Hire in Croatia
Croatia PEO &
Employer of Record
Hire & manage teams remotely in Croatia without a local entity. We handle HR compliance, payroll & taxes so you can focus on your business.
Business Language
Croatian
Salary Currency
Croatian Kuna (HRK)
Payroll tax
16.5%
Payroll Cycle
Monthly
Time zone
GMT+2
Capital city
Zagreb
Hire Employees in Croatia
The NNRoad Advantage ☺
Pay as you go
Global account manager
Compliance
Fast Onboarding
Foreigner Visas
Platform
Employer of Record in Croatia
01.
Candidate Selection
02.
Employee Onboarding
03.
Compliance & Payroll
04.
Payroll Reporting
Recruiting process outsourcing – including but not limited to resume screening, shortlisting candidates, coordination for interviews, and assistance for salary negotiation.
Hiring and termination of employees/local labor contracts (contract administration – engagement, extension termination and conversion to permanent hire).
On-boarding and off-boarding employees following labor law practice.
Complete payroll solution and benefit administration
Employee management – employee record retaining, time keeping, bonus and allowance management, expense and claims, and leave employee database management accordingly to the local law.
Mandatory insurance compliance (i.e. pension, labor and health insurance) according to the local labor laws.
Payment management (Invoicing customers/clients and vendor payments).
Work VISA application assistance, if needed.
Local individual income tax reporting.
Payroll & PEO in Croatia
01.
Compliance & Payroll
02.
Payroll Reporting
Registering the necessary company and personnel information for payroll calculation in the payroll software and system
Monthly Payroll Processing
Year-End Adjustment and Annual Declaration
Taxes & Payroll in Croatia
Employee Income Taxes:
Individual income taxes in Croatia are an integral part of the country’s tax system. Residents of Croatia are subject to personal income tax on their worldwide income, while non-residents are taxed only on their Croatian-sourced income. Individuals are required to file annual tax returns, declaring their income and eligible deductions. Common deductions include expenses related to health insurance, pension contributions, and certain types of investment. Croatia also offers a range of tax incentives and reliefs, such as tax exemptions for specific industries or regions, aimed at promoting economic development and investment.
Tax Brackets
30%: Over 360,000 HRK
Sample Calculation
20% * 300,000 = 60,000
Yearly income tax = 60,000 HRK
Employer Costs in Croatia
Employer Contribution
16.50% – Health Insurance
Total employment cost: 16.50%
Employee Contribution
15% – Generation Solidarity (Annual maximum of 661,032.00 HRK)
5% – Individual Capital (Monthly cap of 55,086.00 HRK)
Total employee cost: 20%
Benefits & Insurance in Croatia
Healthcare Insurance
Health insurance in the Republic of Croatia is compulsory, meaning that every citizen of the Republic of Croatia should have regulated compulsory health insurance status. Compulsory Health insurance is implemented by the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (CHIF) and regulated by the Compulsory health insurance Act.
The right to financial compensation and the right to health care services are among the rights granted by Croatia’s mandatory health insurance.
The right to health care includes the right to:
- Primary health care
- Specialist health care
- Hospital health care
- Medications
- Dental prostheses
- Orthopaedic and other medical prostheses
Generation Solidarity (First Pillar)
Pension insurance based on generational solidarity is a type of pension insurance in which insured persons are entitled to rights in the event of old age, reduced workability, partial or total loss of working ability, and physical impairment, and members of their family are entitled to rights in the event of the insured’s death, or beneficiary’s rights, based on reciprocity and solidarity principles.
Individual Capital (Second Pillar)
Individual capitalized savings pension insurance (second pillar) ensures the same circle of people who had the status of insured people in the first pillar but were under 40 years old on the day the second pillar was implemented (on January 1, 2002) or at the time of entry into insurance (employment, self-employment, or on a different basis).
Working Hours in Croatia
Working Hours Per Week
Full-time work shall not exceed 40 hours a week. Part-time work shall be any working time shorter than full-time work. The worker shall not be allowed to work at several employers with a working time exceeding forty hours a week.
