SSS, PhilHealth & Pag-IBIG: Employer Registration Guide (2026)

Hiring your first Philippine employee triggers a set of obligations that exist whether or not you ever think about them. The moment someone is on your payroll, you become a statutory employer, and three government agencies expect you to register, deduct, and remit on their behalf every month. Getting this right from the first hire avoids penalties, surcharges, and the awkward position of owing back-contributions for staff you’ve already been paying. Here is the sequence.

1. Understand why all three are mandatory

The Philippines runs three separate mandatory contribution systems, each created by its own law and each covering a different need:

• SSS (Social Security System) — social security, covering retirement pension, disability, sickness, maternity, and death benefits for private-sector employees.
• PhilHealth (Philippine Health Insurance Corporation) — the national health insurance program that subsidizes hospitalization and medical care.
• Pag-IBIG (HDMF — Home Development Mutual Fund) — a national savings and housing fund that also provides members with access to housing loans.

Coverage is compulsory, not optional. Once you employ at least one person, all three apply simultaneously — you cannot register with one and skip the others, and an employee cannot opt out. Each agency assesses its own penalties for late registration or non-remittance, so treat them as three parallel obligations rather than a single checkbox. For the bigger picture of how these fit alongside leave, 13th-month pay, and other entitlements, see our overview of employee benefits.

2. Get your company documents in order first

Before you can register as an employer, you need your company’s foundational paperwork: your SEC registration (or DTI, for a sole proprietorship), your local business permit, and — critically — your BIR registration. Each statutory agency will ask for these when you set up your employer account, so incorporate and complete tax registration before approaching SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG.

3. Register your company as an employer with each agency

Register the business as an employer first, before you register any individual staff. Each agency issues you an employer number:

• SSS issues an Employer Registration Number once you file the employer registration form with your SEC/DTI documents and business permit.
• PhilHealth issues a PhilHealth Employer Number (PEN) through its Electronic Premium Reporting System.
• Pag-IBIG issues an employer ID via its Employer’s Data Form.

Most of this can now be initiated through each agency’s online employer portal, though some steps still require a branch visit or document submission. This employer-account step is the foundation everything else hangs off — our walkthrough of SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG registration covers the forms and portal flow in detail.

4. Register each employee and enroll them in the system

With your employer numbers active, enroll each hire. Every employee needs their own membership number with each agency — an SSS number, a PhilHealth Identification Number (PIN), and a Pag-IBIG MID number. Many Filipino workers already have these from previous jobs, in which case you simply report them under your employer account rather than creating new ones. For new entrants to the workforce, you’ll help them register. You then submit a report of newly hired employees to each agency so they’re correctly linked to your company.

5. Set up monthly deductions and the employer share

Contributions are shared between employer and employee, with the employer carrying the legal duty to deduct and remit. The exact percentages and salary brackets are set by each agency and update periodically — SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG each publish their own contribution schedules and revise them from time to time, so always work from the current official table rather than a figure you’ve memorized.

The mechanism is consistent across all three: you withhold the employee share from each payslip, add your matching employer share, and the combined amount is what gets remitted. Building this correctly into your payroll the first time prevents the most common first-hire mistake — under-deducting and having to claw it back later. Our guide to statutory contributions breaks down how each share is calculated and where it sits in the payroll run.

6. Remit and report every month, on time

Each agency expects a monthly remittance accompanied by a report listing which employees the payment covers and how much each contributed. Payments and the supporting collection lists are filed through each agency’s online facility or accredited payment channels.

Deadlines fall on a recurring monthly schedule and are commonly keyed to your employer number, so they aren’t identical across the three agencies — confirm each one’s cutoff and mark all three in your payroll calendar. Late or missed remittances trigger surcharges and interest, and persistent non-remittance carries real legal exposure for the employer. Consistency matters more than anything fancy: pay the right amount, for the right people, by each agency’s date, every month.

7. Don’t forget BIR withholding tax on compensation

Alongside the three contribution agencies, you must also operate withholding tax on compensation through the BIR. As an employer you withhold income tax from each employee’s salary based on the applicable tax table, remit it to the BIR on the prescribed schedule, and reconcile it annually. This sits separately from SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG but runs on the same monthly rhythm — together, these four obligations make up the core of compliant Philippine payroll. Set all four up before your first payday and the rest of your hiring journey runs on rails.