Pay
SSS
SSS is the Social Security System that covers private-sector employees for sickness, maternity reimbursement mechanics, disability, unemployment, retirement, and death-related benefits. Membership for employees is.
Also called Social Security System
How it works
Contributions are a percentage of monthly salary credit, not of exact gross. RA 11199 stepped the combined rate to 15% of MSC by 2025, 10% employer and 5% employee, with a maximum MSC of ₱35,000. The employer also pays a small Employees’ Compensation amount. Remit on the agency calendar. Coverage starts with employment, not with regularization. A U.S. firm that skips SSS because ‘they’re a contractor’ is making a classification bet, not a payroll choice.
Example: MSC capped at ₱35,000. Employer regular share ₱3,500 plus EC. Employee share ₱1,750 withheld. A ₱80,000 basic salary still sits on the ₱35,000 credit for this line.
How it differs
PhilHealth is health insurance. Pag-IBIG is the housing fund. WISP is the provident slice that rides with higher credits. Statutory contributions is the three-fund bundle.
Common errors
Using last year’s table. Starting remittances after month six. Filing the worker as voluntary and calling the company done.
In practice
Treat SSS as a week-one operating object. Look at the next peso payslip and the next remittance file. If this word does not show up there, the quote from the sales call is incomplete. Write an owner - founder, local employer, or worker - and a date you will look at it again: first cutoff, first holiday, or first miss. If nobody can show a contract clause, a payslip line, a calendar block, or a checklist box, you do not have sss yet. You have a conversation. Convert the conversation before the person starts, while changing the deal still costs a paragraph rather than a resignation. Re-read the worked example above against the actual hire in front of you. If the numbers in that example cannot be swapped for this seat’s pesos, hours, and start date, the brief is still unfinished.