The Republic of Moldova continues to rank among the countries with the lowest gross monthly salaries in Europe, alongside Ukraine, Kosovo, and Albania, with average earnings below €1,000. In contrast, Austria and Germany report gross monthly salaries exceeding €4,000, while Romania surpasses €1,850.
According to the international auditing and consulting firm Forvis Mazars, Moldova’s average gross salary in the private sector ranges between €745 and €770 per month. This data comes from a comprehensive report comparing tax regimes across 22 European countries and 3 in Central Asia, including Moldova, as cited by bani.md.
Even after adjusting for purchasing power parity (PPP), the income gap between Eastern and Western Europe remains significant, despite some signs of convergence.
However, Moldova distinguishes itself with one of the region’s lowest labor tax burdens. The “tax wedge”—the gap between the employer’s total cost and the employee’s net income—ranges from just 13% to 16% in Moldova. In comparison, the regional average is 38%, with countries like Germany and Slovakia exceeding 49%.
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Despite Moldova’s flat personal income tax rate of 10%, Romania’s overall tax burden still exceeds 40% due to high social security contributions.
Although the Mazars report doesn’t analyze Moldova’s corporate tax rate, it highlights wide variation across the region, from 9% in Hungary and 10% in Bulgaria and Bosnia to 30% in Germany. Romania applies a 16% corporate tax. But recent surtaxes on banks and large corporations have raised the effective burden.
In the area of digital tax administration, Moldova lags. Countries like Hungary and Romania have implemented advanced systems for VAT, invoicing, and reporting—such as e-Invoice, SAF-T, and e-Transport—while Moldova has made little progress in this direction.
Moreover, Moldova has yet to adopt the OECD’s global minimum tax rule of 15% for multinational groups with revenues exceeding €750 million. Fourteen countries in the region, including Austria, Poland, Hungary, and Romania, have already implemented this standard, signaling a deeper alignment with international tax practices.