Payroll in Slovakia 2026: contributions, income tax and payslips

In Slovakia the employer withholds 9.4% social insurance, 5% health insurance and a monthly income tax advance (19% in most cases) from each salary. On top, the employer pays 25.2% to the Social Insurance Agency and 11% to the employee's health insurer, about 36% of gross pay, mostly due on the payday itself.

Payroll in Slovakia at a glance

Social security contributions

Social insurance (sociálne poistenie) is paid to the Sociálna poisťovňa, health insurance (zdravotné poistenie) to the health insurer the employee has chosen. The 2026 rates on gross pay are:

Unemployment insurance. An employer that pays the 0.5% contribution to finance short-time work support pays 0.5% unemployment insurance; one that does not pays 1%. Either way the two together come to 1%.

Ceiling. In 2026 the maximum monthly assessment base for sickness, pension, unemployment and guarantee insurance and the reserve fund is €16,764, so the most an employee pays in social insurance is €1,575.81 a month and an employer €4,090.41 plus accident insurance, which has no ceiling. Social insurance has no minimum base for employees; health insurance is due on at least the subsistence minimum of €284.13 a month in 2026.

What changed. From 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027 the employee's health insurance rate rises from 4% to 5% (2.5% for employees with a disability); the new rate first applies to January 2026 pay paid out in February. The employer's 11% is the same as in 2025. Employers also no longer send pension insurance record sheets (ELDP) for periods from 2026; the data now comes from the monthly reports.

Rounding: the assessment base and each social insurance contribution are rounded down to the euro cent.

Income tax on salaries

The employer deducts a monthly tax advance (preddavok na daň) from the taxable wage: gross pay minus the employee's social and health insurance, minus the monthly non-taxable amount of €497.23 if the employee has signed the tax declaration (vyhlásenie) with that employer.

The bands are set as multiples of the subsistence minimum (154.8, 212.4 and 264 times), and each rate applies only to the part of the base in its band. The advance is reduced by any child tax bonus: €100 a month for a child under 15 and €50 for a child aged 15 to 18 in 2026, capped as a percentage of the tax base.

Non-taxable amount. For the year the non-taxable part of the tax base per taxpayer (nezdaniteľná časť) is €5,966.73 if the tax base is up to €26,083.13. Above that it is €14,661.11 minus one third of the tax base, and nil once that result is negative.

Annual reconciliation. An employee with only employment income can ask the employer by 15 February 2027 to carry out the annual reconciliation (ročné zúčtovanie) for 2026, which the employer completes by 31 March 2027; otherwise an employee whose taxable income exceeded €2,983.37 files a type A return by 31 March 2027.

Minimum wage, working time and mandatory pay

Minimum wage. For 2026 the minimum wage is €915 a month for employees paid a monthly wage and €5.259 an hour (announcement No. 245/2025 Coll.), up from €816 and €4.690 in 2025. Part-time employees receive the monthly amount in proportion to the hours worked. If pay falls short, the employer pays a top-up to the minimum wage, and the statutory overtime, night, weekend and holiday supplements are paid on top.

Overtime. Overtime is paid at the employee's earned wage plus a supplement of at least 25% of average earnings, 35% for risky work, unless the employee takes time off in lieu by agreement.

Thirteenth salary. Slovak law does not require a 13th or 14th salary.

Monthly payroll calendar and filings

1. 1Register with the Sociálna poisťovňa branch as an employer at the latest on the day before the first employee starts, and register each employee before they start work. Register as a payer with each health insurer that insures at least one of your employees within 8 working days and report new and departing employees electronically within 8 working days. Register with the tax office as a withholding agent (platiteľ dane) by the end of the month after the month in which you first had to withhold tax.
2. 2Pay social insurance by the payday set for the wages; without a fixed payday it is due on the last day of the following month. Send the monthly contribution statement (výkaz poistného) to the Sociálna poisťovňa by the same date.
3. 3Pay the health insurance advances on the payday and send the monthly report to each health insurer within 3 days of that due date.
4. 4Pay the income tax advances, less any child bonus paid, within 5 days of paying the wages.
5. 5File the monthly tax overview (prehľad) with the tax office by the end of the following month.
6. 6After the year: carry out the annual reconciliation by 31 March 2027 and file the annual report (hlásenie) on 2026 pay by 30 April 2027.

Worked example: €2,000 a month

A single employee without children earns €2,000 gross a month (€24,000 a year, so the full non-taxable amount applies) and has signed the tax declaration. The employer pays the short-time work support contribution.

The employer's €504.00 breaks down as sickness €28, old-age €280, disability €60, unemployment €10, short-time work support €10, guarantee €5, accident €16 and reserve fund €95.

Common mistakes

1. 1Using the 2025 health rate: from January 2026 pay the employee's health insurance is 5%, not 4%.
2. 2Applying the non-taxable amount without a signed declaration, or with two employers at once.
3. 3Taxing gross pay: the tax base is pay after the employee's social and health insurance.
4. 4Paying contributions after the payday: social and health contributions fall due on the day wages are paid.
5. 5Capping accident insurance or health insurance: only the other social insurance funds stop at €16,764.
6. 6Missing the 5-day deadline for tax advances or the end-of-month deadline for the tax overview.
7. 7Paying below €915 in 2026, or forgetting the overtime supplement of at least 25%.

How Clientlly helps

Clientlly does not ship a built-in payroll profile for Slovakia. An administrator enters the Slovak payroll rates once in the payroll tax settings: the income-tax bands, the personal allowance, the employee and employer contribution rates and the minimum wage. Clientlly then calculates gross to net and the employer contributions and produces payslips. Check the Slovak specifics for each employee: the signed tax declaration, the child bonus, the reduced rates for people with a disability and the monthly social insurance ceiling.

Alongside payroll, the human resources module handles leave requests and approvals with a leave calendar and keeps HR documents, and attendance and time tracking records working hours and overtime.