The network covers Tunisia within the North Africa region. Payslips there are drawn up in TND, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in Arabic and French.
The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are Tunis, Sfax, Sousse, Bizerte.
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 Tunisia, running payroll on behalf of third parties is a regulated activity. It is carried on under the title of Expert-comptable (OECT) / Comptable inscrit à la Compagnie des Comptables de Tunisie (CCT), and a registration in force must be produced to you before any engagement.
La tenue de comptabilité et l'établissement des déclarations fiscales et sociales pour compte de tiers sont réservés aux professionnels inscrits : experts-comptables (loi n° 88-108) ou comptables inscrits à la CCT (loi n° 2002-16). Le commissariat aux comptes est le monopole exclusif des experts-comptables. Un prestataire tunisien de paie doit donc relever de l'un des deux tableaux, ou employer un professionnel inscrit qui signe les travaux.
Tunisia offers a French employer a partly familiar environment — civil-law employment rules, a French-speaking administration, numerous sectoral collective agreements — alongside constraints with no European equivalent. Private-sector social security is administered by the Caisse Nationale de Sécurité Sociale (CNSS), with the CNRPS covering the public sector, so an employee hired by a commercial company always falls under the former.
The country belongs to no European monetary union and the Tunisian dinar is not freely convertible. Wages are paid in dinars into a local account, and any currency movement falls under exchange control rules. Arabic is the official language and French remains widely used in business, but Arabic prevails in formal procedures.
One point is decisive when selecting a provider: bookkeeping and the preparation of returns on behalf of third parties are reserved to registered professionals, either members of the Ordre des Experts Comptables de Tunisie (OECT) or members of the Compagnie des Comptables de Tunisie (CCT).
Employer registration with the CNSS opens the employer number without which no enrolment is possible; each employee is then issued their own insurance number.
Representative office, Tunisian company, or a company under the regime applicable to export-oriented activities: the nature of your presence governs tax treatment, freedom to hire and the conditions under which foreign managers may be employed, which are themselves regulated.
The applicable sectoral collective agreement sets grades, minimum rates and allowances that appear nowhere in the Labour Code, so identifying it precedes drafting the contract. Writing is required, and the contract's duration determines the applicable regime, fixed-term contracts being subject to strict conditions of use and renewal.
Quarterly filing of social contributions with the CNSS unsettles companies used to French monthly reporting. The payslip must also reflect income tax withheld at source, which the employer deducts and remits.
The transfer of payroll data should not be left until last. Tunisia has retained prior notification of processing operations, and sending personal data outside the country requires authorisation.
End-of-contract compensation, the final settlement and, where the dismissal is on economic or technical grounds, the referral to the labour inspectorate: the exit is prepared with the same care as the entry, and on the same evidence.
The network asks 8 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Tunisia. 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, 8 are required of every applicant and 5 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 3 months.
| Local wording | Issuing body | Validity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extrait du Registre National des Entreprises (RNE) — مضمون من السجل الوطني للمؤسساتExtract from the National Business Register Depuis 2018 le RNE a absorbé le registre du commerce tenu par les greffes : un candidat qui présente un « extrait du registre du commerce » délivré par un tribunal fournit une pièce obsolète. L'extrait RNE mentionne l'identifiant unique, les dirigeants et l'objet. | Registre National des Entreprises (RNE) — établissement public créé par la loi n° 2018-52 du 29 octobre 2018, qui a remplacé le registre du commerce | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Carte d'identification fiscale — بطاقة التعريف الجبائي (matricule fiscal, identifiant unique)Tax identification card Depuis la création du RNE, l'identifiant unique de l'entreprise sert de matricule fiscal. La carte mentionne le régime d'imposition et les activités déclarées : c'est elle qui prouve que l'activité de conseil ou de comptabilité est bien déclarée. | Direction Générale des Impôts (DGI) — Ministère des Finances, bureau de contrôle des impôts compétent | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Attestation de situation fiscale — شهادة في الوضعية الجبائية (dite aussi quitus fiscal)Tax clearance certificate Le portail e-sitfisc du ministère des Finances permet de consulter la situation fiscale d'un contribuable. L'attestation papier reste délivrée par le bureau de contrôle des impôts de rattachement ; elle est systématiquement exigée pour les marchés publics tunisiens. | Direction Générale des Impôts — service « Situation fiscale » du ministère des Finances | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Attestation de