The 13th Salary in Brazil: 2026 Guide + Calculator

● Updated August 20, 2026 · 2026 figures — Brazil revises payroll tables every January

The décimo terceiro salário (13th salary) is a mandatory extra month of pay every employee in Brazil receives at year-end — it is statutory (Laws 4,090/1962 and 4,749/1965), not a discretionary bonus. It is paid in two installments: at least 50% between February 1 and November 30, and the balance by December 20, accrues at 1/12 per month worked (15+ days in a month counts as a full month), and carries the full stack of payroll charges: FGTS on both installments, INSS and income tax settled on the second. This guide covers the 2026 rules, the exact withholding math, what the 13th costs the employer, and how it is reported through eSocial — plus a calculator that runs the whole thing.

Key numbers for 2026

• Accrual: 1/12 of salary per month worked; a fraction of 15+ days counts as a full month (Law 4,090/1962)
• First installment: 50%, between February 1 and November 30 — no withholdings on it (Law 4,749/1965)
• Second installment: by December 20 — in 2026 effectively Friday, December 18 (the 20th is a Sunday; Brazilian payroll deadlines move earlier, never later). INSS and IRRF on the full 13th are withheld here
• FGTS: 8% on both installments, due by day 20 of the month following each payment via FGTS Digital
• Employer charges on the 13th: the same ≈35.8% stack as regular payroll (INSS 20% + RAT + third parties + FGTS)
• The 13th is taxed separately from the December paycheck: its own INSS base (annual competence, ceiling R$ 8,475.55) and exclusive-source IRRF — including the Law 15,270/2025 reduction (zero tax up to R$ 5,000)
• Compliance calendar: eSocial annual competence + DCTFWeb for the 13th due by December 20

What the 13th salary is — and who gets it

Brazil created the 13th salary in 1962 (Law 4,090) and it has been a fixture of formal employment ever since: one additional monthly salary per calendar year, proportional to months worked. Every CLT employee is entitled — full-time, part-time, fixed-term, rural, domestic — from the first month of work. Directors without an employment relationship and PJ contractors (service providers invoicing through their own company) are not, which is one more reason misclassification is audited: the 13th is part of what "PJ instead of CLT" arrangements try to avoid, and courts re-characterize them. If you are new to Brazilian employment cost as a whole, start with our true cost of a CLT employee guide — the 13th is one of the two structural accruals there.

Retirees and INSS pensioners also receive a 13th from the government — irrelevant to your payroll, but it explains why Brazilian news talks about the "13th" moving the whole economy every December.

The base is the employee's full December salary — not the January one. If the employee was promoted mid-year, the 13th is calculated on the December (higher) salary. Habitual variable pay — overtime, commissions, night premium (adicional noturno) — enters the base as an average of the year. A payroll engine recomputes this automatically; a spreadsheet usually forgets the averages, which is the single most common 13th underpayment found in labor claims.

The 2026 calendar: two installments, two deadlines

Three practical rules foreign controllers ask about every year:

• You can pay everything earlier. Paying 100% by November 30 satisfies both deadlines (the second-installment taxes are still settled on the December calendar — see the compliance section). Many companies pay the first installment with November payroll and the balance in mid-December.
• An employee can request the advance with vacation. If the employee asks in January, the first installment must be paid together with their vacation pay during the year (Law 4,749/1965, art. 2, §2).
• Paying late is an infraction. Missing either deadline costs an administrative fine of R$ 170.25 per affected employee, doubled on recurrence (Law 7,855/1989), on top of the obligation itself — and December closings are exactly when inspectors and unions look.
• The first installment is technically half of the salary of the month before payment. For employees with variable pay, the 13th is recalculated with December's commissions/overtime averages and any difference settled by January 10 (Decree 57,155/1965).

How the 13th is calculated

The formula itself is short:

13th = (December base salary + average of habitual variable pay) × months worked ÷ 12

• Months worked counts each calendar month in which the employee worked 15 days or more. Someone hired by December 17, 2026 (15 days worked in December) is owed 1/12; someone hired August 1 is owed 5/12.
• Unjustified absences can reduce the count if they pull a month below 15 worked days; legal leaves (vacation, up to 15 days of sick leave paid by the employer, maternity leave) do not.
• On termination, the proportional 13th follows the same 1/12 logic — including the projection of indemnified notice, which extends the count beyond the last day worked. Dismissal with cause forfeits the proportional 13th. The full termination math is in our severance guide + calculator.

