Reading a Moroccan payslip

A Moroccan payslip follows a regulated format. Once you understand the logic, it’s straightforward. Here are the essentials and what to check.

Mandatory fields

Every payslip must include:

• Employer name, address, CNSS affiliation number and business-licence number;
• Employee name, CNSS registration number, role, date of hire;
• Pay period, working days and hours;
• Earnings breakdown (base pay, overtime, bonuses, allowances);
• Deductions breakdown (CNSS, AMO, income tax IR, any advances or garnishments);
• Gross, taxable, and net take-home pay;
• Year-to-date totals for the main aggregates (gross, IR withheld, net).

Earnings block

• Base pay — per grid or contract (must at least respect the hourly SMIG).
• Overtime — 25% to 100% premium depending on hour and day (Labour Code art. 201).
• Bonuses — seniority (mandatory after 2 years), performance, transport, meal, hardship…
• Allowances — travel, phone, representation.
• Benefits in kind — housing, car, valued per the tax scale.

Note: some bonuses are taxable and contribution-bearing, others aren’t (travel allowances within regulatory limits). The distinction affects your gross contribution base and your net.

Employee deductions

On the contribution-bearing gross:

• CNSS (long-term + family + short-term allowances) — employee rate ≈ 6.74%, capped at MAD 6,000 (CNSS ceiling);
• AMO — employee rate ≈ 2.26%, uncapped;
• Vocational-training levy (TFP) — employer share only, not a line on your payslip.

On the taxable salary (gross – deductible social contributions – capped professional-expenses allowance):

• Income tax (IR) — progressive, withheld at source by the employer.

Professional-expenses allowance and IR

The General Tax Code grants a flat professional-expenses allowance against your taxable gross:

• Rate and cap are defined in the Code and updated periodically.
• Intent: cover work-related expenses on a flat basis.

Gross → net, simplified

Gross pay (earnings)
  – Employee social contributions (CNSS + AMO)
  = Adjusted taxable salary (after professional-expenses allowance)
  – Income tax withheld at source
  – Other deductions (advances, garnishments, supplementary mutual, complementary pension CIMR if applicable)
  = Net take-home

Practical checks

1. Is your CNSS number shown? If not, your employer may not be declaring you — flag immediately.
2. Contribution-bearing gross — make sure all eligible bonuses are included; otherwise daily allowances and future pension will be understated.
3. Overtime — at the correct premium.
4. YTD IR — must match what you actually received; useful for tax filing.
5. Seniority — after 2 years of continuous service, a seniority bonus is mandatory (5% of base salary, then stepped increases).

What your employer pays in addition (off-slip)

• Employer CNSS (family, short-term, long-term) — roughly 16-18% of capped gross across components;
• Employer AMO;
• TFP for OFPPT;
• Possibly CIMR (complementary pension).

The full “employer cost” is therefore materially higher than your gross.

Related tool

To convert your own gross to net with a full line-by-line breakdown, try the gross-to-net salary calculator — 2025 Finance-Law brackets.

Further reading

• SMIG glossary entry — the statutory minimum.
• CNSS glossary entry.
• Labour Code glossary entry — overtime, seniority.
• Exact contribution rates change over time; check cnss.ma for the latest.