Brazil's 13th Salary in 2026: What Changes with Lei 15.270

Brazil's 13th salary arrives in 2026 with the biggest tax change in decades: Lei 15.270/2025 eliminated income tax for anyone earning up to R$ 5,000 per month, and the Receita Federal confirmed the new rule also applies to the year-end bonus. In practice, millions of Brazilian workers will receive their décimo terceiro without any income tax withholding for the first time.

This guide explains who is entitled to the 13th salary, how to calculate the exact amount with the 2026 tables, what the new reducer changes, the legal deadlines for the two installments, and how vacation pay fits into the picture. Every example uses the official tables currently in force. If you want the answer for your own numbers, the 13th Salary Calculator runs the full calculation in seconds.

What the 13th salary is and who gets it

The 13th salary, officially called gratificação natalina, was created by Lei 4.090/1962. It is one extra salary paid at the end of the year to every formally employed worker in Brazil: urban, domestic, rural and casual workers alike. INSS retirees and pensioners receive it too, usually brought forward to the first half of the year.

The entitlement starts early: 15 days of work in a year already guarantee the first fraction. The "avos" (twelfths) rule works like this:

• Each month with 15 or more days worked counts as 1/12 of the salary.
• A full year of work pays 12/12, one complete salary.
• Someone hired in May, for example, receives 8/12.

Workers who resign still receive the proportional 13th with their termination pay. The only case that forfeits it is dismissal for cause.

What goes into the calculation base

The 13th salary is not computed on the base salary alone. Habitual pay items are included:

• The year's average of overtime
• Average commissions
• Premiums for dangerous work, unhealthy conditions and night shifts

If you earn commissions or work overtime regularly, your 13th should come out higher than your fixed salary. The calculator's variable-pay field captures exactly that.

What changes in 2026: the Lei 15.270 reducer

Until 2025, the monthly income tax exemption threshold was R$ 2,428.80 (in practice, about two minimum wages once the simplified discount was applied). Lei 15.270, signed in November 2025, created a new mechanism effective January 2026, with three tiers:

| Monthly income | Effect on income tax | |---|---| | Up to R$ 5,000.00 | Tax zeroed (full exemption) | | R$ 5,000.01 to R$ 7,350.00 | Partial, decreasing reduction | | Above R$ 7,350.00 | No change, normal table |

Technically it works as a reducer: the tax is first calculated normally under the progressive table, then discounted. In the intermediate range, the official formula published by the Receita Federal is:

Reducer = R$ 978.62 − (0.133145 × monthly income)

The closer to R$ 5,000, the bigger the discount; the closer to R$ 7,350, the smaller. At R$ 7,350 the reducer reaches zero, with no cliff anywhere along the way.

Does the 13th salary benefit?

Yes, and for December budgets that is the best news of the year. The 13th salary is taxed exclusively at source: it is not added to the December salary when computing income tax. It gets its own separate calculation, with its own table and, from 2026, its own reducer applied to the 13th salary amount itself.

The result: a 13th salary of up to R$ 5,000 pays no income tax at all. Between R$ 5,000 and R$ 7,350, it pays less than it would have in 2025.

The 2026 tables

Two tables drive the deductions. The first is the INSS table, updated by Portaria Interministerial MPS/MF nº 13/2026:

| Salary bracket | Rate | |---|---| | Up to R$ 1,621.00 | 7.5% | | R$ 1,621.01 to R$ 2,902.84 | 9% | | R$ 2,902.85 to R$ 4,354.27 | 12% | | R$ 4,354.28 to R$ 8,475.55 (ceiling) | 14% |

The calculation is progressive: each bracket is taxed at its own rate, like a staircase. The maximum deduction, for anyone earning the ceiling or more, is R$ 988.09.

The second is the monthly IRRF table, unchanged since May 2025:

| Calculation base | Rate | Deductible portion | |---|---|---| | Up to R$ 2,428.80 | Exempt | — | | R$ 2,428.81 to R$ 2,826.65 | 7.5% | R$ 182.16 | | R$ 2,826.66 to R$ 3,751.05 | 15% | R$ 394.16 | | R$ 3,751.06 to R$ 4,664.68 | 22.5% | R$ 675.49 | | Above R$ 4,664.68 | 27.5% | R$ 908.73 |

The base is the gross minus INSS, minus R$ 189.59 per dependent, minus court-ordered alimony. When it is more favorable, a simplified discount of R$ 607.20 replaces those deductions. The Lei 15.270 reducer is then applied to whatever tax remains.

Step by step: three complete examples

Example 1: R$ 3,000 salary, full year

1. 1Gross 13th: R$ 3,000 × 12/12 = R$ 3,000.00
2. 2INSS: R$ 121.58 + R$ 115.37 + R$ 11.66 = R$ 248.60
3. 3IRRF: base of R$ 2,392.80 (with the simplified discount), below the exemption line = R$ 0.00
4. 4Net 13th: R$ 3,000 − R$ 248.60 = R$ 2,751.40

The installments: R$ 1,500.00 by November 30 and R$ 1,251.40 by December 20.

