Team on the ground
Our African payroll specialists configure and run your Tanzanian payroll — one team, one accountable contract.
Popay Payroll · Tanzania PopayPayroll
Payroll in Tanzania, built for compliance.
PAYE, NSSF, WCF and SDL across the mainland and Zanzibar — automated to Tanzanian law inside our own engine, not bolted on.
Local Tanzania team. The people who configure and run your payroll know Tanzanian law from the inside — PAYE, NSSF, the Employment and Labour Relations Act, and the 2026 sectoral minimum wages.
Talk to our African payroll team No commitment — a working conversation about your team in Tanzania.
TZ
TZ Dar es Salaam · East Africa — payroll live in Tanzania today
Calculate your Tanzania payroll
See real Tanzania net pay in seconds — PAYE, NSSF and every statutory deduction, computed with the same engine that runs payroll across Africa.
Our legislation team is updating the figures — the live simulator for this country will publish soon.Understand HR in Tanzania
Everything Tanzania payroll asks of an employer — in one place.
The full local picture for Tanzania: statutory contributions and the rules our engine runs natively — maintained by our Pan-African legislation team.
01 · At a glance
Tanzania payroll, by the numbers
The fixed parameters every Tanzania payroll run starts from.
Currency
Tanzanian Shilling (TZS, TSh)
Tax authority
TRA — Tanzania Revenue Authority (mainland); ZRB in Zanzibar
Income tax year
1 January – 31 December (calendar year)
Payroll cycle
Monthly (most common)
Monthly statutory deadlines
PAYE + SDL to the TRA by the 7th; NSSF by the end of the following month
Minimum wage
Set by sector — TZS 175,000 to approx. TZS 765,900 / month (2025 Order, from 1 January 2026)
Ordinary working week
Max 45 hours (9 hours/day, up to 6 days)
Notice period
7 days (first month of service); 4 days (after first month, daily/weekly-paid); 28 days (monthly-paid, thereafter)
Main labour laws
Employment and Labour Relations Act (ELRA), R.E. 2023; Labour Institutions Act, 2004
02 · Social contributions & statutory levies
Statutory contributions in Tanzania
Employers register and pay contributions to several statutory bodies — the NSSF for social security, the WCF for work-related accidents, and the SDL to the TRA — each with its own rate and its own base.
| Scheme | Employer | Employee | Basis & notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSSF — social security | 10% | 10% | No ceiling |
| WCF — workers compensation | 1% | 0% | No ceiling |
| SDL — skills development levy | — | 0% | Employer levy on payroll |
| PAYE — Income tax | Withheld at source | Progressive (up to 30%) | — |
NSSF/PPF + SDL + Workers Compensation monthly; PAYE withheld.
03 · Income tax (PAYE)
PAYE — Tanzania's progressive income tax
Employment income is taxed under a progressive five-band scale and withheld each month by the employer, with the employee's NSSF contribution deducted before PAYE is calculated.
Monthly PAYE bands (mainland)
- Up to 270,000 TZS
- 0% (tax-free)
- 270,001 – 520,000 TZS
- 8% of the amount above 270,000
- 520,001 – 760,000 TZS
- 20,000 + 20% of the amount above 520,000
- 760,001 – 1,000,000 TZS
- 68,000 + 25% of the amount above 760,000
- Above 1,000,000 TZS
- 128,000 + 30% of the amount above 1,000,000
How PAYE is applied
- Order of deduction
- The employee's NSSF contribution (10%) is deducted before PAYE is calculated
- Non-resident employees
- Taxed at a flat 15% on employment income
- Remittance
- Withheld monthly and paid to the TRA by the 7th of the following month
- Zanzibar
- Applies its own scale; figures above are for mainland Tanzania
04 · Employment contracts
Contracts under the Employment and Labour Relations Act
The ELRA recognises three types of contract and sets the written particulars, probation period, notice and severance-pay rules that your payroll system must apply.
Employment contract rules
05 · Leave & employee rights
Leave entitlements set by the ELRA
The law sets statutory minimums for annual, sick, maternity and paternity leave; contracts and collective agreements can improve on them.
Annual leave
Sick leave
Maternity leave
Paternity leave
Compassionate leave
Public holidays
06 · Unions & collective agreements
The sector union and collective agreement that apply to you
Tanzania's single national federation is TUCTA (Zanzibar has ZATUC). Its sector affiliates negotiate the pay scales, allowances and union-dues deductions (stop orders) that your payroll must calculate and remit — disputes fall to the CMA.