situation vis-à-vis de la CNSS (attestation de régularité / quitus CNSS) — شهادة في الوضعية إزاء الصندوق الوطني للضمان الاجتماعيSocial security clearance certificate (CNSS) La CNSS couvre les salariés du privé (la CNRPS couvre le secteur public : un cabinet privé relève de la CNSS). L'attestation atteste l'affiliation et l'absence d'arriérés de cotisations trimestrielles ; elle se demande à l'agence CNSS de rattachement ou via le portail employeur. | Caisse Nationale de Sécurité Sociale (CNSS) — secteur privé | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Attestation d'assurance responsabilité civile professionnelleProfessional indemnity insurance certificate Obligatoire pour les professionnels inscrits : la loi n° 88-108 organisant la profession d'expert-comptable et la loi n° 2002-16 sur la profession de comptable imposent aux inscrits de couvrir leur responsabilité civile professionnelle. Pour un prestataire non inscrit à un ordre, elle n'est qu'une exigence contractuelle. | Compagnie d'assurance agréée par le Comité Général des Assurances (CGA), ministère des Finances | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Inscription au tableau de l'Ordre des Experts Comptables de Tunisie (OECT) — ou au tableau de la Compagnie des Comptables de Tunisie (CCT)Registration with the Tunisian Institute of Chartered Accountants (OECT) or with the Company of Accountants (CCT) La Tunisie a deux professions distinctes et deux tableaux : l'expert-comptable (OECT), seul habilité au commissariat aux comptes, et le « comptable » inscrit à la CCT, habilité à tenir la comptabilité et à établir les déclarations pour compte de tiers. Exiger l'attestation d'inscription au tableau de l'un ou l'autre, à jour de cotisation. | Ordre des Experts Comptables de Tunisie (loi n° 88-108 du 18 août 1988) ; Compagnie des Comptables de Tunisie (loi n° 2002-16 du 4 février 2002) | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Carte d'identité nationale (CIN) ou passeport du gérant / représentant légalNational identity card or passport of the legal representative Usage constant en Tunisie : copie de la CIN du gérant, accompagnée le cas échéant du procès-verbal de nomination inscrit au RNE. | Ministère de l'Intérieur | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Déclaration préalable de traitement de données à caractère personnel auprès de l'INPDP — loi organique n° 2004-63 du 27 juillet 2004Prior notification of personal data processing to the national data protection authority Contrairement au régime RGPD européen, la Tunisie a conservé un système de déclaration préalable (et d'autorisation pour certains traitements, dont les transferts hors de Tunisie) auprès de l'INPDP. Un cabinet tunisien qui traite de la paie pour un donneur d'ordre étranger doit pouvoir produire son récépissé de déclaration. | Instance Nationale de Protection des Données à Caractère Personnel (INPDP) | No expiry Required | Official website |
Two accountancy professions coexist and must not be confused. The expert-comptable registered with the OECT holds the statutory audit monopoly; the comptable registered with the CCT keeps the books and prepares returns, which is sufficient for payroll. A firm presenting itself as expert-comptable without appearing on the OECT roll warrants verification against the roll itself rather than against its own presentation.
Limited convertibility of the dinar shapes the structure. Paying a Tunisian employee in euros from abroad is not a management preference but a regulatory question, and it is settled before the offer, not at the first pay run.
Where the European Union abolished prior notification of data processing, Tunisia has kept it, with the Instance Nationale de Protection des Données à Caractère Personnel, and requires authorisation for transfers. A Tunisian firm handling French payroll must be able to produce its acknowledgement of notification.
Deux appellations concurrentes à ne pas confondre : l'expert-comptable inscrit à l'OECT et le simple « comptable » inscrit à la CCT — le second peut tenir la paie et la comptabilité mais ne peut pas certifier les comptes. Deuxième particularité : le registre du commerce n'existe plus sous ce nom depuis 2018, c'est le RNE, et l'identifiant unique RNE fait office de matricule fiscal. Troisième point spécifique à la Tunisie : la déclaration préalable des traitements auprès de l'INPDP subsiste, et les transferts de données hors du territoire tunisien exigent une autorisation — à vérifier impérativement avant de confier des données de paie françaises à un cabinet tunisien.
The network opens 3 partner slots in Tunisia, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.
No listed partner in Tunisia 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.
The title to require is expert-comptable on the OECT roll or comptable on the CCT roll: in Tunisia, preparing returns for third parties belongs to those two rolls and to no others. We ask for the current year's registration certificate, an extract from the Registre National des Entreprises rather than the former court-issued extract, the tax standing certificate and CNSS clearance. The document that settles our decision remains the INPDP notification receipt, together with demonstrated ability to handle the transfer question.
Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Tunisia 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 TunisiaMobility 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 Tunisia.