The network covers Mozambique within the Southern Africa region. Payslips there are drawn up in MZN, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in Portuguese.
The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are Maputo, Matola, Beira, Nampula.
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 Mozambique, running payroll on behalf of third parties is a regulated activity. It is carried on under the title of Contabilista Certificado (CC), and a registration in force must be produced to you before any engagement.
L'OCAM, instituée par la loi n°8/2012 et membre de plein droit de l'IFAC, réserve les titres de contabilista certificado et d'auditor certificado à ses membres (licence en comptabilité, trois ans de stage supervisé, examen final). La tenue de comptabilité et la signature des états financiers d'un tiers relèvent de ce périmètre ; la paie seule est en pratique traitée par les mêmes cabinets, l'INSS et l'AT dialoguant avec le contabilista certificado déclaré.
Employing in Mozambique means accepting that the working language is Portuguese. It is the language of contracts, payslips, filings and labour hearings, and a courtesy translation never removes the need for the Portuguese version. The currency is the metical, a floating national currency with no peg to the euro or the rand.
Social security is run by the Instituto Nacional de Segurança Social (INSS, the national social security institute), which registers both the employer and each employee and operates its own filing platform. Personal income tax is withheld at source by the employer on behalf of the Autoridade Tributária de Moçambique (AT, the revenue authority).
Two features shape market access. First, registration in the commercial register does not amount to authorisation to trade: an alvará, the activity licence, must be added. Second, the accounting profession has been regulated since the creation of the Ordem dos Contabilistas e Auditores de Moçambique (OCAM, the institute of accountants and auditors), which reserves the title of contabilista certificado to its members and deals directly with the INSS and the AT.
Employing non-Mozambican staff is governed by a quota regime tied to headcount, with notifications or authorisations from the labour ministry. This is often the most constraining issue: an assignment is prepared before signature, not afterwards, and the quota position should be checked before an offer is made.
An employer without an alvará is registered but not authorised to trade. A Mozambican company is incorporated before the Conservatória do Registo das Entidades Legais, obtains its NUIT taxpayer number from the revenue authority, and then that activity licence from the competent ministry or municipality.
INSS registration follows, for the company and then for each employee.
Written and drafted in Portuguese, the contract requires a choice between an open-ended and a fixed-term engagement, subject to strict conditions that must be tested against the role actually performed.
Payslip particulars, monthly income tax withholding, electronic contribution returns and the annual reconciliation obligations make up running payroll. Check as well that the staff register is kept and the internal rules displayed, both of which the labour inspectorate examines first.
The cost of termination, finally, varies with length of service and with the ground relied upon, and is anticipated like everything else, role by role rather than as an average.
The network asks 8 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Mozambique. 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 8 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 Mozambique and have no equivalent in the common core of the network.
| Local wording | Issuing body | Validity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certidão de Registo ComercialCommercial registry certificate La certidão est délivrée par la conservatoire des entités légales ; l'entreprise dispose aussi de la publication de ses statuts au Boletim da República, souvent demandée en complément. | Conservatória do Registo das Entidades Legais (CREL) — Ministério da Justiça, Assuntos Constitucionais e Religiosos | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Alvará (licença de actividade)Business operating licence Pièce spécifiquement mozambicaine : le registre commercial ne suffit pas, l'exercice effectif d'une activité de services suppose un alvará délivré pour l'activité et le local déclarés. | Ministério da Indústria e Comércio / autorité municipale du lieu d'établissement | No expiry Required | Official website |
| NUIT — Número Único de Identificação TributáriaUnique taxpayer identification number Le NUIT est attribué à vie, à la société comme aux personnes physiques ; il figure sur toutes les pièces fiscales et sur l'alvará. | Autoridade Tributária de Moçambique (AT) | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Certidão de Quitação (certidão de regularização fiscal)Tax clearance certificate L'AT délivre bien des attestations de quitus fiscal (confirmé par les synthèses fiscales PwC) ; l'intitulé exact varie entre « certidão de quitação » et « certidão de regularização da situação fiscal » selon la direction d'area fiscal, À CONFIRMER auprès de la DAF de rattachement. | Autoridade Tributária de Moçambique (AT) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Certidão de Quitação AutomatizadaAutomated social security clearance certificate Générée par l'employeur depuis la plateforme SISSMO de l'INSS ; c'est la preuve standard que les contributions de sécurité sociale sont à jour. | Instituto Nacional de Segurança Social (INSS) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Apólice / certificado de seguro de responsabilidade civil profissionalProfessional indemnity insurance certificate Pas d'obligation légale générale de RC professionnelle pour les cabinets comptables mozambicains ; vérifier que l'assureur est bien agréé par l'ISSM. | Compagnie d'assurance agréée par l'Instituto de Supervisão de Seguros de Moçambique (ISSM) | 12 months Where applicable | Official website |
| Cédula profissional de Contabilista Certificado (inscrição na OCAM)Certified Accountant professional card (OCAM membership) Créée par la loi n°8/2012, l'OCAM protège les titres de « contabilista certificado (CC) » et « auditor certificado (CA) » : seuls ses membres peuvent les utiliser et signer les comptes d'un tiers. | Ordem dos Contabilistas e Auditores de Moçambique (OCAM) | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Bilhete de Identidade ou passaporte do representante legal, com NUITLegal representative's ID document and taxpayer number Le NUIT personnel du dirigeant est demandé aussi systématiquement que la pièce d'identité elle-même dans les dossiers mozambicains. | Direcção Nacional de Identificação Civil / AT pour le NUIT | No expiry Required | Official website |
The social clearance document has a precise name, certidão de quitação automatizada, and is generated by the employer itself on the INSS electronic platform. A payment slip is no substitute, and a stale certificate says nothing about the current month.
There is, by contrast, no general personal data protection statute. Only certain digital operators register with the information technology regulator; no European-style acknowledgement of filing can therefore be demanded from a payroll firm, and employee protection has to be carried entirely by the processing agreement.
Professional vocabulary holds one last difficulty. The label técnico de contas predates the creation of OCAM, still circulates widely, and on its own evidences no current registration: the cédula profissional is what counts, and a firm still using the older term should be asked to produce it.
Trois pièces sont incontournables au Mozambique et souvent oubliées par les candidats : la certidão de registo comercial, l'alvará (le registre seul ne vaut pas autorisation d'exercer) et le NUIT. L'attestation sociale porte un nom très précis, « Certidão de Quitação Automatizada », générée par l'employeur depuis la plateforme SISSMO de l'INSS : refuser une simple copie de bordereau de paiement. Le Mozambique n'a PAS de loi générale de protection des données personnelles ; seuls les fournisseurs de services électroniques intermédiaires, opérateurs de plateformes numériques, prestataires de cloud et data centers doivent s'enregistrer auprès de l'INTIC — aucun récépissé de type CNIL ne peut donc être exigé d'un cabinet de paie. Attention enfin à l'ancienne appellation « técnico de contas », antérieure à la création de l'OCAM, encore utilisée par des praticiens non inscrits.
The network opens 3 partner slots in Mozambique, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.
No listed partner in Mozambique 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.
On the Mozambican side, membership presupposes a firm whose work is signed by a contabilista certificado registered with OCAM and holding a current cédula profissional. The entry documents are the certidão de registo comercial, the alvará, the NUIT, the AT tax clearance and the INSS certidão de quitação automatizada. We also ask for the legal representative's identity document with their NUIT and, given the absence of a local data protection statute, an express contractual undertaking on confidentiality and on where payroll processing takes place.
Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Mozambique 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 MozambiqueMobility 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 Mozambique.