Overtime
If a worker works overtime, the total number of hours worked per week must not exceed 50. Because the full-time weekly working time in Croatia is 40 hours (including daily breaks), a worker with a full-time contract can work up to 10 hours of overtime per week, whereas a worker with a part-time contract of 20 hours per week can work up to 50 hours per week, but only 20 hours will be regular working hours and 30 hours will be overtime.
Termination Laws in Croatia
The following are the causes for regular termination as defined by the Labour Act:
- if the need for work ceases to exist for economic, technical, or organizational reasons (notice due to business reasons);
- the employee is incapable of fulfilling his employment-related duties due to certain personal characteristics or qualifications (notice due to personal reasons);
- the employee intentionally breaches a contractual obligation (‘notice due to misconduct’);
- the employee did not satisfy the employer’s requirements during the probationary period (notice due to probationary period)
For the regular termination, the notice period ranges from two weeks to three months. For 50/55-year-old employees who have 20 or more years of continuous employment with the same employer, the three-month period is extended by two weeks / one month.
Severance
If an employee is fired after two years of continuous employment with the same company, the employee is entitled to statutory severance compensation based on the length of service, unless the dismissal is due to the employee’s wrongdoing. The amount of severance pay for each year of employment with the same company cannot be less than one-third of the employee’s average monthly income in the three months prior to termination.
Employment Contract in Croatia
Employment Contract
Unless otherwise specified in the labor law, an employment contract is for an indeterminate period of time. Exceptionally, an employment contract may be formed for a set duration for the purpose of starting a job when the conclusion of the job is determined by objective factors such as meeting a deadline, finishing a task, or the occurrence of a specific event.
The employment contract shall be concluded in writing. If an employment contract is not in writing, the employer is required to deliver a letter of engagement to the employee prior to the commencement of employment.
The written employment contract or letter of engagement must include the following information:
- the parties’ identities, residences, and registered places of business;
- place of work;
- the title, nature, or category of the work for which the worker is employed, or a brief specification or description of the work;
- the date of the worker’s employment;
- the estimated period of a fixed-term job contract in the case of a fixed-term employment contract;
- the length of paid annual leave to which the employee is entitled, or, if this is not specified when the contract is signed or the letter of engagement is issued, the methods for assigning and deciding such annual leave;
- the length of the notice periods to be observed by both the worker and the employer, or, if this is not specified when the contract is signed or the letter of engagement is issued, the procedure for determining the notice periods;
- the worker’s base wage, incentives, and frequency of remuneration payments;
- duration of a regular working day or week.
Probation Period
When entering into an employment contract, a probationary period of up to 6 months may be agreed upon, with a termination notice period of at least 7 days during that time.
Types of Leaves in Croatia
Annual Leave
Employees are entitled to a minimum of 4 weeks full paid leave each year.
Sick Leave
An employee is entitled to up to 42 days of sick leave each year, which is compensated at 70% of the usual wage by the company. Any illness that lasts longer than 42 days is paid for by the employer and repaid by the Croatian health insurance fund.
Maternity Leave
Mothers must take maternity leave for 28 days before giving birth and up to 70 days afterward, with the option of taking additional leave until the child is six months old. The additional leave is usually unpaid, but often employers pay this as an additional benefit.
Paternity Leave
In Croatia, there is no statutory paternity leave. However, if the mother is unable to care for the child, the father can take over the mother’s statutory (70-day) leave.
Parental Leave
Each parent is entitled to 120 days of paid parental leave for each child, which must be taken by the employee before the child turns eight years old.
Public Holidays in Croatia
Public Holidays
- New Year’s Day – January 1st
- Three King’s Day – January 6th
- Easter – April 17-18
- Labour Day – May 1st
- Statehood Day – May 30th
- Corpus Christ – June 16th
- Anti-Fascist Struggle Day – June 22nd
- Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day – August 5th
- Assumption of Mary – August 15th
- All Saint’s Day – November 1st
- Remembrance Day – November 18th
- Christmas and St. Stephen’s Day – December 25-26