Everyone budgets on base salary. Invoices don’t work that way.
A US company hires a senior engineer in Poland at $70,000. The offer letter says $70,000. The hiring plan says $70,000. Then the first monthly invoice arrives, and the annualized number is closer to $90,000. Nothing went wrong — that’s simply what employing someone compliantly costs. But if the budget was built on the base salary, the conversation with finance is not fun.
Here’s the full breakdown, line by line, for 2026.
The Poland Invoice
| Line item | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $70,000 | What the offer letter says |
| Employer social contributions (ZUS) | ~$14,000 | ~19–22% of gross; tech employers sit near ~20% |
| PPK pension plan (if enrolled) | ~$1,050 | Employer’s 1.5%; employees are auto-enrolled but can opt out |
| EOR fee | ~$5,000–7,000 | Market rates run $400–600/month for a compliant EOR |
| All-in | ~$90,000 |
The employer’s ZUS contribution covers pension (9.76%), disability (6.5%), accident insurance (0.67–3.33% depending on sector), the Labor Fund (2.45%), and the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund (0.1%). One detail worth knowing: the pension and disability portions stop once annual pay crosses PLN 282,600 (roughly the high $70Ks), so the effective rate tapers for top-of-market salaries.
The US Seat It Replaces
| Line item | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $130,000 | Typical senior generalist, per our salary guide |
| Payroll taxes | ~$11,000 | FICA 7.65% plus unemployment insurance |
| Benefits | ~$20,000–25,000 | Health insurance employer share, 401(k) match, workers’ comp |
| All-in | ~$165,000 |
The standard US rule of thumb — real employment cost runs 25–35% above base — holds up in 2026.
Notice What Happened
The headline comparison was $70K vs. $130K: Poland looked 46% cheaper. The all-in comparison is ~$90K vs. ~$165K: still ~45% cheaper. The percentage barely moved — and the dollar savings actually grew, from $60K to roughly $75K per seat per year.
So the arbitrage survives contact with the payroll system. What doesn’t survive is a budget built on base salary. Companies plan $70K, discover the all-in number mid-process, and either lose their finalist while re-approving budget or quietly eat the overrun. The fix costs nothing: budget the all-in number from day one.
The Regional Fine Print
Employer on-costs vary more across Eastern Europe than most hiring plans assume:
| Country | Employer on-cost | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Poland | ~19–22% | Pension/disability portions cap above ~PLN 282,600/year |
| Bulgaria | ~19% | Hard-capped insurable income — maxes out around $6K/year regardless of salary |
| Romania | 2.25% | Nearly all contributions sit on the employee side since the 2018 reform |
| Ukraine | 22% | Applied to a capped base; most international engagements use contractor models instead |
Romania’s number looks like a typo. It isn’t — Romanian law shifted social contributions almost entirely onto the employee side, which means Romanian gross salaries already “contain” them. That’s also the trap: a Romanian gross and a Polish gross are not the same object, and comparing them directly overstates Romania’s cost. The only comparison that means anything is all-in cost per seat.
The Three Budgeting Mistakes We See
The first is budgeting base salary and discovering employer costs mid-hire. The second is comparing gross salaries across countries as if they were built the same way — they aren’t. The third is treating the EOR fee as overhead to minimize rather than what it actually replaces: a local entity, which typically costs tens of thousands of dollars a year to establish and maintain before the first employee is even hired.
Get the math right up front and global hiring is exactly what the spreadsheet promised — just invoiced differently.
Planning an international hire and want the all-in number for a specific role and country before you open the req? Talk to RemoteMore →
Sources: Polish ZUS rates and the 2026 contribution cap per PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries and Boundless 2026 payroll guides; Romanian contribution structure per PwC; EOR market pricing per 2026 industry pricing surveys (market median ~$400/employee/month); US employer burden per standard FICA rates and employer benefits data. Figures are directional planning numbers — exact costs vary by contract type, sector accident-insurance class, and provider.
