Multi-island employer payroll tax and take-home pay calculator (2026 rates)

How the employer cost is calculated

The calculator applies each jurisdiction’s 2026 rules in the order the authority requires. Order matters most in Jamaica, where the employee NIS deduction reduces the base for Education Tax and income tax. Elsewhere the key step is the ceiling: contributions are charged on the lower of gross pay and the insurable earnings cap.

The same structure runs for all 12 jurisdictions; the line items and their bases are shown under the result.

Three ways to employ the same person

The comparison under the line items prices the same salary and statutory cost three ways. With your own local entity you pay a payroll bureau, benchmarked at $45 per employee per month (market range $25–$65 plus $500–$2,500 set-up per island). A direct regional EOR or PEO is benchmarked at $250 PEPM with mid-market FX. A global aggregator EOR is benchmarked at its $599 list fee plus a 2.5% FX spread on payroll and statutory funding.

Why the burden percentage falls on higher salaries

Where social security is capped, the employer’s cost in absolute terms stops at the ceiling. In Trinidad and Tobago, employer NIS on TTD 13,600 a month is TTD 1,468.80; on TTD 30,000 it is still TTD 1,468.80, so the burden falls from 10.8% to 4.9%. Barbados behaves the same way above BBD 5,360, except for the uncapped 0.25% RRF levy. Jamaica is the opposite case: only NIS is capped, so a senior Jamaican salary still carries about 9.5% of uncapped employer levies.

For budgeting a mixed team, run the calculator at each salary band rather than applying one percentage to the total payroll.

What the calculator does not include

• Personal allowances and deductions beyond the standard ones: Bermuda employee payroll tax uses the 2026 bands (0.5%–12.5% to BMD 1M), Puerto Rico Hacienda withholding uses the $3,500 personal exemption only, Curaçao wage tax uses a benchmark ANG 2,500 basic credit and Aruba the AWG 30,000 tax-free threshold. Dependants, mortgage and pension deductions are not applied.
• Pension plans, health insurance and allowances that are contractual rather than statutory, except the Cayman SHIC benchmark and the Bermuda occupational pension, which are mandatory.
• Work permit fees, which depend on role and nationality; see the work permits and CSME guide.