Employer of Record Croatia
Hire a person who lives in Croatia, even though your business has no Croatian registration. We step in as employer: a written contract under the Labour Act, pension and health insurance registration before the first day, payroll in euro and a report of every payment to the Tax Administration.
Get figuresPortal + people
Which tasks move into the portal once your hire signs?
Every contract, payslip and approval for your Croatian team sits in one place, and behind it is a named specialist who checks each change before it reaches payroll or the tax return.
- Watch onboarding move from signed contract to pension and health registration
- Approve each month’s payroll before salaries go out
- Record leave, sick days and pay rises on the day they happen
- Download payslips and the JOPPD records an inspector may ask for
Why clients pick us
How can we employ your new hire in Croatia on your behalf?
The person you pick signs a Croatian employment contract (ugovor o radu) with us, and we hold the employer’s legal duties while you decide their work, goals and pay. One payroll rule shapes the budget: the only statutory employer contribution is health insurance at 16.5% of gross, with no ceiling, so on-cost is flat at any salary.
Our team registers each hire for pension and health insurance before work starts, files the JOPPD report with Porezna uprava (Tax Administration) on every pay day, issues the written pay statement within 15 days of payment and, when someone leaves, prepares the written notice with reasons and pays out any unused leave.
Employment costs
How much is a Croatian hire per month, all in, in 2026?
Rates apply to salaries paid from 1 January 2026; the Contributions Act and the Income Tax Act were not amended for this year.
Employer share, on top
The employer pays one statutory contribution in 2026: health insurance (doprinos za zdravstveno osiguranje) at 16.5% of gross pay, which also covers work injury and occupational disease. It has no ceiling, so it is 16.5% whether the salary is the €1,050 minimum wage or €12,000 a month. The old employment contribution and the separate employer work-injury charge were repealed, and ordinary staff carry no unemployment, training or guarantee-fund levy. The contribution falls due on the day the salary is paid.
Deducted from the pay
Two deductions come out of the employee’s gross salary before it lands in their bank account:
- Income tax (porez na dohodak) at the two rates set by the town where the employee lives, after a €600 monthly personal allowance. Zagreb applies 23% to monthly taxable income of up to €5,000 and 33% to any part beyond that.
- Pension contributions of 20%: 15% to the state first pillar and 5% to a second-pillar fund for fund members, or 20% to the first pillar alone. These are the only capped items, at a monthly base of €11,958 in 2026, so no employee pays more than €2,391.60 a month in pension contributions.
Worked example
One Zagreb salary, costed for 2026
Annual outlay
€48,930
Gross pay of €42,000 plus the 16.5% health contribution of €6,930: about €4,078 a month.
Annual net, employee
€27,528
About €2,294 a month after 20% pension and income tax at the Zagreb rate of 23%.
Assumptions: twelve equal payments of €3,500 on an open-ended, full-time contract for the whole of 2026; resident in the City of Zagreb; single with no dependants; aged 31 or over; a second-pillar member; no bonuses, overtime or tax-free allowances. Our fee, from €599 a month, is billed separately. All figures are approximate.
You approve the payroll each month. The Labour Act lets an employer pay a month’s wages as late as the 15th of the next one; we transfer them, and the tax and contributions go to the state with the JOPPD on pay day or the next working day. One euro invoice then covers salary, employer contribution and our fee.
Offer, contract, payroll
What is done once before day one, and what recurs?
A few tasks are done once before the start date. The rest return every month the job lasts.
Before day one, the employment contract is concluded in writing and a copy is handed to the employee, as the Labour Act (Zakon o radu) requires. Registration for pension insurance has to be in place before or on the first day of work, and the employee receives proof of the pension and health registration within 8 days of the deadline.
We draft the contract around the items the Labour Act lists, among them the place of work, job title, start date, whether it is open-ended or fixed-term, leave, notice, gross pay with its components, working hours and any probation, which may last six months at most. A fixed-term contract needs an objective reason written into it and, as a rule, cannot run past three years.
Every month we calculate gross to net, withhold income tax at the employee’s municipal rate and the 20% pension contributions, add the 16.5% health contribution and pay the salary by bank transfer. The JOPPD goes to Porezna uprava through ePorezna, first-pillar pension money goes to the state budget, second-pillar money passes through REGOS (the Central Registry of Affiliates), and the employee gets a written pay statement (obračun plaće).
