Year-End Bonus and the Thirteenth Salary
How the world celebratesTaiwan's year-end bonus rests on Article 29 of the Labor Standards Act, which applies only when the business closes its year with a surplus — a condition, with no deadline and no penalty, so the amount is the company's call. Brazil is the opposite: the thirteenth salary has been a statutory obligation since 1962, first instalment by 30 November and second by 20 December, with fines for lateness. Indonesia's THR must be paid in full seven days before the religious holiday, never in instalments, with a 5 per cent fine if late. The same idea — extra money once a year — runs from binding law to pure custom across the seven markets, and that is what decides whether anyone can rely on it.
Quick answers
| Place | When is it? | How the date is set |
|---|---|---|
| United States | December 15, 2026Local dates may differ | No statutory deadline; the employer decides |
| India | November 30, 2026 | — |
| Japan · 冬のボーナス(期末手当) | December 10, 2026 | — |
| Brazil | December 20, 2026 | — |
| China | February 5, 2027Estimated date | Around Lunar New Year; no statutory deadline |
| Taiwan | February 5, 2027Estimated date | Paid before Lunar New Year (the Gregorian date differs each year) |
| Indonesia | March 3, 2027Estimated date | Seven days before the religious holiday (the Eid date moves each year) |
| Japan · 夏のボーナス(期末手当) | June 30, 2027 | — |
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How the world celebrates
- November 30, 2026Local date
How does India mark Year-End Bonus and the Thirteenth Salary?Statutory bonus (Payment of Bonus Act)
India's statutory bonus comes from the Payment of Bonus Act 1965, which covers establishments employing twenty or more people; an employee qualifies after thirty working days in the accounting year. The floor is 8.33 per cent of wages and the ceiling 20 per cent — and the floor does not depend on profit, so a loss-making year still owes the minimum, which is exactly the reverse of Taiwan's surplus condition. Payment is due within eight months of the close of the accounting year; since India's year ends on 31 March, the practical deadline falls at the end of November, and most employers deliberately pay earlier so the money arrives before Diwali, the largest buying season of the year.
- December 10, 2026Local date
How does Japan mark Year-End Bonus and the Thirteenth Salary? · 冬のボーナス(期末手当)
Japan has no law requiring private employers to pay a bonus; it is custom and collective agreement. For public servants, though, it is in statute — the Act on Remuneration of Regular Service Personnel provides for the end-of-term and diligence allowances, with the winter payment made on 10 December. Private employers largely follow that rhythm, so early December becomes the national payday: the year-end retail campaigns, the o-seibo gift season and the extra instalment many people put on their mortgage all sit just after it. The size is usually stated in months of salary rather than in yen, and it is one of the items on the table in the spring wage round.
- December 15, 2026Local dateLocal dates may differ
How does United States mark Year-End Bonus and the Thirteenth Salary?Holiday / year-end bonus
The United States has no thirteenth salary and no law setting a year-end bonus. It lives entirely in the employer's discretion, and what federal regulation actually governs is a different question: whether the money counts toward overtime pay. Under 29 CFR 778.211, a bonus can be excluded from the regular rate only if the employer keeps both the fact and the amount to itself until the last moment, with no prior promise; the moment terms are stated in advance it becomes a non-discretionary bonus and must be folded back into the regular rate and the overtime recalculated. That distinction shapes how American bonus policies are written — the clearer the promise, the higher the cost.
- December 20, 2026Local date
How does Brazil mark Year-End Bonus and the Thirteenth Salary?Décimo terceiro salário
Brazil's thirteenth salary was created by Law 4,090 of 1962, and Law 4,749 of 1965 split it into two instalments: the first by 30 November, the second by 20 December. It is not a bonus but part of the wage — a full year of work earns a month's pay, less than a year is prorated, and it must be settled on dismissal. The amount is calculable in law, lateness is penalised, and a worker can go to court over it. Because the timing is fixed at the end of the year, retail and travel show a predictable December peak: it is the month in which the whole country has one extra month of income at once.
- February 5, 2027Local dateEstimated date
How does China mark Year-End Bonus and the Thirteenth Salary?年终奖
China likewise has no law obliging an employer to pay a year-end bonus; it comes from the contract, from company rules or from custom. What it does have is a very concrete institutional presence in how the money is taxed. Announcements from the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration extended the rule that an annual one-off bonus may be taxed separately rather than folded into that year's comprehensive income, running to 31 December 2027, with the individual free to choose whichever of the two computations costs less. So the public conversation around Lunar New Year tends to be less about whether the bonus will come than about which filing method to use. Payment usually lands before the New Year, in time for the journey home and the holiday shopping.
- February 5, 2027Local dateEstimated date
How does Taiwan mark Year-End Bonus and the Thirteenth Salary?年終獎金
Taiwan's year-end bonus is widely treated as a given, but Article 29 of the Labor Standards Act is written as a conditional: where a business closes its accounting year with a surplus, then after tax, after covering losses and after setting aside the statutory reserve, it shall give a bonus or distribute a dividend to employees who worked the full year without fault. No surplus, no obligation — and the article sets no amount, no deadline and no penalty. In practice custom carries it: most companies pay before Lunar New Year, usually described in months of salary, while public servants receive a separate year-end working bonus under their own rules. That leaves Taiwan's bonus markedly less certain than Brazil's or Indonesia's: it is a convention, not a claim.
- March 3, 2027Local dateEstimated date
How does Indonesia mark Year-End Bonus and the Thirteenth Salary?Tunjangan Hari Raya (THR)
Indonesia's THR (Tunjangan Hari Raya Keagamaan) is a legal obligation on the employer and must be paid in full seven days before the religious holiday; the labour ministry repeats every year that it may not be paid in instalments. It covers anyone employed continuously for a month or more: twelve months or more earns a full month's pay, less is prorated. Late payment carries a 5 per cent fine, and the fine does not replace the THR itself. What sets it apart from the others is that the date follows Eid: the Islamic calendar runs about eleven days shorter than the Gregorian one, so the THR date moves earlier each year. It also ties the homecoming rush, the retail peak and the day the money lands into the same week.
- June 30, 2027Local date
How does Japan mark Year-End Bonus and the Thirteenth Salary? · 夏のボーナス(期末手当)
The sharpest difference between Japan and the other six is that the bonus comes twice a year: besides the winter payment there is a summer one on 30 June, under the same Act for public servants and mirrored by private employers. Having two changes the shape of a household's year — large purchases, travel and extra mortgage instalments are spread across midyear and year-end rather than concentrated in a single moment as in Brazil or Indonesia. The summer payment is usually a little smaller than the winter one, because the assessment period and the appraisal formula behind it differ.
Sources and dates
Dates follow local time zones, calendars, and official notices. Check the source when a date is estimated or locally variable.