Working in Togo: Employment for a French National, Minimum Wage, Contributions, Income Tax and the Economy

The Togolese Labour Code, in the text published on the website of the International Labour Organization, provides that the recruitment of a foreign worker, in Togo or outside Togo, is preceded by a hiring authorisation and is the subject of a written employment contract, endorsed by the Director General of Labour. The application for authorisation and the visa application are the employer’s responsibility; the visa is valid for 2 years at most, renewable once, with possible exemptions granted by the Minister of Labour, and the renewal application is filed at least two months before expiry. The version of the code in force should be confirmed with the labour administration.

The Togolese public services portal also describes an authorisation to enter the territory for the purpose of working, compulsory for any professional activity other than tourism, valid for three months and filed in person at the ministry in charge of security. The file includes a copy of the applicant’s passport, the identity document of the inviting party and the economic operator card or the company’s authorisation to set up. Once on site, the employee applies for a residence card from the Directorate General of National Documentation; the guide to living in Togo details these formalities.

Three situations arise. The local contract ties the employee to a Togolese employer and affiliates them to the CNSS: CLEISS points out that any French national carrying out a professional activity in Togo, outside a secondment, is subject to Togolese social security legislation. The expatriate contract is a contract endorsed by the labour administration, often accompanied by a package (housing, schooling, plane tickets, health cover). Secondment keeps the employee in the French scheme when their French employer sends them to Togo under the agreement.

The Labour Code sets normal working time at 40 hours a week, excluding agricultural holdings, and caps the length of a fixed-term contract at 4 years, renewals included. Before signing, ask in writing about the nature of the contract, the coverage of health costs and medical repatriation, the cover for dependants and the position during your stays in France. The guide to seconded or expat and the glossary entry on the local contract explain the differences between these statuses.

The Togolese SMIG and the guaranteed agricultural minimum wage are 52,500 CFA francs a month since 1 January 2023, or about €80 at the rate of 655.957 CFA francs to €1, for 40 hours of work a week (CLEISS). An order made public on 2 January 2023 raised it to this level from 35,000 CFA francs, after discussions between the private sector and the trade unions (Ministry of Finance).

The official sources consulted publish no pay scale by occupation: above the SMIG floor, the pay of managers and technicians is negotiated position by position and by sector. To compare an offer, convert each element at the fixed parity and ask for the detail of what the employer covers, in particular health insurance and medical repatriation.

The National Social Security Fund (CNSS) administers pensions, occupational risks and family benefits and collects contributions. The table below gives the rates published by CLEISS on 1 January 2026: the contribution base cannot be lower than the SMIG. On top comes universal health insurance (AMU), effective for private-sector workers since 1 January 2024: according to the general conditions published by the CNSS, the contribution is 10% of pay, 5% paid by the employer and 5% by the employee. Cover is 80% of the reference tariff for the procedure, after a waiting period of 3 months from registration, and care abroad is excluded unless otherwise provided.

CLEISS also points out that the Labour Code, in its June 2021 version, requires every employer to take out for its workers an insurance contract covering sickness and non-occupational accidents, with the contributions shared between the employer and the worker unless more favourable provisions apply. The general conditions of the AMU do not address the case of foreign workers: confirm it with the CNSS. The page on healthcare reimbursement in Togo covers each situation.

The France-Togo social security agreement, signed on 7 December 1971, coordinates invalidity, old age and survivors, maternity, family benefits and work accidents and occupational diseases. It provides no coordination for the sickness branch or for death insurance, apart from a protocol that maintains certain cash benefits of sickness insurance for 6 months on a transfer of residence, and it excludes unemployment insurance. A seconded employee keeps French health insurance and the coverage of care received in Togo with no additional contribution (CLEISS); the maximum length of the secondment does not appear in the pages consulted and should be confirmed with the affiliation fund.

The tax treaty, signed in Lomé on 24 November 1971, entered into force on 1 April 1975 (impots.gouv.fr). Its article 22 provides that salaries are taxable in the state where the employment is carried out; an exception reserves them to the state of residence when the recipient stays in the other state for 183 days or less in the tax year, the employer is not domiciled there and the pay is not deducted from the profits of a permanent establishment. Article 23 treats liberal professions, taxable in the state of residence unless there is a fixed base in the other state. The Togolese Revenue Office publishes the general tax code and manages the online procedures, including the single professional tax platform: the income tax scales can be consulted there. Also ask the French tax office for non-resident individuals before fixing your residence.

• Self-employed: CLEISS publishes, on 1 January 2026, an overall rate of 21.5% for self-employed workers (3% family benefits, 2% occupational risks, 16.5% pensions), calculated on declared income, with a floor at the SMIG, and 19.5% for the informal economy. The AMU is also open to non-salaried workers. Voluntary enrolment in the CFE (the French social security fund for expatriates), which keeps rights to French health insurance, completes this arrangement (see the guide to the CFE).
• Remote work: none of the texts consulted deals specifically with cross-border remote work. The treaty rule of the place where the work is carried out applies: employment carried out from Togo results in salaries being taxed in Togo, subject to the 183-day exception. A remote worker who settles for more than a few weeks does well to ask their French fund and their employer for a certificate.

According to DG Trésor, the tertiary sector (trade, port, financial activities) accounts for 57% of GDP and agriculture for 20%, and agriculture employs 65% of workers without ensuring food self-sufficiency. The port of Lomé is the 4^th container port in Africa and the 1^st on the West African coast, and France Diplomatie (the French foreign ministry) describes it as a transit hub for the landlocked countries of the Sahel. The three main exported products are phosphates, petroleum oils and plastic articles. Growth stood at 5.3% in 2024 and the IMF projects 5.5% for 2026; inflation was 2.9% in 2024.

Public finances remain under strain: a deficit of 6.4% of GDP and debt of 72.1% of GDP in 2024 (DG Trésor), against 62.2% in 2020. The currency is the CFA franc, pegged to the euro at the fixed parity of 655.957 CFA francs to €1, which simplifies transfers and the comparison of offers.

The French presence is measured by €236.3 million of bilateral trade in 2024 and 34 subsidiaries recorded in 2022, which employ more than 3,000 people in logistics, energy, construction and agro-industry (DG Trésor). Before signing, check the health cover provided: see our page on expat health insurance and the overview of the Togolese healthcare system.