Example 2: R$ 6,000 salary, full year

1. 1Gross 13th: R$ 6,000.00
2. 2INSS: R$ 641.51
3. 3IRRF from the table: base of R$ 5,358.49 → R$ 564.85
4. 4Lei 15.270 reducer: R$ 978.62 − (0.133145 × 6,000) = R$ 179.75 off
5. 5Final IRRF: R$ 564.85 − R$ 179.75 = R$ 385.10
6. 6Net 13th: R$ 4,973.39

In 2025, without the reducer, the tax would have been R$ 564.85. The new law puts R$ 179.75 straight back in the worker's pocket.

Example 3: R$ 10,000 salary, full year

1. 1Gross 13th: R$ 10,000.00
2. 2INSS: capped at R$ 988.09
3. 3IRRF: base of R$ 9,011.91 → R$ 1,569.55 (no reducer above R$ 7,350)
4. 4Net 13th: R$ 7,442.36

To check your own case with dependents, alimony or proportional months, use the 13th Salary Calculator: it shows the whole calculation line by line, reducer included.

The two installments and their legal deadlines

Lei 4.749/1965 sets the calendar:

• 1st installment: between February 1 and November 30. It is an advance of half the gross 13th, with no deductions at all.
• 2nd installment: by December 20. It is the remaining half, from which all the INSS and all the IRRF are withheld.

That is why the second installment is always smaller than the first, which surprises anyone who does not know the rule. In the R$ 6,000 example, the first installment is R$ 3,000.00 and the second only R$ 1,973.39.

Two useful, little-known rules:

• Workers taking vacation between February and October can request in January that the 1st installment be paid together with their vacation pay.
• Paying everything in a single installment is accepted in practice, as long as the company settles it by November 30.

Vacation pay and the year-end package

Many people plan December and January around the 13th salary and vacation pay together. Vacation has its own rules:

• Vacation pay carries the constitutional third: 30 days of leave pay the salary plus 1/3.
• INSS and IRRF apply to the total (salary + third), and payment is due up to 2 days before the leave starts.
• Workers can sell up to 1/3 of their vacation days (abono pecuniário). The allowance, including its own third, is exempt from INSS and IRRF, which makes it proportionally more lucrative than the days taken off.

An example at a R$ 3,000 salary: full vacation nets R$ 3,631.40. Selling 10 days shrinks the taxable part to 20 days while the R$ 1,333.33 allowance comes in untouched, lifting the total to R$ 3,784.31. Less rest, more cash. The calculator simulates both scenarios with one click.

What to do with the 13th salary

For most Brazilian families the 13th is the year's biggest cash injection, and January's bills (property tax, vehicle tax, school fees and supplies) arrive right after it. A priority order that works:

1. 1Clear expensive debt first. Revolving credit card debt and overdraft charge interest rates no investment can match. Using the 13th to zero them is the best return available.
2. 2Set aside January's bills. Reserving the 2nd installment for the start-of-year bills avoids opening 2027 in the red.
3. 3Top up your emergency fund. If you do not yet have 3 to 6 months of expenses saved, the 13th accelerates the build. Our emergency fund guide covers how much to keep and where.
4. 4Invest what is left. With the bills paid, the 13th makes a great annual contribution. For anyone filing the complete tax return, it is worth checking whether private pensions pay off: the PGBL vs VGBL calculator runs that comparison with the real income tax rules.

Quick questions

Does a minimum-wage 13th salary have deductions? Only INSS (7.5% of R$ 1,621 = R$ 121.58). There is no income tax at that level, and there never was.

Do retirees pay income tax on the 13th? The same 2026 rule applies: exempt up to R$ 5,000, partial reduction up to R$ 7,350. Retirees aged 65 or older also keep their extra monthly exemption in the annual return.

Can employers split it into more than two installments? No. The law allows at most two installments, due November 30 and December 20.

What if the company pays late? Late payment triggers an administrative fine per employee in labor inspections, and the amount remains due with monetary correction.

Does the 13th count toward retirement? Yes. It has its own INSS contribution and is part of the contribution base used to calculate benefits.

Conclusion

In 2026 the 13th salary arrives fuller for nearly everyone earning up to R$ 7,350: Lei 15.270 zeroed income tax up to R$ 5,000 and created a tapering discount above that, valid for the year-end bonus too. The INSS and IRRF tables changed in January, the deadlines remain the same (November 30 and December 20), and vacation pay keeps the constitutional third plus the tax-free sell-back option.

Before locking in your December budget, run your exact numbers through the 13th Salary Calculator: salary, months worked, dependents, alimony, vacation pay and even the employer's cost, all on the official 2026 tables.