TUICO — Industry & commerce
The largest TUCTA affiliate. Negotiates sector wage scales and the union-dues stop orders your payroll must deduct and remit.
TPAWU — Plantations & agriculture
Sets sector wage agreements and dues deductions for plantation and agricultural workers.
TAMICO — Mines, energy & construction
Negotiates sector settlements; drives provident-fund and union-dues deductions.
TUGHE — Government & health
Covers public-service pay scales and the related payroll deductions.
COTWU(T) — Communication & transport
Negotiates sector agreements and dues stop orders for communications and transport workers.
CHODAWU — Hotels, domestic & conservation
Sets hospitality and domestic-work wage scales feeding into payroll.
07 · Payslip & reporting rules
What a compliant Tanzanian payslip contains
The payslip and monthly returns are where compliance is proven — mandatory particulars under the ELRA, statutory deductions, and the TRA and NSSF deadlines.
Payslip — mandatory contentELRA, 2004
- Position and gross salaryAs per the written particulars of employment
- OvertimeAt 1.5× the basic wage, capped at 50 hours per 4-week cycle
- AllowancesHousing, transport, hazard and other negotiated allowances
- Statutory deductions and net payAll deductions itemised down to net payable
- Record-keepingEmployment records kept for at least 5 years
Employee deductionsTRA & NSSF
- NSSF contribution10% of gross, deducted before PAYE is calculated
- PAYE withheld at sourceProgressive 0–30% on taxable pay (flat 15% for non-residents)
- Union duesWhere a stop order applies, deducted and remitted to the union
Filing deadlines & remittanceTRA & NSSF
- PAYE + SDL to the TRABy the 7th of the following month
- NSSF contributionsBy the end of the following month
- Late remittancePenalties plus interest on the unpaid amount
Native Tanzania payroll — and one accountable partner.
We own the gross-to-net engine
PAYE, NSSF, WCF and SDL rules are configured natively inside our engine, not stitched from third-party aggregators.
Always current
Regulatory changes — like the 2026 Minimum Wage Order and the Finance Act 2025 — are monitored and your configuration updated, so every payslip stays compliant.
Take 30 minutes with our Tanzania HR specialist.
Tell us about your team in Tanzania and we'll map your options — payroll, contracts and local compliance — plainly and without commitment.
Popay helped us simplify managing our workforce in Tanzania — payroll, PAYE and NSSF filings, contracts and compliance in one place. Reliable, efficient, and always current with local law.
Tanzania payroll, answered
Does Popay handle NSSF, WCF and SDL filings in Tanzania?
Yes. We calculate and remit every statutory contribution — NSSF (10% employer + 10% employee), the WCF levy (0.5%) and SDL (3.5% for employers with 10+ staff). PAYE and SDL are paid to the TRA by the 7th of the following month, and NSSF by the end of the following month.
How does PAYE work in Tanzania?
Employment income is taxed on a five-band progressive scale from 0% up to 30%, withheld monthly. The employee's 10% NSSF contribution is deducted before PAYE is calculated, and non-resident employees are taxed at a flat 15%. Figures are for mainland Tanzania; Zanzibar applies its own scale.
Is your Tanzania payroll native, or run through a third party?
Native. Popay owns the gross-to-net engine, and Tanzanian legislation — PAYE bands, NSSF, WCF, SDL and the Employment and Labour Relations Act payslip rules — is configured inside it. There's one accountable system and one contract, not stitched-together aggregators.
Are you updated for the 2026 Minimum Wage Order?
Yes. The Minimum Wage Order took effect in January 2026, resetting sector-specific wage floors from TZS 175,000 to roughly TZS 765,900 per month. Our configuration tracks the sectoral rates so your payslips stay compliant.
Which unions and collective agreements do you support?
The TUCTA affiliates that set sector pay — TUICO (industry & commerce), TPAWU (plantations & agriculture), TAMICO (mines, energy & construction), TUGHE (government & health), COTWU(T) (communication & transport) and CHODAWU (hospitality & domestic) — with their wage scales, allowances and union-dues stop orders applied to your payroll.
Review your HR needs in Tanzania — in 30 minutes.
Questions about payroll, local compliance or digitising your processes? Take a no-commitment slot with our dedicated Tanzania payroll team. Plain, specific, useful.
