Tier 2 is mandatory and does not go to SSNIT. Tier 3 is voluntary and reduces tax.
A guide for employers running payroll in Ghana — where the 5% actually goes, how a voluntary Tier 3 scheme sits next to it, and what each scheme expects to receive from you every month. Tier 1 is covered in the SSNIT Tier 1 guide.
The 5% is not SSNIT's money
This is the point employers most often get wrong, and it is expensive to get wrong, because remitting the whole 18.5% to SSNIT leaves the Tier 2 obligation unmet.
- 13.5% goes to SSNIT.
- That is Tier 1, the basic national scheme, and the only part SSNIT holds.
- 5% goes to a licensed trustee.
- That is Tier 2, a mandatory occupational scheme held outside SSNIT by a trustee your company appoints.
- Both come out of the same 18.5%.
- Tier 2 is not an extra cost on top. It is the part of the contribution you already deduct and pay that goes somewhere else.
- Two schedules, two recipients, one pay run.
- The split has to be right per employee, which is why it belongs in the calculation rather than in a spreadsheet afterwards.
Tier 2: the mandatory occupational scheme
Same base as Tier 1 — basic salary, not gross. Same money. Different destination.
- Who it covers.
- The same employees as Tier 1. There is no opt-out and no separate enrolment decision to make per person.
- How it is computed.
- As the balance of the 18.5% after the Tier 1 portion. In Factura the Tier 2 component is literally that subtraction, so the two tiers cannot drift apart or double-count: employee share plus employer share, less Tier 1.
- Where the cap shows up.
- Because Tier 1 is capped and Tier 2 is the remainder, the Tier 2 amount rises above 5% for very high basic salaries. For 2026 the Tier 1 cap is GHS 9,315 a month (13.5% of the GHS 69,000 maximum insurable earnings); it is set in each company’s pay-component formula.
- What the trustee receives.
- A monthly schedule, one line per employee: social security number, employee code, name, designation, basic pay for the period and the Tier 2 amount. In Factura this is the SSF 2nd Tier report, produced from the closed run.
Tier 3: voluntary, and tax-relieved
A third tier sits on top for employers and employees who want to save more than the mandatory 18.5%. Nothing about it is automatic — the rules are the scheme's, not the state's.
- It is a choice on both sides.
- An employer can offer a scheme; an employee can join one. Contributions can come from the employee, the employer, or both, and the rates are set by the scheme rather than by statute.
- A company can run several at once.
- A provident fund, a superannuation scheme, a group insurance scheme and a housing scheme can all exist in the same payroll, each with its own employee and employer rates — a percentage of basic pay for some, a flat monthly amount for others.
- Each employee joins the schemes that apply to them.
- Enrolment is per employee per scheme and carries its own start and end dates, so someone who joins in March is not contributing in February.
- Employee contributions attract tax relief.
- Tier 3 relief is given on combined employee and employer contributions up to 16.5% of the employee’s monthly basic salary. Factura works the same way: where the two together exceed 16.5% of basic, the excess is added back to chargeable income. The effect on take-home pay shows up in PAYE, which is set out in the PAYE guide.
- Both sides are computed in the same run as PAYE.
- The deduction and the tax on the reduced pay come out of one pass over the same figures, per employee, rather than from two calculations that have to be reconciled.
A worked example
One employee on a basic salary of GHS 2,000 a month, in a Tier 3 scheme taking 5% from the employee and 2.5% from the employer. Tier 3 rates are the scheme's own; these are one real configuration, not a standard.
| Line | Working | Amount (GHS) |
|---|---|---|
| Basic salary | Stated | 2,000.00 |
| Employee share, mandatory | 2,000 × 5.5% | 110.00 |
| Employer share, mandatory | 2,000 × 13% | 260.00 |
| Total mandatory | 110.00 + 260.00 | 370.00 |
| Tier 1 to SSNIT | 2,000 × 13.5%, under the cap | 270.00 |
| Tier 2 to the trustee | 370.00 − 270.00 | 100.00 |
| Tier 3, employee | 2,000 × 5% | 100.00 |
| Tier 3, employer | 2,000 × 2.5% | 50.00 |
| Tier 3 to the scheme | 100.00 + 50.00 | 150.00 |
Three payments leave the business for this one employee: 270.00 to SSNIT, 100.00 to the Tier 2 trustee, 150.00 to the Tier 3 scheme. The employee sees 110.00 and 100.00 come off their pay; the remaining 310.00 is employer cost.
How Factura HRMS does this
Tier 2 and Tier 3 are computed inside the pay run alongside Tier 1 and PAYE, per employee, from the same basic pay.
- Every tier is a pay component with a visible formulaTier 2 as the balance after Tier 1, each Tier 3 scheme with its own employee and employer rate or flat amount.
- Several Tier 3 schemes per companyProvident fund, superannuation, group insurance, housing — each a separate pair of components, each reported separately.
- Per-employee opt-ins, with datesAn employee is linked to the schemes they belong to, with a start and end date, so joining and leaving land in the right period.
- Schedules per scheme, from the closed runSSF 2nd Tier for the Tier 2 trustee; a per-scheme Tier 3 schedule for each provider, plus a contributions history per employee across periods.
- You file and remitFactura produces the schedules in the formats the schemes expect. It does not submit to a trustee, a scheme or SSNIT, and it does not move money.
Questions employers ask
Can we send the whole 18.5% to SSNIT?
No. SSNIT holds Tier 1 only. The 5% Tier 2 portion belongs to an occupational scheme held by a licensed trustee, and paying it to SSNIT leaves the Tier 2 obligation outstanding.
Is Tier 2 an extra cost on top of 18.5%?
No. It is part of the same 18.5%. The cost does not change; the destination does.
Do we have to offer Tier 3?
No. Tier 3 is voluntary for both employer and employee. Some companies run several schemes, some run none, and an employee can be in one scheme and not another.
Does Factura remit to our trustee or scheme provider?
No. It produces the monthly schedule each scheme expects, from the closed run. Submitting it and paying the money is done by you.
Can different employees be on different Tier 3 schemes?
Yes. Enrolment is per employee per scheme and is date-effective, so an employee who joins mid-year starts contributing in the period they joined and not before.
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