Taxes on the 13th: a separate calculation, not December income

This is the part global payroll teams get wrong most often: the 13th is not added to the December paycheck for tax purposes. It is taxed as its own, separate base — Brazilian rules call it the annual competence (competência 13 / décimo terceiro):

• Employee INSS is calculated on the full 13th alone, using the same progressive 2026 table and the same R$ 8,475.55 ceiling that apply to monthly salary (maximum withholding ≈ R$ 988.09). It is withheld entirely on the second installment.
• IRRF on the 13th is exclusive at source (tributação exclusiva na fonte): calculated on the 13th separately from all other income, withheld on the second installment, and not merged with the employee's monthly table calculation. Dependent deductions (R$ 189.59 each) apply — or the optional simplified discount of R$ 607.20, whichever is more favorable. Because the taxation is exclusive and final, the 13th does not enter the employee's annual tax return and its tax is not refundable there.
• The Law 15,270/2025 reduction applies to the 13th too (Law 9,250/1995, art. 3º-A, §3º): a 13th of up to R$ 5,000.00 pays zero income tax in 2026, with the same linear phase-out up to R$ 7,350.00 used for monthly wages. For most of a hotel, logistics or facilities workforce, the entire 13th arrives tax-free apart from INSS.
• FGTS (8%, employer-funded) is due on both installments, each by day 20 of the following month via FGTS Digital.

Worked example: R$ 10,000 salary, full year (2026)

The employer's side of the same 13th:

If you followed the accrual discipline in the employee cost guide — 1/12 of salary plus charges provisioned every month — December is a non-event. If you did not, the 13th plus its charges is a ≈13.6% of annual payroll cash call in a single month.

How the 13th flows through eSocial and the guides

The 13th has its own compliance lane, and it is where foreign-owned subsidiaries most often need their payroll provider — or their payroll software — to be genuinely eSocial-native:

1. eSocial: 13th remuneration is reported under the annual competence (period "2026", not "2026-12") through the same S-1200 remuneration event family used monthly, closed with S-1299. The annual competence has its own closing, separate from December's.
2. DCTFWeb Anual: the tax return that formalizes the INSS amounts on the 13th must be transmitted by December 20 (IN RFB 2,005/2021), and the corresponding DARF paid by the same date — in 2026, both effectively by Friday, December 18, since the 20th is a Sunday.
3. FGTS Digital: 8% on the first installment is due by day 20 of the month after it is paid; 8% on the second by January 20, 2027.
4. December's regular payroll still runs in parallel with its normal calendar (salary by the 5th business day of January, eSocial by day 15, FGTS/DARF by day 20, DCTFWeb by the last business day).

Miss the annual-competence mechanics and you get a very Brazilian failure mode: the 13th was paid correctly to employees, but the eSocial annual closing or the DCTFWeb Anual was not transmitted — and the company accumulates fines while everyone believes payroll "was done".

Common mistakes foreign employers make with the 13th

1. Treating it as a discretionary Christmas bonus. It is statutory, accrues from month one, and survives any policy your HQ writes. A "we pay year-end bonuses instead" policy does not offset it — the bonus becomes an additional cost (and may itself integrate salary if habitual).
2. Budgeting salary × 12. Brazilian annual payroll is at minimum salary × 13.33 (13th + vacation bonus) before charges. Cost models built on 12 months are ≈11% understated before they even reach the charge stack.
3. Forgetting the charges on it. The 13th attracts the same ≈35.8% employer stack as regular payroll. R$ 100k of 13th is ≈R$ 135.8k of December cost.
4. Missing the variable-pay averages. Overtime-heavy operations (hotels, logistics, facilities — precisely the operations we serve) systematically underpay the 13th when the base ignores averages. It is a standard item in labor-claim petitions.
5. Colliding with the November 30 deadline. The first installment is frequently "discovered" in late November by subsidiaries whose HQ approves payroll monthly. Put both dates in the treasury calendar in January.
6. Assuming December taxes merge. The 13th's INSS and IRRF are separate calculations on a separate base with their own return (DCTFWeb Anual) and their own deadline.

