The network covers Laos within the South-East Asia region. Payslips there are drawn up in LAK, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in Lao.
The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are Vientiane, Savannakhet, Paksé, Luang Prabang.
The country lies outside the European Union and outside the European Economic Area: the A1 certificate has no standing there. Whether the employee remains in the scheme of origin then depends on the bilateral social security agreement, if any, concluded with the sending country; where no such agreement exists, dual affiliation must be expected and budgeted into the assignment.
The answer to this question changes everything: it determines to whom you may entrust your payslips locally, and what you must ask for before signing. It has been verified country by country with the local authorities.
In Laos, running payroll on behalf of third parties is reserved by law to no registered profession: any company may take it on. The absence of a legal barrier shifts the checking onto you, and that is why the network itself verifies the registration, the tax and social security standing and the insurance cover of every firm before listing it.
La paie n'est pas une activité réservée en tant que telle, mais la fourniture de services comptables à des tiers est une activité soumise à licence sectorielle au Laos : l'Enterprise Registration Certificate ne suffit pas, il faut l'autorisation du ministère des Finances. La LCPAA est la chambre professionnelle, placée sous la tutelle du département de la comptabilité.
In Laos, registration and authorisation to practise are two different things. The Enterprise Registration Certificate issued by the department of enterprise registration and management establishes that the company exists; carrying on certain activities, accounting services among them, additionally requires a sectoral licence from the competent ministry. An operator producing only the first document has not evidenced its right to practise.
The currency is the kip and the official language is Lao, written in its own script. Administrative documentation is almost entirely in that language and is difficult to consult online: anything sent to a foreign head office needs certified translation, and an English title reconstructed by a candidate is not evidence of anything.
Social protection rests with the national social security fund, attached to the ministry of labour and social welfare, with which the employer and each employee are registered. The professional chamber of accountants and auditors, supervised by the accounting department of the finance ministry, oversees the profession, although payroll in itself is not a reserved activity.
The national social security fund registers the company and then each of its employees, once the tax registration certificate has been obtained from the tax department.
Two distinct titles must be checked beforehand, one of existence and one of practice: the enterprise registration certificate on one hand, the activity licence on the other. The second is renewable and can expire without affecting the first, which is precisely why files often look complete when they are not.
The employment contract is written in Lao; a bilingual version is common in foreign-invested companies, but the Lao version is the one that will be read in a dispute. Quotas and prior authorisations from the labour ministry also govern the employment of foreign nationals, to be dealt with before any offer is made.
Wage income tax is withheld by the employer and paid on its own calendar, distinct from that of social contributions. Examine the form of the payslip, its language and its retention, together with payment arrangements.
Termination finally calls for the admissible grounds, notice and severance to be checked before any notification is given. Check as well who holds the credentials for the filing platforms and what becomes of that access when an engagement ends, since recovering it later is rarely quick.
The network asks 9 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Laos. The table gives, for each of them, the exact wording in use locally, the body that issues it and the period during which it remains admissible. These are the terms to use in an application to the local administration.
Of these 9 documents, 7 are required of every applicant and 5 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 3 months. 1 of these documents exist only in Laos and have no equivalent in the common core of the network.
| Local wording | Issuing body | Validity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ໃບທະບຽນວິສາຫະກິດ (Enterprise Registration Certificate)Enterprise Registration Certificate (ERC) L'ERC est la pièce fondatrice au Laos : elle porte le nom de l'entreprise, sa forme, son capital, ses représentants et ses activités autorisées. Le portail erm.gov.la permet de rechercher les données et statistiques d'entreprise (« ຄົ້ນຫາຂໍ້ມູນ ແລະ ສະຖິຕິວິສາຫະກິດ ») : s'en servir pour recouper le certificat produit. | ກົມທະບຽນແລະຄຸ້ມຄອງວິສາຫະກິດ — Department of Enterprise Registration and Management, ກະຊວງອຸດສາຫະກຳ ແລະ ການຄ້າ (Ministry of Industry and Commerce) | No expiry Required | Official website |
| ໃບອະນຸຍາດດຳເນີນທຸລະກິດ (Business Operating Licence)Business operating licence Particularité laotienne : l'enregistrement de l'entreprise et l'autorisation d'exercer une activité donnée sont deux étapes distinctes. Un cabinet qui ne produit que l'ERC n'a pas prouvé qu'il est autorisé à vendre des services comptables. | Ministère sectoriel compétent (pour les services comptables : ກະຊວງການເງິນ, Ministère des Finances) | 12 months Required | Official website |
| ໃບທະບຽນອາກອນ (Tax Registration Certificate) — Tax Identification Number (TIN)Tax Registration Certificate / TIN Le certificat d'enregistrement fiscal est délivré après l'ERC et porte le TIN. | ກົມສ່ວຍສາອາກອນ — Tax Department, ກະຊວງການເງິນ (Ministry of Finance) | No expiry Required | No online service |