Hires from outside the EU need a stay and work permit (dozvola za boravak i rad) from the Ministry of the Interior (MUP). On the usual route HZZ, the Croatian Employment Service, first runs a labour market test; the application follows within 90 days and MUP decides within 90 days of a full file.
The 2026 Aliens Act (Zakon o strancima) amendment tightened employer conditions, so one missing paper can stall a hire. Highly qualified staff may use the EU Blue Card instead.
We employ people in software, finance, sales, marketing, design and other office roles. An extended sectoral collective agreement (kolektivni ugovor) can set a higher minimum wage by job complexity, and agreements or work rules may add longer leave or allowances, so we check for one before the offer goes out.
Onboarding with no local company
What decides the start date in Croatia?
A new d.o.o. needs court registration, a bank account and tax and insurance registrations before it pays anyone. With us those already run, so the candidate sets the pace.
Offer priced in euro
Gross, net and employer cost for the right town, confirmed before you send the offer.
Contract ready to sign
A written Labour Act contract with every required term, signed and copied to your hire before day one.
Notice to the current employer
Two weeks to three months under the Labour Act, depending on service; it often sets the start date.
Insurance registration
Pension and health insurance registered before or on the first day of work.
Payroll set up in advance
OIB, bank account and tax details entered so the first salary is paid on time.
Permits where needed
Non-EU hires wait for MUP: 90 days from a complete file, extendable by 30.
A named contact, not a ticket queue
Who answers when you have a question about your employee in Croatia?
One specialist looks after your account, knows your people and their contracts, and replies directly, whether your hire works in Zagreb, Split, Rijeka or a village.
Email us nowYour own company or an EOR
Should you set up a d.o.o. or hire through an EOR in Croatia?
A Croatian payroll can start in one of two ways: you register a company, usually a d.o.o. (limited liability company) or a j.d.o.o. (simple limited company), or we employ the person while you direct the work.
Route 1: your own d.o.o. or j.d.o.o.
Formation runs through START (start.gov.hr) or a notary and ends with entry in the court register (sudski registar). EU citizens can form one remotely with a home eID; non-EU founders must see a notary. A j.d.o.o. can start with €1 of capital.
Then come a bank account, DZS classification, registration with HZMO as a contribution payer (form M-11P) and of each worker (M-1P), the tax register (RPO) and VAT once supplies pass €60,000. At one employee the company is cheap to form; the effort lies in running it.
- A JOPPD report on every pay day
- Monthly payroll and a pay statement after each payment
- Working-time and staff records for inspectors
- Work rules (pravilnik o radu) once you employ 20 people
- Annual accounts and profit tax at 10% or 18%, by revenue
Route 2: we employ your hire
EOR Croatia signs the employment contract, runs payroll in euro, files the JOPPD and keeps the records, while you set the work, the targets and the salary. You pay the employment costs as they fall due plus a monthly fee, with no capital paid in and nothing to wind up if your plans change.
- No court registration or notary
- Payroll and JOPPD filings run by us
- Labour Act contracts written by us
- One euro invoice for each month
- Grow or shrink headcount with no company
So which route, and when?
Pick the EOR if
You are testing Croatia with one or a few hires, want someone on payroll before a new company could open a bank account and register for tax, or would rather not run Croatian accounts, payroll and work rules from abroad. It also suits a hire you may later move to a company of your own.
Set up your own company when
You plan a larger team for several years, will sell to Croatian customers, or want to sponsor non-EU staff in numbers. Bear in mind that the HZZ permit route expects the employer to have kept at least one Croatian or EEA worker for a year and to show €100,000 of account inflows in 12 months.
Still weighing it up? Tell us how many people you want to hire and by when, and we will price both routes side by side so you can compare the first year’s cost, the set-up work and the ongoing filings.
What staff are owed, 2026
What must a Croatian employer give staff by law?
The Labour Act and the benefit laws set the floor, and the State Inspectorate (Državni inspektorat) enforces it through labour inspection. A collective agreement, work rules or the contract can improve on these minimums.
Annual leave
Four weeks of paid leave a year, or 20 working days on a Monday-to-Friday pattern, in full after six months’ service. Unused days can be taken until 30 June of the next year, and cash in place of leave is allowed only when the job ends.
