---
title: "MITP minimum tax floor per employee (2026)"
slug: mitp-minimum-employee-floor-calculation
description: "Moldova's MITP regime sets a per-employee floor of MDL 5,220 per month for 2026. When it exceeds 7% of turnover, it binds. Here is the calculation."
published: 2026-05-24T00:00:00.000Z
updated: 2026-06-03T00:00:00.000Z
language: en
category: "Tax & Compliance"
author: "Incorpore Advisory"
canonical: https://incorpore.md/en/blog/mitp-minimum-employee-floor-calculation/
---

# MITP minimum tax floor per employee (2026)

> Moldova's MITP regime sets a per-employee floor of MDL 5,220 per month for 2026. When it exceeds 7% of turnover, it binds. Here is the calculation.

The 7% turnover figure attracts founders to the *Moldova IT Park* regime, and rightly so. What the headline rate does not communicate is the per-employee floor that governs low-revenue months and early-stage companies. Understanding this floor is, in practice, the most important piece of [MITP arithmetic](/en/blog/moldova-it-tax-benefits/) a new resident needs to master.

## Table of contents

- [What the MITP floor is and why it exists](#what-the-mitp-floor-is-and-why-it-exists)
- [How the calculation works](#how-the-calculation-works)
- [When the floor bites: low-revenue months and early-stage companies](#when-the-floor-bites-low-revenue-months-and-early-stage-companies)
- [Worked example: three employees over four months](#worked-example-three-employees-over-four-months)
- [Planning around the floor](#planning-around-the-floor)
- [Next steps](#next-steps)

## What the MITP floor is and why it exists

The *Moldova IT Park* (MITP) operates under [Law 77/2016](https://www.legis.md/cautare/getResults?doc_id=137574&lang=ro). The unified 7% tax replaces corporate income tax, personal income tax on salaries, employer and employee social contributions, medical insurance, real estate tax, road tax, and several local levies. The single rate is what makes the regime attractive; the floor is what keeps it honest.

Without a floor, a company could register one token employee, generate minimal payroll, and pay near-zero tax on turnover that may still be commercially significant. The floor prevents that. [SFS](https://www.sfs.md/) — the State Fiscal Service — enforces a minimum monthly tax per employee equal to 30% of the forecast national average monthly salary for the relevant year. For 2026, that figure is **MDL 5,220 per month, per employee**.

The floor is recalculated annually by reference to the official forecast salary published by the Moldovan government. Founders planning multi-year models should build in a modest upward drift: the national average salary has risen each year, and the floor moves with it.

> The MITP floor is not a penalty — it is the minimum contribution per seat that sustains the social and fiscal consolidation the regime provides.

## How the calculation works

The MITP tax owed for any period is the **greater of**:

- **7% of actual gross turnover** for the period; or
- **MDL 5,220 × number of qualifying employees × number of months in the period**.

"Number of qualifying employees" means employees who worked at least one calendar day during the period under a formal employment contract registered with the company. Part-time staff count as one employee for the floor calculation regardless of contracted hours. An employee who joins on the last working day of a month counts for that entire month.

The period is typically monthly, matching the MITP periodic filing cycle. The company declares its turnover, calculates 7% of that figure, then calculates the floor for the same period, and remits whichever is higher.

**The 30% rule in practice.** The MDL 5,220 figure is derived from the government's 2026 forecast average monthly salary of MDL 17,400, multiplied by 30%. Founders sometimes ask whether 30% refers to the actual salary paid to each employee; it does not. It is a statutory floor based on the national forecast average, entirely independent of what individual employees actually earn. An employee paid MDL 20,000 per month and an employee paid MDL 8,000 per month each contribute exactly MDL 5,220 to the floor calculation.

**What "one day worked" means.** The relevant criterion is whether the employee was under an active employment contract for at least one calendar day in the period. Leave, sick leave, and national holidays do not reduce the count; the employment contract must simply be in force and the employee must not be suspended or on an unpaid leave that takes them off payroll entirely for that month.

## When the floor bites: low-revenue months and early-stage companies

The floor becomes the binding constraint whenever the product of headcount and MDL 5,220 exceeds 7% of turnover. The breakeven point per employee is straightforward: a single employee requires monthly turnover of at least MDL 74,571 before the 7% rate generates more tax than the floor (MDL 74,571 × 7% = MDL 5,220).

Early-stage companies face this arithmetic most acutely. A founder who [registers the company](/en/blog/moldova-it-company-setup/), takes on two employees in month one, and bills MDL 60,000 in the first month owes the floor for two employees: MDL 10,440. The 7% of MDL 60,000 would have been MDL 4,200, but the floor governs.

The same logic applies seasonally. An established MITP company with four employees billing MDL 1.2M annually might average MDL 100,000 per month in turnover. At 7%, monthly tax is MDL 7,000. The four-employee floor is MDL 20,880. The floor dominates every month until turnover reaches MDL 298,286 per month — approximately MDL 3.6M annually — for that headcount.

This is not a defect in the regime; it reflects the reality that MITP was designed for genuinely operating IT businesses, not shells. The floor ensures every resident makes a minimum contribution proportionate to its employment footprint.

## Worked example: three employees over four months

Suppose an MITP-resident SRL has three employees throughout a four-month period and records gross turnover of MDL 500,000 across those four months.

**Floor calculation:**

MDL 5,220 × 3 employees × 4 months = **MDL 62,640**

**Turnover-based calculation:**

MDL 500,000 × 7% = **MDL 35,000**

The floor is MDL 62,640; the turnover tax is MDL 35,000. The company owes **MDL 62,640** for the period.

