Before you start

An employment contract with an Ivorian employer, who registers you with the DGI and CNPS and operates the withholding
A CNPS number, obtained by the employer, which follows you between Ivorian jobs
Your marriage and birth certificates, without which you are taxed as a single person with no children all year

Step-by-step

1
Let the employer withhold the ITS
Since 1 January 2024 there is one salary tax, not three, charged on monthly bands: nothing up to XOF 75,000, then 16% to 240,000, 21% to 800,000, 24% to 2,400,000, 28% to 8,000,000 and 32% above. Your payslip should show a single ITS line where older payslips showed IS, CN and IGR separately.
Via employerWho: Your employerFrom your first payslip0–32% of monthly taxable salary
2
Register your family 'parts'
The reform replaced the quotient familial with a réduction d'impôt pour charges de famille deducted from the gross tax, not from your income. One part for a single person with no dependants is worth nothing; two parts is XOF 11,000 a month, rising in XOF 5,500 steps to XOF 44,000 at the five-part ceiling. Hand HR the certificates at onboarding — the reduction is applied forward, not corrected backward.
Via employerWho: You (evidence) and your employer (application)At onboarding and whenever your household changesFree — worth up to XOF 44,000/month
3
Check the CNPS and CMU lines
Employees contribute 6.3% to the CNPS retirement fund, capped at a monthly salary of XOF 3,375,000, plus XOF 500 a month toward the CMU which the employer matches. The employer separately pays 7.7% retirement, 5% family benefits, 0.75% maternity and 2–5% occupational injury, all capped at XOF 70,000 a month except retirement.
Via employerWho: Your employerFrom your first payslip6.3% capped + XOF 500 CMU
4
Settle your residence position before your first full year
Côte d'Ivoire taxes residents on worldwide income and non-residents only on Ivorian-source income, and treaty relationships exist with France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Canada, Belgium, Norway, Morocco, Tunisia, the UAE and the other WAEMU states. Note two hard limits: individuals are generally granted no foreign tax credit, and home-country social contributions are not creditable here.
OnlineWho: You, with an adviserBefore your first full tax yearAdviser fees

Documents you’ll need

Employment contract and CNPS number
Marriage certificate and children's birth certificates for the family reduction
Monthly payslips showing the ITS and CNPS lines
A tax-residence certificate from your home country if you are claiming treaty relief

Things most newcomers don’t know

Moving up-country saves rent, not tax.

The ITS scale, the CNPS rates and the family reduction are all national, with no regional variation whatsoever. A salary that nets a given amount in Cocody nets exactly the same in Yakro — the entire gain is in housing, where the gap is genuinely large.

Source: Ordonnance n° 2023-719; DGI note n° 00026

Hiring you costs your employer 12% in payroll tax, against 2.8% for a local employee.

Article 146 of the tax code, as amended by the 2025 finance annex, sets the employer's contribution at 2.8% on local staff and 12% on expatriates — a 9.2-point surcharge on gross pay with no ceiling. It never shows on your payslip, but it shapes what an employer can offer and why local hiring is pushed hard.

Source: DGI note de service n° 00026 du 3 janvier 2024; annexe fiscale 2025, art. 16

The 2024 reform removed the 20% abatement, so the base is now gross.

The old system taxed 80% of remuneration. Article 119 now reads 'le total des rémunérations' with no abatement, and CNPS and the employer contribution bite on the full gross too. A high earner with no dependants — whose family reduction is zero — is measurably worse off than under the old regime.

Source: Ordonnance n° 2023-719 du 13 septembre 2023

Common mistakes to avoid

Budgeting from a pre-2024 guide that still describes the IS + CN + IGR stack or applies the 20% abatement
Trusting an Ivorian online salary calculator — several widely-indexed ones publish bracket thresholds that do not match the ordinance
Failing to hand HR your marriage and birth certificates and being taxed at one part all year
Assuming foreign rental or investment income is out of scope once you are resident
Expecting home-country social contributions to be creditable — they are not

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.

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