Expatries Network
Country profile

Local payroll and social security compliance in Moldova

The network covers Moldova within the Eastern Europe region. Payslips there are drawn up in MDL, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in Romanian.

The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are Chisinau, Bălți, Tiraspol, Comrat.

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.

Region
Eastern Europe
Payroll currency
MDL
Working languages
Romanian
European status
Outside the European Union and the European Economic Area
Capital
Chisinau
Dialling code
+373
Country code
MD / MDA

Who may run payroll in Moldova

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 Moldova, 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.

Consult the official register

What to check on the ground

La loi n°287/2017 sur la comptabilité et le reporting financier autorise expressément une entité à externaliser sa comptabilité auprès d'une société spécialisée ou d'un professionnel : aucune licence n'est requise pour tenir la comptabilité ou la paie d'un tiers. Seul l'audit financier est licencié (loi n°271/2017). Un candidat moldave ne produira donc pas d'attestation ordinale : privilégier les certifications individuelles CAP/CIPA ou ACCA et l'adhésion volontaire à l'ACAP.

Payroll in Moldova in practice

Moldova has taken simplification further than most Eastern European states: social security and health insurance contributions are declared and paid to the Serviciul Fiscal de Stat (SFS, the state tax service) together with income tax, in a single return. The national social insurance house and the health insurance company pay benefits but issue no employer compliance certificate.

The currency is the Moldovan leu and the official language is Romanian, in which contracts and payroll documents are drawn up. The country belongs neither to the European Union nor to the European Economic Area, yet its law moves towards the European model in successive waves; personal data protection was aligned on that model by a statute in force since 23 August 2026.

Accounting and payroll are not closed activities: the law expressly allows an entity to outsource them to a specialist company, with no licence required. Only financial audit is subject to authorisation.

Employing staff in Moldova

A written contract in Romanian, an internal recruitment order, and entry of the employee in the electronic register of employees that replaced the paper work book: Moldovan hiring rests on three documents whose existence and mutual consistency should be checked.

The employer, by contrast, has no separate affiliation step with any social body.

Registration of the entity goes through the Agenția Servicii Publice, which allocates a state identification number that also serves as the fiscal code: one reference used by every administration. The old paper registration certificate is no longer issued and only the state register extract has evidential value.

For running payroll, the employer withholds income tax and the employee share of contributions, pays the employer share, and files a single monthly return covering the whole. Ask what form the statement given to the employee takes and how it is retained.

Two matters call for an explicit decision before hiring: the tax regime that applies if the activity falls within the information technology park, where a single levy replaces ordinary payroll taxation, and the treatment of employees located on the left bank of the Dniester, where the Moldovan administration exercises no effective control.

Termination, finally, follows an exhaustive list of statutory grounds.

Moldova

The documents required of a partner in Moldova

The network asks 5 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Moldova, each with its exact wording in use locally and the body that issues it.

Of these 5 documents, 4 are required of every applicant and 3 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 3 months.

Local wordingIssuing bodyValiditySource
Extras din Registrul de stat al persoanelor juridiceExtract from the State Register of Legal Entities

L'extrait porte l'IDNO, la dénomination, le siège, les administrateurs et les associés ; il remplace depuis 2017 l'ancien « certificat de înregistrare » sur support papier.

Agenția Servicii Publice (ASP) — Departamentul înregistrare și licențiere a unităților de drept3 months
Required
Official website
IDNO — numărul de identificare de stat, care serveşte drept cod fiscalState identification number, used as the fiscal code

En Moldavie l'IDNO attribué à l'immatriculation tient lieu de code fiscal : il n'existe pas de numéro fiscal distinct. Un assujetti à la TVA détient en plus un « certificat de înregistrare ca plătitor de TVA ».

Agenția Servicii Publice (ASP), utilisé par le Serviciul Fiscal de StatNo expiry
Required
Official website
Certificat privind lipsa sau existența restanțelor față de bugetul public naționalCertificate on the absence or existence of arrears to the national public budget

C'est LA pièce de régularité moldave, et elle est globale : le budget public national englobant le budget de la sécurité sociale (BASS) et le fonds d'assurance maladie (FAOAM), ce certificat couvre aussi les cotisations sociales.

Serviciul Fiscal de Stat (SFS)3 months
Required
Official website
Poliță de asigurare de răspundere civilă profesionalăProfessional indemnity insurance policy

L'assurance RC professionnelle n'est obligatoire en Moldavie que pour les entités d'audit (loi n°271/2017) ; pour un prestataire de comptabilité ou de paie elle relève de l'usage.

Assureur agréé par la Banca Națională a Moldovei (superviseur du marché des assurances depuis 2023)12 months
Where applicable
Official website
Buletin de identitate sau pașaport al administratoruluiIdentity card or passport of the managing director

L'administrateur est nommé sur l'extrait du registre d'État, ce qui permet de recouper directement la pièce d'identité produite.

Agenția Servicii Publice (ASP)No expiry
Required
Official website

What sets Moldova apart

The information technology park is an optional regime in which a single turnover-based levy replaces most taxes and contributions attached to the wage bill. The same role can therefore cost very differently depending on the employer's status, and the shape of the payslip changes with it.

Chisinau and Tiraspol are in practice administered separately, and documents issued on the left bank cannot be treated as Moldovan instruments.

Registration of data files with the national authority was abolished and replaced by an internal assessment. No acknowledgement of filing can therefore be required, since the new statute did not reinstate a register; the processor nevertheless remains fully accountable for what it does with payroll data, and we expect that accountability to be documented contractually rather than assumed from a certificate that merely looks compliant.

Points to watch in Moldova

Point clé : ne pas réclamer d'attestation sociale séparée. En Moldavie les cotisations sociales (BASS) et d'assurance maladie (FAOAM) sont déclarées et payées au Serviciul Fiscal de Stat avec l'impôt sur le revenu, via la déclaration IPC18 ; la CNAS et la CNAM gèrent les prestations mais ne délivrent pas d'attestation de régularité employeur. Le certificat SFS d'absence d'arriérés envers le budget public national couvre l'ensemble. Deuxième piège : depuis le 10 janvier 2022 l'enregistrement des fichiers de données personnelles auprès du Centre national pour la protection des données à caractère personnel a été SUPPRIMÉ et remplacé par une analyse d'impact interne — aucun récépissé ne peut donc être exigé ; la nouvelle loi n°195 sur la protection des données à caractère personnel, alignée sur le RGPD, est entrée en vigueur le 23 août 2026 et n'a pas rétabli de registre. Troisième point : l'ancien « certificat de înregistrare » papier n'est plus délivré depuis 2017, seul l'extrait du registre d'État fait foi.

The network in Moldova

The network opens 3 partner slots in Moldova, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.

Listed firms in Moldova

No listed partner in Moldova 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.

You run payroll in Moldova

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.

A Moldovan application is judged on documents rather than titles, the profession having no governing body. We ask for the extract from the state register of legal persons, which carries the identification number used as the fiscal code, the SFS certificate confirming the absence of arrears towards the national public budget, and the administrator's identity document. Individual qualifications such as CAP/CIPA or ACCA, voluntary membership of the professional association of accountants and auditors, and professional indemnity cover are the best available indicators of a serious practice.

Submit an application

You employ staff in Moldova

Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Moldova 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 Moldova

The other countries in the Eastern Europe region

Mobility is rarely arranged one country at a time. The neighbouring profiles follow the same outline.

The twenty leading countries of the network

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.

See the 120 countries of the network

Sources of this profile

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 Moldova.