To break even — that is, for the 7% rate to equal or exceed the floor with three employees over four months — the company would need turnover of at least MDL 894,857 over those four months (roughly MDL 223,714 per month). Founders modelling different headcount and revenue mixes can run the same arithmetic in the [MITP calculator](/en/tools/mitp-calculator/). At MDL 1M in turnover for the period, the 7% rate (MDL 70,000) would exceed the floor (MDL 62,640) and the turnover-based figure would apply.

The practical takeaway: low-margin months in an otherwise healthy business rarely cause structural problems, provided the annual turnover is sufficient. The issue arises when a company builds headcount ahead of revenue, a common pattern in early-stage technology businesses.

## Planning around the floor

Several practical responses are available once founders understand how the floor operates, and they sit within broader [Moldova IT tax planning](/en/blog/moldova-it-tax-strategies/).

**Timing employee headcount.** Founding employees who join under formal contracts before commercial revenue is generating trigger the floor from day one. Where a founder is actively building the product before first revenue, it is worth modelling whether formal employment contracts — as opposed to consulting or service agreements with a holding company — should begin at formation or after the first revenue milestone is reached. The decision has substance and labour-law implications beyond tax, but the floor arithmetic should factor into it.

**MITP versus standard CIT.** For companies at an early stage with high headcount relative to revenue, the standard 12% CIT regime under [Codul Fiscal Title II](https://www.legis.md/cautare/getResults?doc_id=99834&lang=ro) — combined with the 0% reinvested-profits scheme available to qualifying SMEs with turnover up to MDL 100M and up to 249 employees — may produce a lower effective tax burden than MITP during the build phase. The 0% rate applies to undistributed profit; tax only crystallises on dividend distribution at 12% CIT plus 6% withholding. For a pre-revenue or low-revenue company with genuine payroll costs, the CIT base is depressed by those costs, and the floor does not apply.

The comparison is not automatic. MITP brings payroll tax consolidation that the standard regime does not offer, and the simplification value is real. However, founders who enter MITP early with a large team and low initial revenues sometimes discover the floor creates a higher tax burden than the standard CIT route would have during the first twelve to eighteen months. Modelling both paths before formation is the correct approach.

> A company that enters MITP the moment it has staff, without projecting the floor against forecast turnover, may pay more tax in year one than it would have under the standard CIT regime.

**Monitoring the floor throughout the year.** Finance teams should track the floor versus 7%-of-turnover comparison monthly, not annually. This allows timely adjustments: deferring a new hire by a month, accelerating a revenue milestone, or re-evaluating the structure if the floor persistently dominates. Monthly monitoring is straightforward once the MDL 5,220 figure is built into the management accounts.

For a complete explanation of the MITP regime — eligibility, qualifying activities, and the annual compliance cycle — see [Moldova IT tax benefits: the 7% MITP regime and filing](/en/blog/moldova-it-park-7-percent-tax/). For companies weighing MITP against the standard regime, [Moldova's 0% reinvested profits tax](/en/blog/moldova-0-reinvested-profits-tax/) sets out the alternative in full.

## Next steps

The MITP floor calculation is straightforward once the variables are clear: MDL 5,220 per employee per month, compared against 7% of actual turnover, with the higher figure owed. The planning work — matching headcount timing to revenue ramp, choosing between MITP and the standard CIT regime — is where founders benefit most from specialist input before the structure is set. For fintech founders, the same arithmetic interacts with licensing and AML obligations covered in the [IT and fintech setup guide](/en/blog/guide-starting-it-fintech-business-moldova/).

For more on company formation in Moldova and structuring options, see the [company formation overview](/en/company-formation-moldova/). Structuring questions — including the MITP versus standard CIT comparison — are addressed on the first advisory call before any documents are prepared.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the MITP minimum tax floor per employee for 2026?

The floor is MDL 5,220 per qualifying employee per month, derived from 30% of the 2026 forecast national average monthly salary of MDL 17,400. It applies to every employee who worked at least one calendar day in the reporting period under a registered employment contract.

### Does the floor apply if my company has zero revenue?

Yes. The MITP tax is the higher of (a) 7% of turnover and (b) MDL 5,220 multiplied by qualifying headcount multiplied by months in the period. A new SRL with no revenue but two FTEs for a full quarter still owes MDL 5,220 × 2 × 3 = MDL 31,320 for that quarter.

### What counts as one qualifying employee for the floor calculation?

Any individual under a formal employment contract registered with the company who was on the payroll for at least one calendar day in the period. Part-time staff count as one, regardless of contracted hours. Consultants, service-agreement contractors, and unpaid suspensions do not count.

### How does the floor interact with the headline 7% turnover rate?

The two are calculated separately and the higher figure is owed. The breakeven per employee is monthly turnover of MDL 74,571, at which 7% (MDL 5,220) matches the floor. Below that level the floor binds; above it the 7% rate binds.

### Can I switch out of MITP if the floor makes it more expensive than standard CIT?

Yes, but the exit is administrative rather than instant. Resident status is granted and withdrawn by the MITP administration on application, and the switch generally takes effect from the start of the following reporting period. The standard 12% CIT regime — and the 0% reinvested-profits scheme for qualifying SMEs — becomes available on departure.

### Does the floor still apply if an employee works only part of the month?

Yes. The floor is a monthly figure per qualifying employee, not a daily pro-rata. An employee on the payroll for a single day in the month counts as one full employee for that month, contributing MDL 5,220 to the floor calculation.