Last updated 19 August 2026
Malta's Class 1 Social Security Contribution (SSC) — the second compulsory deduction from a resident employee's salary, at 10% of the basic weekly wage up to a weekly cap — with both 2026 and 2025 rates. Want your own number? Use the Malta take-home pay calculator.
An employed resident in Malta pays a Class 1 Social Security Contribution of 10% of their basic weekly wage. It is charged on the basic wage only — bonuses, overtime and allowances are excluded — and it is capped: once your basic wage passes a weekly threshold, the contribution stops rising. Your employer pays an equal 10% separately, which is not deducted from your pay. (MTCA Class 1 rates, 2026.)
The employee rate is 10% in both years. What changed is the cap: it rose slightly for 2026. The annual cap is simply the weekly cap multiplied by 52.
| Year | Employee rate | Weekly cap | Annual cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 10% | €55.93 | €2,908.36 |
| 2025 | 10% | €54.43 | €2,830.36 |
(Rates: MTCA Class 1 Social Security Contribution rates for 2026 and 2025 — verified 26 July 2026. The annual cap is the weekly cap × 52.)
Your basic weekly wage is charged at 10%, up to the weekly cap. Two examples for 2026:
€25,000 a year → about €480.77 a week, under the cap → €2,500.00 of Social Security.
€35,000 a year → about €673.08 a week, over the cap → €2,908.36, the 2026 maximum.
The cap binds at a basic wage of about €559 a week — roughly €29,100 a year — in 2026. Above that, every extra euro of salary carries income tax but no further social security, so the effective deduction rate falls as salaries rise.
If you are used to the UK, Malta's Social Security Contribution (SSC) is the rough counterpart of National Insurance (NI) — a compulsory payroll charge separate from income tax — and Maltese payslips and official guidance call it social security or SSC, not NI. It is not identical, though: Malta charges a flat 10% of the basic weekly wage up to a hard weekly cap, with your employer paying an equal 10% on top, whereas UK National Insurance uses earnings thresholds and keeps charging a lower rate above the upper earnings limit. If you searched for "NI rates Malta", the rates on this page are what you are looking for.
Malta collects both income tax and social security from your salary through the Final Settlement System (FSS), the Maltese equivalent of PAYE. On your payslip the two appear as separate lines — an FSS tax deduction and a Social Security (SSC) deduction — so your gross pay, minus those two lines, is your take-home pay. Your employer's matching 10% social security is paid separately and does not appear as a deduction from your wage.
The calculator models the contribution as 10% of gross up to the annual cap — the case for an adult (born 1 January 1962 or later) earning at least the national minimum wage, which covers ordinary full-time work. It does not model the fixed weekly floor that applies below the minimum wage, because that only binds below the minimum wage and outside the full-time scope. Saying so is a trust signal, not a gap that changes a normal full-time result.
Social security is one of two compulsory deductions. For the income tax side — the rate schedules by situation and the multiply-and-subtract formula — see the Malta income tax rates and brackets reference, or the Malta 2026 parent and child rates if you maintain a qualifying child. A qualifying part-time job is taxed separately at a flat 10% final rate — see how Malta taxes part-time work. To put income tax and social security together for your own salary, use the Malta take-home pay calculator.
Rates verified 26 July 2026.
Applies to resident employees born on or after 1 January 1962 earning at least the national minimum wage, on the basic weekly wage only. Estimates, not financial advice.