Paid holidays
Fourteen in 2026, nine of them on weekdays, which leaves 252 working days. There is no substitute day when a holiday falls on a Sunday, and work on a holiday earns an increased wage.
Sick pay
The employer pays sick pay (naknada plaće) from the first day of certified sickness, at no less than 70% of the employee’s average pay over the last six months, for the first 42 days of each absence. From day 43 HZZO (the Croatian Health Insurance Fund) bears the cost: the employer still pays it out and claims a refund, which HZZO must make within 45 days. Pregnancy complications, work injuries and care of a sick child under seven are paid at 100%. The employee has to tell their doctor within three days of falling ill.
Maternity and paternity leave
Maternity leave (rodiljni dopust) runs from 28 days before the birth until the child is six months old, and 98 days of it are compulsory. Fathers get 20 working days of paternity leave. Public funds pay both, not the employer.
Parental leave
Eight months in total for a first or second child, four for each parent, between the child’s sixth month and eighth birthday. The first months are paid at 100% of the base, up to €3,001.79 a month.
Family leave
Seven working days a year of paid leave (plaćeni dopust) for a marriage, a birth, or a close relative’s serious illness or death, plus five unpaid days of carers’ leave and one day off for an urgent family reason caused by illness or accident.
Who tracks these rights for you?
We record leave, sick days and parental absences in payroll as they happen, apply the 70% or 100% sick pay rate, claim HZZO refunds from day 43 and keep each leave balance current. Notice periods stop running during sick leave and parental leave, and we take that into account before any exit is planned.
Our services
What can we take on?
The duties of an employer in Croatia, from the written contract to the final payslip, sit with us. You keep the decisions about the role, the salary and the person, and you can follow each step in the portal.
See services ›Employing people in Croatia without a company
The contract lists us as the employer, so you can hire in any Croatian town before deciding whether a d.o.o. is worth it.
Gross to net, filed monthly
Gross-to-net at the right municipal rate, the 16.5% health contribution, 20% pension deductions and a JOPPD report for every payment.
HR and Labour Act compliance
Probation, leave, fixed-term limits, the 180-hour overtime cap and notice periods applied as the Labour Act sets them, with written records kept for any inspection.
Benefits and tax-free extras
A Christmas bonus (božićnica), holiday allowance (regres), meal allowance or home-working lump sum, paid inside the 2026 tax-free limits.
The hub, topic by topic
Your questions aboutmunicipal tax rates|in Croatia
Our guide answers the questions employers ask most, from the €1,050 minimum wage for 2026 to why net pay on the same salary differs between Zagreb and Rijeka. Each answer gives the figure, the year and the law it comes from.
Read the employer’s guide ›Our approach
What makes the way we work different?
We price each role before you commit, with take-home pay and total cost worked out for your hire's own town, and you keep one named contact for the life of the contract. When a rule changes, as tax rates did in 13 local units in January 2026, we explain it.
Our storyCommon questions
No. EOR Croatia becomes the legal employer, signs the Croatian employment contract and runs payroll, so you can hire without a d.o.o. You direct the day-to-day work; we carry the employer's filings and records.
Two things set the date: the candidate's notice to their current employer, from two weeks to three months under the Labour Act, and, for non-EU nationals, the stay and work permit, which MUP decides within 90 days of a complete application (extendable by 30). On our side, the contract and insurance registration are ready before the first working day.
Salary, plus the employer's 16.5% health contribution, plus our fee from €599 a month. For €3,500 gross in Zagreb the employer cost is about €4,078 a month and the employee takes home about €2,294 (2026 rates, single, no allowances).
This team works on Croatia only. If your hire lives in Croatia but also works from another EU state, EU rules decide which country's social security applies, and HZMO rules on the applicable law, so we check that before the contract is signed. Tell us about hires in other countries and we will say plainly whether we can help.
Ready to hire your first person?
Send the role, the salary range and the town where your candidate lives. We reply with the monthly cost and the earliest realistic start.
No company to register and no capital to pay in, with one person to contact from the offer letter onwards.
Email the job details
Book a slot
When could your Croatian hire start?
Book a short call and leave with a costed plan, from the salary check to the first payroll.
Not taking new enquiries just now
Our Croatia team is at capacity at the moment, so we have paused new enquiries. Please check back soon.