13th month pay calculator

How 13th month pay is computed

The rule comes from Presidential Decree 851 and DOLE's yearly guidelines: the 13th month pay "shall not be less than one-twelfth (1/12) of the total basic salary earned by an employee within a calendar year". So the computation is:

13th month pay = total basic salary earned from January to December ÷ 12

DOLE's own worked example, from Labor Advisory No. 13, Series of 2024: an employee on ₱16,823.75 a month took 10 days of unpaid leave in September (that month's pay fell to ₱10,320.00) and 1 unpaid day in November (₱16,125.00). Five days of paid leave in June didn't reduce anything. Their basic salary for the year came to ₱194,682.50, so:

₱194,682.50 ÷ 12 = ₱16,223.54

Paid leave counts as salary earned. Unpaid absences don't, which is why the calculator asks for them.

What counts as basic salary

Basic salary means all the pay your employer gives you for services rendered. DOLE's guidelines leave out allowances and benefits that aren't part of your regular salary:

The exception matters: if a contract, collective agreement or company practice treats any of those items as part of basic salary, they go into the 13th month computation too. Commission is a grey area: whether it counts depends on how your employer pays it, so ask HR or DOLE if a large part of your pay is commission.

Prorated 13th month pay

You don't need to work the whole year. Anyone who worked at least one month in the calendar year qualifies, and the formula prorates itself because it only counts salary you actually earned:

If you resign or are terminated before December, the Revised Guidelines on the Implementation of the 13th Month Pay Law entitle you to the benefit "in proportion to the length of time" you worked during the year. If you had a raise during the year, use the month by month option.

Who is entitled

Rank-and-file employees in the private sector, "regardless of their position, designation, or employment status, and irrespective of the method by which their wages are paid", provided they worked at least one month during the calendar year. DOLE's advisory names these groups specifically:

• piece-rate workers
• employees on a fixed or guaranteed wage plus commission
• people with more than one employer
• employees who resigned or were terminated during the year
• women on maternity leave who received a salary differential

Kasambahay (domestic workers) are entitled too: the Batas Kasambahay (Republic Act 10361), section 25, says "the domestic worker is entitled to a thirteenth month pay as provided for by law". The 1987 guidelines left out government workers, employers already paying a 13th month or more, and workers paid purely on commission, boundary or task basis (piece-rate workers are covered). Managerial employees aren't covered by the mandate, although many employers pay them one anyway. Government employees are paid under the national salary schedule instead: see the salary grade table for 2026.

When it must be paid

On or before 24 December 2026. The 1987 guidelines (section 4) let an employer pay half before the school year opens and the other half by 24 December, and the timing can be agreed with a union. DOLE's advisory is blunt about the deadline itself: "No request or application for exemption from payment of 13th month pay, or for deferment of its payment shall be accepted and allowed." Employers then report their compliance to DOLE online by 15 January.

If your employer doesn't pay, raise it with HR first, then with the DOLE regional, field or provincial office that covers your workplace: DOLE says those offices monitor compliance.

Is 13th month pay taxable?

Up to ₱90,000, no. Under the Tax Code as amended by the TRAIN law (Republic Act 10963), your 13th month pay and "other benefits" such as Christmas bonuses and productivity incentives are excluded from taxable income up to a combined ₱90,000 a year. Anything above that is added to your taxable compensation and taxed at your normal rate:

So someone on ₱20,000 a month with no other bonus pays no tax at all on their 13th month. The limit only bites for basic salaries above ₱90,000 a month, or when a 13th month plus other bonuses passes ₱90,000.

Will the limit go up? Several bills to raise it have been filed. One example is Senate Bill 56, the "Ginhawa" bill, which would lift it to ₱150,000 (The Manila Times, 5 October 2026). None had become law as of 27 October 2026, so ₱90,000 applies to 13th month pay received in 2026. We'll update this page and the calculator if that changes.

The 13th month also doesn't have to be counted as part of your regular wage when working out overtime, premium pay or SSS and other contributions, according to section 7 of the 1987 guidelines.

Limits of this calculator

It works out the legal minimum from the figures you enter. It can't see your payslips, so it doesn't know whether your employer folds allowances into basic salary, pays more than the minimum, or counts commission. For a daily-paid worker it assumes the standard number of paid days for your work week, 261 or 313 a year (DOLE's Labor Advisory No. 25, Series of 2023 works out a six-day worker's monthly pay as the daily rate x 313 ÷ 12), minus the unpaid days you enter. The tax estimate covers income tax only and assumes you give your taxable pay correctly.