets a floor and a ceiling on the base, and both are tied to the average salary published in January and valid for the whole year. This page gives the values for 2026, the source of each of them, and the answer to the question that is most often missed — what happens with part-time work.

Figures

Total contribution rate: 28 %
Pension and disability insurance (PIOM) — from the July 2026 wage: 19,9 %
Pension and disability insurance (PIOM) — up to the June 2026 wageThe previous rate; given for calculations made in arrears.: 18,8 %
Health insurance (FZOM): 7,5 %
Unemployment insurance — from the July 2026 wage: 0,1 %
Unemployment insurance — up to the June 2026 wageThe previous rate; given for calculations made in arrears.: 1,2 %
Supplementary health insurance: 0,5 %
Average gross salary applying to calculations in 2026Published in January 2026 and applies to calculations from January to December 2026.: 69.141 ден.
Lowest monthly base (50 % of the average): 34.570,00 ден.
Highest monthly base (16 × the average): 1.106.256,00 ден.
Highest monthly base for the self-employed (12 ×): 829.692,00 ден.

What contributions are calculated from

The base for contributions is the employee's gross salary. Four contributions are calculated from it — pension and disability insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance and supplementary health insurance — at a total rate of 28 %.

Contributions are separate from personal income tax. The tax is calculated at a rate of 10 % and has its own personal allowance; contributions have no allowance, but a floor and a ceiling on the base.

The rates changed from the July 2026 wage

Under the amendments to the Law on Contributions published in „Службен весник на РСМ" no. 148 of 6 July 2026, the rate for pension and disability insurance rose from 18.8 % to 19.9 %, and the rate for unemployment insurance fell from 1.2 % to 0.1 %. The change applies to the period July to December 2026.

The total rate stays 28 %, which is exactly why the change is easy to miss. Calculations for wages up to and including June 2026 use the old rates; from the July 2026 wage they use the new ones.

The lowest base is not the minimum wage

These are two different things, with different figures and different rules, and confusing them is the most common error in a calculation.

The minimum wage is a floor on the wage — the lowest amount an employer may pay an employee. The lowest base is a floor on the base — the lowest amount contributions may be calculated from, regardless of what the salary is.

For 2026 they are not equal: the minimum gross wage, from the March 2026 wage onward, is 38,507 denars, and the lowest monthly contribution base is 34,570.00 denars.

Part-time work: the floor is not divided

This is the part most often missed, and the answer follows not from practice but from the text of the law.

For part-time work the base is the salary for the hours worked — Article 14, paragraph 1, item 2 of the Law on Contributions from Compulsory Social Insurance. The exemption from the 50 % floor in Article 15, paragraph 1 covers only the bases in items 3 and 5 to 13 of Article 14, paragraph 1. Item 2 is not among them.

That means the floor is not reduced in proportion to the hours. For an employee on half time with a gross salary of 19,253 denars, contributions are calculated from 34,570.00 denars, not from 19,253.

The highest base

For employees and for members of the company's governing bodies the ceiling is 16 times the average salary, that is 1,106,256.00 denars per month for 2026.

For the self-employed the ceiling is 12 times the average salary — 829,692.00 denars. For a self-employed person carrying on an independent professional activity the floor is not 50 % but 100 % of the average salary.

When the figures change

The average salary that sets both the floor and the ceiling is published in January and applies to calculations from January to December of the same year. The Public Revenue Office (УЈП) published the 2026 values on 22 January 2026.

The figures on this page are for 2026. Before applying them to a calculation for another year, compare them against the current УЈП announcement linked below.

Common questions

Which pension rate applies to the September 2026 wage?: 19.9 %. The new rate applies from the July 2026 wage; for wages up to and including June 2026 the rate is 18.8 %. At the same time the unemployment rate fell from 1.2 % to 0.1 %, so the total stays 28 %.
What is the lowest contribution base in 2026?: 34,570.00 denars per month, which is 50 % of the average gross salary of 69,141 denars applying to calculations in 2026.
Is the lowest base reduced for half-time work?: No. Article 15, paragraph 1 of the Law on Contributions exempts from the floor only a defined set of bases, and the salary for part-time work is not among them, so the full 34,570.00 denars applies there too.
What is the difference between the minimum wage and the lowest base?: The minimum wage is a floor on what is paid to the employee — 38,507 denars gross from the March 2026 wage. The lowest base is a floor on the amount contributions are calculated from — 34,570.00 denars. Both apply at the same time and they are not the same.
What is the highest base?: 1,106,256.00 denars per month for employees, or 829,692.00 denars for the self-employed, for 2026.

How Stozher does it

Stozher keeps the lowest and the highest base as versions with an effective date, so a new annual value is entered as a new version rather than changing a calculation that has already been posted.

When both values are entered, the payroll calculation clamps the base between them automatically.

Related guides

Minimum wage: the amount, and the wage it applies from

Sources

Stozher does not give tax or legal advice. This page states what the rule says and names the source; for a particular case the regulations and УЈП’s announcements are authoritative.