How to pay contractors in North Macedonia

How to choose: five questions for paying a contractor in North Macedonia

1. Is the contractor an individual, a trgovec poedinec or a DOOEL? An individual paid from abroad has no employer to withhold tax, so they file an e-PDD advance return by the 10th of the following month, pay 10% by the 15th, and attach proof: a confirmation from the payer, a bank statement, the services contract (ujp.gov.mk, checked 2026-09-29). A registered individual trader or a DOOEL issues invoices and keeps books instead. If you pay an individual, choose a platform that produces the contract and a payment confirmation every month, or send those documents yourself. If the contractor invoices through a company, a bank transfer or Wise is enough.

2. Does the contractor work for you full-time, under your direction? The Labour Relations Law defines employment as work done personally and continuously within the employer’s organised process, following its instructions and under its supervision (Art. 5; aa.mk, checked 2026-09-29). A developer on your hours and your tools, with no other clients, fits that description. The government also wants a new Labour Relations Law agreed by the end of 2026, covering remote work and digital platforms (pari.com.mk, checked 2026-09-29). If the contractor has several clients and sets their own schedule, a payout tool is enough. If they work for you full-time, use a Contractor of Record, which signs the contract with the contractor (see contractor misclassification). 4dev acts as Contractor of Record — the contracting party for each contractor — which reduces reclassification risk. Read the liability clause in any COR contract, not the product name. If the role is really a job, Deel, Remote and Multiplier run Contractor of Record and EOR on one platform.

3. EUR or USD? The receiving side decides much of the cost. At Stopanska Banka an individual pays €0.16 to receive up to €500 by SEPA and €2 up to €12,500, while a SWIFT inflow costs 1% of the amount with a MKD 250 minimum; a legal entity pays a flat €5–€20 per SEPA inflow, depending on the amount (stb.com.mk; business tariff, checked 2026-09-29). On a $4,000 monthly fee paid by SWIFT, that 1% is $40 out of the contractor’s pocket. SEPA carries euros only and always splits charges (SHA). If you can price the contract in euros, pay by SEPA or through a platform that pays euros to an IBAN. If it must be dollars, write into the contract who carries the receiving bank’s fee.

4. How much do you pay per month? Platforms charge a percentage per payout, a monthly seat or a flat fee. At 3%, a percentage fee equals a $29 seat at about $967 a month and a $40 seat at about $1,333. The 2026 average gross salary is MKD 69,141 (ujp.gov.mk, checked 2026-09-29), about $1,276 at the National Bank’s 29 September 2026 middle rate of 54.2033 MKD per USD (nbrm.mk, checked 2026-09-29), so a contractor billing the average gross salary is already past both break-even points. Below about $1,000 a month a percentage fee is cheaper; above about $1,300 a seat costs less. Warn the contractor before a large one-off payment: an inflow of €50,000 or more is credited only after they give the bank supporting documents (stb.com.mk, checked 2026-09-29).

5. Will a Macedonian company in your group do the paying? Residents may express a contract’s value in foreign currency, but payment between residents must be made in denars (Law on Foreign Exchange Operations, Art. 4; crm.com.mk, checked 2026-09-29). If a local subsidiary pays a local trgovec poedinec or DOOEL, it pays MKD, even under a euro-priced contract. If the payer is your company abroad, pay euros or dollars to the contractor’s foreign-currency account.

Rule of thumb. A contractor with several clients who invoices through a company in euros: SEPA, Wise or a percentage-fee platform. An individual who needs a contract and payment confirmation for every monthly return: a contractor platform with a document flow. One client, full-time, your hours and tools: a Contractor of Record. Compare the full field in the contractor payouts rating.