| ໃບຢັ້ງຢືນການປະຕິບັດພັນທະອາກອນ (attestation d'exécution des obligations fiscales)Tax obligation compliance certificate Elle existe en pratique et conditionne notamment le renouvellement annuel des licences et la participation aux marchés publics. Demander au candidat le document tel que délivré par son bureau des impôts, avec sa traduction. | ກົມສ່ວຍສາອາກອນ — Tax Department, Ministry of Finance | 3 months Required | No online service |
| ໃບຢັ້ງຢືນຈາກອົງການປະກັນສັງຄົມແຫ່ງຊາດ (attestation de la Caisse nationale de sécurité sociale)National Social Security Fund registration and contribution certificate Tout employeur laotien doit affilier ses salariés au NSSF. | ອົງການປະກັນສັງຄົມແຫ່ງຊາດ — National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Ministère du Travail et de la Protection sociale | 3 months Required | No online service |
| ປະກັນໄພຄວາມຮັບຜິດຊອບທາງວິຊາຊີບ (assurance de responsabilité professionnelle)Professional indemnity insurance Aucune obligation légale générale identifiée. Le marché de l'assurance de responsabilité professionnelle est étroit au Laos : accepter, le cas échéant, une couverture souscrite par un groupe régional couvrant l'entité laotienne, mais vérifier que le Laos figure bien dans le périmètre territorial de la police. | Assureur agréé au Laos (supervision : Ministère des Finances) | 12 months Where applicable | No online service |
| ໃບອະນຸຍາດໃຫ້ບໍລິການດ້ານບັນຊີ + ສະມາຊິກ ສະພາວິຊາຊີບນັກບັນຊີ ແລະ ນັກກວດສອບ (LCPAA)Accounting services licence and LCPAA membership La loi laotienne sur la comptabilité et la loi sur l'audit indépendant confient au Ministère des Finances l'agrément des prestataires de services comptables et à la LCPAA la tenue de la profession. | ກົມບັນຊີ — Accounting Department, Ministère des Finances ; Lao Chamber of Professional Accountants and Auditors (LCPAA) | 12 months Required | No online service |
| ບັດປະຈຳຕົວ / ໜັງສືຜ່ານແດນ ຂອງຜູ້ອຳນວຍການLegal representative's ID card or passport Le représentant légal est nommément désigné sur l'Enterprise Registration Certificate : recouper l'identité produite avec l'ERC, c'est le contrôle le plus fiable disponible au Laos. | Nom du représentant inscrit sur l'ERC | No expiry Required | Official website |
| ກົດໝາຍວ່າດ້ວຍການປົກປ້ອງຂໍ້ມູນເອເລັກໂຕຣນິກ (Law on Electronic Data Protection)Compliance with the Law on Electronic Data Protection Le Laos dispose d'une loi sur la protection des données électroniques, plus étroite qu'un régime de type RGPD. S'en tenir au contrat de sous-traitance du réseau. | Ministère de la Technologie et des Communications | No expiry Where applicable | No online service |
The split between registration and licensing is the most structurally significant point. It changes the nature of the review to be carried out on a local provider, since two titles must be verified rather than one, and one of them is periodic and may have lapsed with nothing to signal it.
Information, next, is hard to reach. Only one administrative portal is genuinely usable from abroad, that of the enterprise register; the tax and social administrations cannot be consulted remotely, which requires verification by direct exchange and lengthens the time needed to assess a file.
With no authoritative English version, certified translation is finally the only way to know what a document actually says. Accepting an English title supplied by the candidate amounts to relying on their own reading of it, and assessment times lengthen accordingly.
Trois pièges. 1) Au Laos, immatriculation et autorisation d'exercer sont dissociées : réclamer systématiquement les deux (ERC + licence sectorielle). 2) La documentation officielle est presque intégralement en lao et peu accessible en ligne — prévoir une traduction certifiée de chaque pièce et ne pas se contenter d'un intitulé anglais réécrit par le candidat.
The network opens 3 partner slots in Laos, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.
No listed partner in Laos has asked to appear in the public directory. The contact details of a firm are passed on to the client only when an assignment is awarded.
Filing an application does not amount to admission: every request is reviewed one by one. There is no minimum turnover requirement, and the partner selected invoices its fees directly.
Submit an application: we review your file, we check the documents required on the ground and we give you an answer, whether it is positive or not.
In Laos registration alone is not enough: we ask for the Enterprise Registration Certificate and the practice licence issued by the Ministry of Finance for accounting services, the latter in current validity. To these are added the tax registration certificate, the certificate of fulfilment of tax obligations and the national social security fund attestation. Membership of the professional chamber of accountants and auditors counts in the applicant's favour. Every document must come with a certified translation, since assessment rests entirely on what is produced.
Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Laos yet: we review the request, then entrust it to a local firm that the network identifies and vets, or to the partner of a neighbouring country covering this territory. Your contact details are passed on to the selected firm alone.
Request a provider in LaosMobility is rarely arranged one country at a time. The neighbouring profiles follow the same outline.
These countries account for most of the requests received: each one has, in addition to its profile, six pages devoted to a single aspect of local payroll.
The information gathered on this page comes from the registers, administrations and bodies listed below, consulted when the reference base was compiled. It is given for guidance and does not replace the advice of a professional established in Laos.