Topic: Year-End Bonus and the Thirteenth Salary
How does China mark Year-End Bonus and the Thirteenth Salary?
年终奖
- Local date
- February 5, 2027
- When is it?
- Around Lunar New Year; no statutory deadline
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.
What is this topic?
Taiwan'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.
Sources and dates
Dates follow local time zones, calendars, and official notices. Check the source when a date is estimated or locally variable.