Payout rails that work in North Macedonia in 2026

What the contractor needs to get paid

A Macedonian contractor works in one of three forms:

• An individual on a service contract. Income from occasional or temporary services to foreign legal or natural persons is income from work (Law on Personal Income Tax, Art. 14; isos.mk, checked 2026-09-29), taxed at a flat 10% (PwC Tax Summaries, reviewed 2026-07-23). The contractor files an e-PDD by the 10th of the following month and pays by the 15th.
• An individual trader (trgovec poedinec). Registered in the Central Registry, keeps books and pays 10% on revenue less expenses (Law on Personal Income Tax, Art. 21), plus monthly social contributions on a base of at least MKD 34,570 in 2026 (ujp.gov.mk, checked 2026-09-29).
• A single-member company (DOOEL). Needs EUR 5,000 of share capital (investnorthmacedonia.gov.mk, checked 2026-09-29). Profit tax is 10%; companies with revenue up to MKD 3 million are exempt, and those between MKD 3 million and 6 million pay 1% of revenue (PwC Tax Summaries, reviewed 2026-07-23).

To receive money from abroad, the contractor holds a foreign-currency account in the currency of the payment (stb.com.mk, checked 2026-09-29). A registered business must register for VAT once turnover in the previous calendar year exceeds MKD 2,000,000, about €32,430 at the 29 September 2026 middle rate; the standard rate is 18% (PwC Tax Summaries, reviewed 2026-07-23). To support the place of supply of a B2B service, the supplier keeps a certificate of the client’s VAT or similar registration number (EY, checked 2026-09-29), so a VAT-registered contractor may ask you for one. Classification, contributions and IP are in our hiring guide.

Documents and tax on the payer’s side

Withholding. A foreign client pays gross and withholds nothing. The contractor self-assesses: an individual through the monthly e-PDD, a trader or DOOEL through its own returns. With each e-PDD, the individual attaches a confirmation from the payer, a bank statement and the services contract or similar documents (ujp.gov.mk, checked 2026-09-29).

US payers. Collect Form W-8BEN from an individual or trader, W-8BEN-E from a DOOEL. The US has no income tax treaty with North Macedonia: it is not on the IRS treaty list (irs.gov, checked 2026-09-29). Pay for services is sourced where the work is done, so work performed in North Macedonia is foreign-source income (irs.gov, checked 2026-09-29) and needs no Form 1099-NEC.

What to keep on file:

• the signed services contract, with scope, rate, currency and payment schedule, and a description of how the contractor works (own hours, own equipment, other clients);
• invoices from a trader or DOOEL, or a monthly payment confirmation for an individual;
• payment confirmations with the SEPA or SWIFT reference;
• the W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E, if you are a US payer.

On a platform or Contractor of Record model, you keep the platform’s invoice to you, and the platform holds the contract and payment records with the contractor.

Where it breaks

• The tax office asks the contractor about your payments. On 1 December 2025 UJP said it checks bank data on foreign inflows and calls in people who received money from abroad and did not report it, including for past years (ujp.gov.mk, checked 2026-09-29). An individual without a contract and payer confirmation cannot document the income, so send the confirmation each month and put the contract number and period in the payment reference.
• Large or indirect inflows wait for documents. An inflow of €50,000 or more, and a transfer from the contractor’s own account abroad to their Macedonian account, are credited only after the recipient hands in supporting documents (Stopanska Banka, citing the National Bank’s decision on payments with abroad, stb.com.mk, checked 2026-09-29). That second case covers a contractor moving a foreign wallet balance home.
• Less money arrives than you sent. A SWIFT inflow costs an individual 1% at Stopanska Banka, on top of intermediary charges on SHA or BEN wires. On euros, SEPA avoids most of it; on dollars, agree in the contract who pays.
• The contractor’s bank is not on SEPA yet. Nine banks went live on 7 October 2025 and Silk Road Bank on 9 December 2025 (faktor.mk, checked 2026-09-29); the National Bank set the end of Q1 2026 for the rest. If your bank sends a euro payment by SWIFT, the old correspondent charges apply. Ask the contractor to confirm their bank handles SEPA before the first payment.
• Wrong currency account. A contractor with only a denar account, or only a euro account when you send dollars, has to open an account in the payment’s currency first.
• Paying from a Macedonian entity. Payments between residents must be settled in denars, even when the contract is priced in euros (Law on Foreign Exchange Operations, Art. 4, crm.com.mk, checked 2026-09-29). A local subsidiary pays a local contractor in MKD.