Hire and pay employees in
Kosovo, hassle-free

With Deel, your business can easily hire employees in Kosovo. No more worrying about local laws, complex tax systems, or managing international payroll. Deel takes care of everything in 150+ countries.

The average onboarding time frame in Kosovo is 5 days with Deel.

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Currency

Euro (EUR)

Capital

Pristina

Official Language

Albanian & ‎Serbian

Payroll Cycle

Monthly

Onboard, pay and manage employees in Kosovo with Deel.

Usually, to hire in Kosovo, your business needs an entity. That means a local office, an address registered as a subsidiary, and an account with a local bank. All of this, plus navigating regional benefits, payroll, tax, and HR laws, can take months.

Deel lets you hire employees in Kosovo quickly, easily, and compliantly. We even automate tax document collection, payroll, benefits, and more. For your existing direct employees, we can manage your entire payroll operation from end-to-end.

Download the Guide

All the necessary benefits for Kosovo
built right in

Deel allows you to provide localized benefits for employees in Kosovo within minutes. All in one manageable online dashboard.

  • Pension Fund
  • Private Healthcare - Unisure (optional)
  • Private Healthcare - Allianz (optional)

Our quickstart guide to hiring in Kosovo

Navigate the tabs below to learn everything you need to know about hiring an employee in Kosovo

Pay & Tax Leave Policy Termination Statutory time off Onboarding Additional info

Minimum Wage Requirements

The minimum wage for full-time workers is EUR 130 gross/month for employees under the age of 35 and EUR 170 gross/month for employees over the age of 35.

Individual Income Tax

The individual income tax ranges from 0% to 10%. Income tax is calculated according to progressive rates.

Gross Annual Income Tax Rate (%)
Up to EUR 960 0%
Up to EUR 3,000 4%
Up to EUR 5,400 8%
Over EUR 5,400 10%

Payroll Cost

The employer cost is generally estimated at 5% of the employee salary. 
  • Pension Fund - 5%

Overtime Pay & Maximum Hours

Overtime payment is mandatory and can’t be included in the salary. Hours outside of standard work hours are considered overtime. Employees can work a maximum of 8 hours of overtime per week. For additional hours, employees are paid:
  • 120% of the hourly rate, for employees working on a day shift
  • 130% of the hourly rate, for employees working on a night shift
  • 150% of the hourly rate, for employees working on national holidays and weekends
Standard working hours are 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week. The standard workweek is from Monday to Friday. 

Maternity Leave

Pregnant employees are entitled to 270 days of paid leave. 45 days must be taken before the child's birth. 

For the first six months, the employee will receive 70% of their average salary paid by the employer, and for the following three months the government will pay 50% of their average salary.

The employee can extend leave an additional 90 days unpaid.

Paternity Leave

Employees are entitled to 10 days of paid paternity leave that must be taken after the child's birth. 

The employee will receive 100% of their average salary during this period, and the employer will be responsible for this pay. 

The employee can extend leave an additional 14 days unpaid at any time before the child reaches the age of three.

Parental Leave

Employees, who have worked for six months for the same employer, are entitled to four months of parental leave. Both parents can decide how to distribute the time off, and it can be taken simultaneously. 

Social Security will pay between 50-70% of the salary during this period. The percentage will depend on the employee's monthly salary and will be decided by Social Security. 

Parental leave can't be extended.

Sick Leave

Employees are entitled to 20 working days per year of sick leave paid by the employer. During this period employees will receive 100% of their average salary.

Termination Requirements

Terminations must respect complex rules and the rules of an employee’s employment country. The off-boarding is always handled by the Employer with the primary stakeholders. It may include ad-hoc fees as well as required or recommended steps on specific termination cases.

Terminations in Kosovo can be complex. Terminations without cause can be refused by the employee and additional payments will be required. 

Compliant terminations include:

  • Voluntarily by the employee
  • By mutual agreement
  • Unilaterally by the employer based on:
    • Economic hardship
    • The employee is no longer able to perform the job
    • Disciplinary dismissal
    • Performance for the job is unsatisfactory after a written warning
  • By the expiration of the contract
Employers that don’t renew a fixed-term contract must inform the employee at least 30 days before the end of the agreement. If not, the employer will have to pay additional severance.

Notice Period

Notice will depend on the length of service and the type of employment:
  • Fixed-term: 30 days
  • Indefinite:
    • 30 days for up to 2 years of employment
    • 45 days for up to 10 years of employment
    • 60 days for over 10 years of employment

Severance for Employees

In Kosovo, there are no statutory requirements for severance payments. During the notice period, the employee will receive standard salary wages. 

Paid Time Off

Both full-time and part-time employees are entitled to 20 working days of paid time off (PTO) a year. PTO accrues monthly at 1.5 days per month. Employees are eligible for annual leave after six months of work. PTO is accrued from January 1st to December 31st, and leave not taken must be paid.  

During the first year of employment, if the employee accrues more than 10 days, this leave must be taken before the end of the year.

Public Holidays

Kosovo celebrates 12 national holidays:

  • New Year (2 days)
  • Orthodox Christmas 
  • Independence Day
  • Catholic Easter Monday
  • Orthodox Easter Monday 
  • Eid al-Fitr 
  • Eid al-Adha 
  • Constitution Day
  • Labor Day 
  • Europe Day
  • Catholic Christmas

Onboarding

Onboarding takes 2 business days after the client signs the SOW.

Employment Contract Details

Contracts must be in Albanian and can be bilingual. They must be in writing and signed by both parties. 
A contract must include: 
  • Name
  • Start date
  • Length of the employment
  • Job description
  • Termination conditions

Probation Period

Probation periods are not mandatory. There is no minimum probation period. The maximum probation period is 180 days (six months). 
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Download the complete guide to hiring in Kosovo

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Hiring in Kosovo, hassle-free

With Deel, your business can easily hire employees in Kosovo with our EOR solution. If you have an entity, our Global Payroll solution takes care of payroll and compliance for your direct employees. Our 250+ in-house experts handle everything from managing local laws, complex tax systems, or your payroll in Kosovo and 150+ countries.

Group (8)

Starting at 599 USD

Management fee

Group (9)

5%

Estimate Employer Cost

*of employee salary

Want to learn the cost of hiring an employee in Kosovo?

View our Employee Cost Calculator

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