FAQ

Is the 13th salary mandatory in Brazil?
Yes. Laws 4,090/1962 and 4,749/1965 make it a statutory right of every CLT employee. It cannot be waived by contract, policy or agreement, and it applies from the first month of employment (1/12 per month worked, 15+ days counting as a month).

When is the 13th salary paid in 2026?
At least 50% between February 1 and November 30, 2026; the balance by December 20 — effectively Friday, December 18, 2026, since the 20th falls on a Sunday and Brazilian payroll deadlines anticipate. Employee INSS and income tax on the full amount are withheld on the second installment; FGTS is deposited on both.

Can we pay the 13th in a single installment?
Yes, as long as the full amount is paid by November 30 — the common pattern is paying it with November payroll. What you cannot do is pay everything only in December: that misses the November 30 deadline for the first half.

How is the 13th taxed?
Separately from monthly salary. Employee INSS uses the 2026 progressive table on the 13th alone (ceiling R$ 8,475.55, max ≈ R$ 988.09). IRRF is exclusive at source on the 13th, with dependent deductions — and the Law 15,270/2025 reduction applies, so a 13th up to R$ 5,000 pays zero income tax in 2026. The employer pays the full ≈35.8% charge stack on top, including 8% FGTS on both installments.

Does a new hire get the 13th?
Yes, proportionally: 1/12 per month with 15+ days worked. Someone hired on August 1, 2026 receives 5/12 of a monthly salary by December 20.

Does a terminated employee get the 13th?
On dismissal without cause, resignation or mutual agreement: yes, proportional to months worked in the year, paid with severance within 10 days — and indemnified notice projects the count forward. On dismissal with cause the proportional 13th is forfeited. See the severance calculator.

What does the 13th cost the employer in total?
Gross 13th × ≈1.358 for a standard employer outside Simples Nacional (employer INSS 20% + RAT + third parties ≈5.8% + FGTS 8%). Accrue 1/12 of salary plus charges every month and December stops being a cash event.

Automate this calculation

Every number on this page — the 1/12 accrual with the 15-day rule, variable-pay averages, the separate INSS base with the ceiling, exclusive-source IRRF with the Law 15,270 reduction, FGTS on each installment, the annual eSocial competence and the December 20 DCTFWeb — is something a payroll system should compute and file without a spreadsheet touching it. Garoa runs the 13th end-to-end for every employee and shows HQ the December cash call in English, months ahead. The broader monthly cycle is in our Brazil payroll guide.

Sources

• Law 4,090/1962 (institution of the 13th salary): https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/l4090.htm
• Law 4,749/1965 (installments and deadlines): https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/l4749.htm
• Decree 57,155/1965 (first installment = half of the prior month's salary; variable-pay recalculation): https://www.guiatrabalhista.com.br/legislacao/decreto57155.htm
• Decree 10,854/2021, arts. 79–86 (consolidated 13th-salary regulation): https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2019-2022/2021/decreto/d10854.htm
• INSS / gov.br — 2026 employee INSS table and ceiling: https://www.gov.br/inss/pt-br/direitos-e-deveres/inscricao-e-contribuicao/tabela-de-contribuicao-mensal
• Receita Federal / gov.br — IRRF 2026 tables and 13th-salary exclusive taxation: https://www.gov.br/receitafederal/pt-br/assuntos/meu-imposto-de-renda/tabelas/2026
• Câmara dos Deputados — Law 15,270/2025 original text (reduction, incl. art. 3º-A §3º for the 13th): https://www2.camara.leg.br/legin/fed/lei/2025/lei-15270-26-novembro-2025-798354-publicacaooriginal-177117-pl.html
• Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego / gov.br — FGTS Digital deposit deadline (day 20): https://www.gov.br/trabalho-e-emprego/pt-br/servicos/empregador/fgtsdigital/videos-e-tutoriais/novo-prazo-para-recolhimento-do-fgts-mensal-dia-20
• Receita Federal — DCTFWeb Anual (13th salary return, December 20 deadline): https://www.gov.br/receitafederal/pt-br/assuntos/orientacao-tributaria/declaracoes-e-demonstrativos/DCTFWeb
• Guia Trabalhista — 13th salary installments and vacation advance: https://www.guiatrabalhista.com.br/guia/13_2parcela.htm

Researched and written by the Garoa team. Every figure on this page was verified against official sources (gov.br, Receita Federal, Ministério do Trabalho) on August 20, 2026.