Is the INSS contribution progressive or flat?

Since 2020 the employee contribution is progressive. Each slice of salary is taxed at its own marginal rate, exactly like income-tax brackets, rather than one flat rate applied to the whole salary.

What are the current INSS bands?

The 2025 table has four bands: 7.5% up to R$1,518.00, 9% up to R$2,793.88, 12% up to R$4,190.83, and 14% up to the ceiling of R$8,157.41. Salary above the ceiling adds no further employee contribution.

What is the INSS ceiling (teto)?

The teto is the maximum salary on which the employee contributes, currently R$8,157.41 per month. Above it the contribution stays fixed at its maximum, so high earners have a lower effective INSS rate.

Does the employer also pay INSS?

Yes. The employer pays roughly 20% of payroll on top of the employee deduction, plus RAT and terceiros that vary by sector. The tool shows the base 20% as a reference, not the full employer cost.

Why is the effective rate lower than 14%?

Because lower slices of your salary are taxed at 7.5%, 9%, and 12% before the 14% band applies. The effective rate is the total contribution divided by gross salary, which is always below the top marginal rate.

Brazil INSS Contribution Calculator

Work out the progressive INSS deduction on a Brazilian salary

INSS is Brazil’s mandatory social-security contribution, deducted from every CLT employee’s paycheck. Since the 2020 reform it is progressive, so a single flat-rate calculation overstates the deduction. This tool applies each band’s marginal rate to the correct slice of salary and shows the breakdown.

How it works

The 2025 employee table is implemented as four marginal bands:

up to 1,518.00       7.5%
1,518.01 - 2,793.88  9%
2,793.89 - 4,190.83  12%
4,190.84 - 8,157.41  14%

For each band, the tool taxes only the portion of salary that falls inside it. The amounts are summed to give the total employee contribution, and salary above the R$8,157.41 ceiling is ignored — that is what fixes the maximum contribution. It also reports the effective rate (contribution divided by gross) and the base 20% employer share for reference.

Example and notes

For a R$3,000 salary the contribution is 1,518.00 × 7.5% + (2,793.88 − 1,518.00) × 9% + (3,000 − 2,793.88) × 12% = 113.85 + 114.83 + 24.73 ≈ R$253.41, an effective rate of about 8.4%, well under the 12% marginal band.

The employer figure shown is only the base 20% patronal rate. Real employer cost adds RAT (1%–3% for accident risk) and terceiros (Sistema S, around 5.8%), which differ by company size, sector, and whether the firm is on the desoneração da folha regime. Use those local parameters for full payroll budgeting.