What is the cheapest way to run payroll in Myanmar?
The cheapest legal way to run Myanmar payroll is the founder running a free Excel template under 5 employees, then a free or starter-tier cloud HRMS at 5-15 employees (MMK 50,000-150,000/month), then an outsourced bureau or full-tier HRMS at 20+ employees. Below MMK 30,000/employee/month for compliant payroll is achievable. Excel past 20 employees is cheap upfront and expensive at audit.
What this looks like in practice
"Cheapest" in Myanmar payroll means meeting the legal floor — payslips under the Payment of Wages Law, PIT under the Union Tax Law 2025-2026, SSB at 5+ under the Social Security Law 2012 — at the lowest cost per employee per month. The floor is not zero. Below 5 employees, the founder can run it personally with a free Excel template. From 5 employees, statutory complexity makes purpose-built tooling cheaper than DIY error-correction.
Cheapest legal stack by company size
- 1–4 employees: Founder-run Excel template + free PIT calculator. Total cost: roughly free aside from founder time. Acceptable; under SSB threshold.
- 5–15 employees: Cloud HRMS starter tier (MMK 50,000–150,000/month). Includes PIT and SSB returns auto-generated. Best ROI bracket.
- 16–30 employees: Cloud HRMS standard tier (MMK 200,000–400,000/month) or a payroll bureau (MMK 30,000–50,000 per employee/month).
- 31+ employees: Cloud HRMS standard or premium tier (MMK 400,000–1,000,000/month) — bureau costs scale faster.
- Per-employee benchmark: MMK 8,000–25,000 per employee per month for compliant payroll software is achievable; MMK 30,000–60,000/employee/month for bureau service.
Costs you cannot skip
- Bank transfer fees — payroll sent via bank avoids cash-handling risk.
- SSB monthly contribution — employer share is 3% capped at MMK 9,000/employee/month.
- Mistake recovery — IRD or SSB late-payment penalty interest dwarfs any software-fee saving.
- Annual PIT reconciliation — even DIY users typically engage a CA for the 30 June annual filing (MMK 200,000–500,000 one-off).
Excel — when it's actually cheaper
Excel is free, fully accepted by IRD as long as the resulting forms are correct, and reasonable below 10 employees. Past that, IRD form generation, SSB return formatting, leave accruals, OT calc and audit-trail requirements compound. The "Excel saved us money" calculation usually flips negative around employee 15 once an HR officer's time and one IRD penalty are counted.
Employer takeaway
Cheapest compliant Myanmar payroll: founder + Excel below 5 employees, cloud HRMS starter tier at 5–15, standard tier or bureau past 20. Under MMK 25,000 per employee per month is realistic for software. Below MMK 30,000–60,000 per employee per month for bureau. The single most-failed cost-saving move is sticking with Excel past 20 employees — IRD and SSB error rates compound the saving away.
Pitfalls to avoid
- Excel past 20 employees — saving evaporates at first IRD or SSB error.
- Free spreadsheet downloaded from a forum — bracket tables are often outdated; always verify against UTL 2025-2026.
- No payslip — Payment of Wages Law violation regardless of cost.
- Founder-managed payroll past employee 5 — SSB filings overflow founder bandwidth.
- Switching tools mid-year without a year-to-date carry — payroll history breaks for annual reconciliation.
Related: running payroll without an HR person, outsourcing payroll, and migrating from manual to digital.
- Income Tax Law / Union Tax Law 2025-2026 — PAYE withholding
- Social Security Law 2012 — 5-employee threshold
- Payment of Wages Law — payslip and pay-cycle
- ESDL 2013 — appointment letter required for all employees
Related questions
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