Understanding Nepal's Social Security Fund (SSF)

What the SSF actually covers

The Social Security Fund (SSF) is Nepal's government-run social insurance scheme that pools contributions from employers and employees into an individual account for each worker, then pays out across four areas: medical, health and maternity protection; accident and disability protection; dependent family protection if the contributor dies; and an old-age pension once the contributor retires. It's built to replace, and go further than, the older employer-run Provident Fund and Gratuity system, by making benefits portable across jobs instead of tied to a single employer.

Who has to register

Registration is mandatory for any employer with 10 or more employees, and voluntary for smaller employers, the self-employed, and informal-sector workers who choose to opt in. Once an employer is registered, each employee normally needs to be enrolled within a set window after their appointment date — check the SSF portal's current enrollment deadline rather than assuming it's open-ended, since missing it can leave a worker's contribution period with a gap.

How employer registration and enrollment work

Registration starts on the SSF's own portal (ssf.gov.np):

• The employer creates an account and uploads company registration and PAN documents.
• The employer adds each employee's details individually.
• Once an employee is added and verified, they receive their own SSF ID (SSFID) and login — which lets them see their own contribution history directly, rather than relying on the employer's payroll records alone.
• Check your own SSFID login periodically: a contribution that isn't showing up there hasn't actually been credited, even if it was deducted from your payslip.

The contribution split

Under the Contribution Based Social Security Act, 2074 (2018), the employee contributes 11% of basic remuneration — 10% to the pension fund and 1% as social security tax — while the employer contributes 20%: 10% to the pension fund, 8.33% as gratuity, and 1.67% as an additional contribution. That's 31% of basic remuneration deposited into the worker's account every month. This split is set in law, not adjusted every fiscal year the way income-tax slabs are, so it's stable enough to state directly — but confirm the current figure on ssf.gov.np or with your payroll team if you're relying on it for a calculation, since any future amendment would change it.

Common points of confusion

• Enrollment isn't automatic. An employer has to actively register you, and a small employer under the mandatory threshold may not be registered at all unless they've opted in voluntarily.
• SSF isn't the same as EPF or CIT. Some people confuse it with the older Employees Provident Fund (EPF) or Citizen Investment Trust (CIT) schemes — SSF is a separate, newer system, though some employers still run a legacy CIT/EPF alongside it during a transition period.
• A payslip deduction isn't proof of deposit. A line labelled "SSF" or "SSF contribution" is a strong sign you're enrolled, but confirming through your own SSFID login is the only way to be certain it was actually deposited, not just deducted.