Knowledge base
NIS in Trinidad & Tobago 2026: a fixed amount per class, not a percentage
National Insurance in Trinidad & Tobago does not work like a tax. It is a fixed weekly amount that depends on which earnings class your wage falls into, so two people earning opposite amounts inside the same class pay exactly the same contribution. Here is how that class is found and what both sides pay.
The amount is fixed per class
NIBTT publishes 16 earnings classes. Each has a weekly insurable-earnings band and three fixed amounts: what the employee pays, what the employer pays, and the total. The class is chosen by your weekly-equivalent wage, and the contribution is that class's amount — never a percentage of what you earn.
Because the amount is fixed, your contribution steps up when you cross a class boundary and then stays flat. A raise that keeps you inside the same class does not change your NIS at all.
How a monthly wage becomes a weekly class
NIBTT's table is weekly, so the engine converts first: the period wage is multiplied by the number of pay periods in a year and divided by 52. That weekly figure picks the class, and it is deliberately the annual average — so a fixed salary stays in the same class all year instead of drifting between classes month to month.
The amount is then that class's weekly figure × the contribution weeks in the month. NIBTT counts a contribution week as seven days beginning on a Monday, so a month has 4 or 5 of them, and that is the number the NI 184 reports. A flat weekly amount × 52 / 12 is only the annual average: it works out at 4.3333 weeks a month, which is not a number of weeks NIBTT accepts.
Worked example: TTD 10,000 a month is TTD 2,307.69 a week (× 12 ÷ 52), which falls in class XII. The employee pays TTD 122 a week, so TTD 488 in a 4-Monday month or TTD 610 in a 5-Monday month — the annual average of TTD 528.67 a month falls between the two. The employer pays TTD 244 a week.
The classes in one line each
- From TTD 200 a week (class I) up to class XVI, which starts at TTD 3,138.
- The employee amount runs from TTD 14.6 to TTD 169.5 a week; the employer pays roughly twice that.
- The top class has no upper bound: earnings above it are simply not contributory, so a very high wage pays the same NIS as one at the ceiling.
Class Z — when the employee pays nothing
Someone under 16, in receipt of a retirement pension, or 65 and over is covered for employment injury only. That is Class Z: the employer still pays, the employee pays no NIS at all.
What we do not model yet
One limit of this page's calculator: it asks for a salary, not for an employment history, so it cannot model a part period (a hire or a departure mid-month) or a month whose wage was reduced by unpaid absence. It applies the whole month — its 4 or 5 contribution weeks — to the figure you enter. Those two situations have to be weighed against an actual employment period, which is where they are handled: in the payroll run, not in a calculator on a web page.
Frequently asked questions
- Is NIS a percentage of my salary?
- No. It is a fixed amount for the earnings class your weekly wage falls into. Two salaries inside the same class pay the same contribution.
- Do I pay more NIS if I earn above the highest class?
- No. The top class has no upper bound, so earnings above it are not contributory and your NIS stays the same.
- Does the employer pay the same as me?
- No. The employer pays a separate, larger fixed amount of the same class — in most classes about twice the employee's amount. It is a cost to the employer and is never withheld from your wage.
Indicative information based on the rates Wage Payroll applies — not tax, legal or payroll advice.