Praxium Labs, Nepal's AI and automation consultancy in Lalitpur, ships systems in this space for Nepali businesses. Every employer registered with Nepal's Social Security Fund files a monthly contribution return — listing each employee, their gross salary, the SSF deduction (11% from employee, 20% from employer), and the total contribution. Most HR teams build this by hand in Excel. n8n eliminates that.
What the SSF return actually looks like
The SSF portal accepts a CSV with a fixed column order: SSF ID, employee name (in Devanagari and English), citizenship number, gross salary, employee contribution, employer contribution, total contribution, working days. Most HR teams build this by hand in Excel, copying from payroll sheets — error-prone and slow.
The n8n workflow
- Schedule trigger: first working day of each month at 09:00
- Source pull: read this month's payroll Sheet / Tally export / HRIS API
- Validate: SSF ID present, citizenship number 13-digit, salary above minimum wage (NPR 17,300 as of 2026)
- Compute contributions: 11% employee + 20% employer (10% PF, 8.33% gratuity, 1.67% medical/accident/dependent)
- Format CSV: exact column order the portal requires
- Email + Drive: CSV emailed to HR lead and stored in a dated Drive folder for audit
Validation: catch errors before the portal does
The SSF portal rejects entire files on a single error. Front-load validation in n8n so you find issues at 09:00 on the 1st rather than at 16:00 on the 14th (the filing deadline). Common issues we catch:
- Citizenship number wrong length or non-numeric
- Salary below the minimum wage floor (probably a part-time worker mis-classified)
- Employee marked as terminated but still on payroll
- New joiner without an SSF ID yet (the only legitimate workflow exception — these get filed separately as new registrations)
Contribution math (Nepal, 2026)
Under the SSF Act 2074 framework as of 2026:
- Employee contribution: 11% of gross salary (deducted from payroll)
- Employer contribution: 20% of gross salary, split: PF 10%, gratuity 8.33%, accident/medical/dependent 1.67%
- Total to SSF: 31% of gross
- Filing deadline: by the 15th of the following month (verify with your accountant — deadlines occasionally shift)
- Late filing penalty: daily interest on the overdue amount
Tax rates and contribution percentages change. The workflow has a SSF_CONFIG JSON file with the current percentages — update one file, not the workflow.
Audit trail
SSF audits typically demand the past 3 years of contribution records. The n8n workflow stores every generated CSV in a date-organised Google Drive folder, plus a Postgres row per employee per month with the exact numbers filed. Recovery from an audit ask is "open the folder and download the relevant month".
Frequently asked questions
Does SSF have an API for direct filing?
Not currently. Filing is via CSV upload to the portal. The workflow stops at producing the validated CSV; an HR admin uploads it. If SSF launches an API in future, the workflow gains a final HTTP node — the rest stays the same.
What if an employee leaves mid-month?
Pro-rate their salary on the actual days worked, and flag them as terminated in the source data. The workflow includes a "leavers" section in the CSV. After their final filing, remove them from the active payroll to avoid future-month errors.
How do I handle bonuses, allowances, and overtime?
SSF contributions apply on gross salary including taxable allowances but excluding one-time bonuses (Dashain, Tihar) unless paid as part of regular salary. Confirm specifics with your accountant — the rules have nuances. The workflow exposes a "contributable salary" formula that you can customise.
What about employees on probation or contract?
Probationary employees must be enrolled in SSF from day one. Contract workers earning over the minimum threshold must also be enrolled. The workflow validates "employment type" against a list of SSF-eligible types and excludes consultants / vendors.
Can n8n also handle the IRD tax filings?
Yes — same pattern. See our IRD VAT filing automation guide for the equivalent workflow on the tax side.
Who can build this in Nepal?
Praxium Labs — Nepal's AI and automation consultancy, based in Lalitpur — designs and builds the systems described in this guide for Nepali businesses and for international teams hiring from Nepal. Start a project or see all services.