---
name: ls-payroll-social
description: "Source-cited draft: payroll & social contributions for Lesotho (tax year 2025) — rates, thresholds and rules with primary-source citations. Unverified; pending local-accountant review."
license: "AGPL-3.0-or-later (code) / OpenAccountants Guide License v1.0 (content)"
metadata:
  source: openaccountants
  openaccountants_url: "https://www.openaccountants.com/skills/ls-payroll-social"
  jurisdiction: "LS"
  tax_year: "2025"
  last_updated: "2026-07-13"
  review_status: "pending_review"
---

# Lesotho Payroll & Social Contributions

## Payroll withholding and social contributions

- **General overview** — Employers operate PAYE on employee salaries and remit it to the RSL monthly. Lesotho has historically had no comprehensive mandatory national social-security or pension scheme for private-sector employees, so contribution practice varies — the items below are flagged for accountant confirmation.
- **PAYE withholding** — Employers must deduct PAYE from employees' chargeable employment income each pay period and remit it to RSL  _(Income Tax Act (https://www.rsl.org.ls/personal-income-tax))_
- **PAYE rate scale** — 20% up to LSL 74,040/year, 30% above, less the LSL 1,056/month personal tax credit percent percent  _(Income Tax Act (https://www.rsl.org.ls/personal-income-tax))_
- **PAYE remittance deadline** — 15th of the month following the month of deduction ((approx — confirm))  _(Income Tax Act (https://www.rsl.org.ls/income-tax))_
- **Mandatory national social security** — No comprehensive mandatory contributory national social-security/pension scheme for private-sector employees; a non-contributory old-age pension is funded from general revenue ((approx — confirm; some providers report employer/employee pension deductions for specific schemes))  _(Old Age Pensions Act (https://www.rsl.org.ls/))_
- **Employer/employee pension contributions** — Where a private/occupational pension or provident scheme applies, employer and employee contributions are commonly around 5% each of gross salary percent ((approx — scheme-specific, not a universal statutory rate; confirm)) percent  _(Employer occupational pension scheme rules (https://asanify.com/global-employer-of-record/lesotho/salary-structure/))_
- **Contribution wage base / cap** — No universal statutory social-security wage cap (scheme-specific where occupational pensions apply) ((approx — confirm))  _(Employer occupational pension scheme rules)_
- **Annual PAYE reconciliation** — Employers file an annual PAYE reconciliation/return summarising deductions and issue employee certificates ((approx — confirm form and due date))  _(Income Tax Act (https://www.rsl.org.ls/personal-income-tax))_
- **Late PAYE remittance penalty** — Penalties plus interest on amounts remitted late ((approx — confirm exact penalty and interest rates))  _(Income Tax Act (https://www.rsl.org.ls/personal-income-tax))_

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## Talk to a verified accountant

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> **General reference only.** This document does not constitute tax, legal, or
> financial advice. Verify figures against the cited primary sources or with a
> licensed professional before relying on them.

## Today's figures and who stands behind this skill

This file is an AI skill (tax rules your AI follows) from OpenAccountants, copied on 2026-07-13. Rates, thresholds and deadlines change. For the current version of this skill, its official sources and the named accountant (if any) who stands behind it, call `get_skill` with slug `ls-payroll-social` on the OpenAccountants connector (https://www.openaccountants.com/connect), or read https://www.openaccountants.com/skills/ls-payroll-social. If neither is available, confirm every figure against the official source pages cited above before relying on it.