Severance pay
Work out the amounts due when an employment contract ends in Brazil: notice, 13th salary, vacation, FGTS fine and the net payment.
These calculations follow Brazilian labor and tax law (CLT, INSS, IRRF, FGTS) and are valid only for employment contracts in Brazil. Amounts are in Brazilian reais (R$).
Legislation and tables in force on 10/17/2026: 2026 minimum wage, 2026 INSS and IRRF tables and the income tax reduction of Lei 15.270/2025.
This is an estimate for guidance. Collective agreements and individual situations may change the amounts; it does not replace the payslip or advice from an accountant or lawyer.
How the severance pay is calculated
What you receive depends on how the contract ends. Every termination pays the salary balance and any vested vacation with one third. Dismissal without cause, indirect termination, mutual agreement, the end of a fixed term and resignation also pay the proportional 13th salary and proportional vacation, while dismissal with cause does not. Notice paid instead of worked is owed only when the employer ends the contract, and resignation without working the notice produces a deduction of one month of pay. The art. 479 indemnity applies only to an early end of a fixed term by the employer.
The notice is 30 days plus 3 days for each completed year with the same employer, up to 90 days. With 3 completed years it is 39 days. When the notice is paid instead, those days count as service time, so the end date moves forward, here by 39 days, and the extra days add months to the 13th salary and to the proportional vacation. In a mutual agreement only half of the notice is paid. The salary balance is the daily wage (salary divided by 30) times the days of the last month.
A month counts for the 13th salary and for the vacation when at least 15 days were worked in it. With a salary of R$ 6,000.00 and 11 counted months, the 13th salary is 6,000 x 11 / 12 = R$ 5,500.00. Proportional vacation is the salary times the months of the current vacation year divided by 12, plus one third. INSS and income tax apply to the salary balance and to the 13th salary, each on its own. Paid notice and vacation payments are exempt, as in Súmula 386 STJ.
The FGTS fine is 40% of all deposits made during the contract, including the deposit on the termination payments, or 20% in a mutual agreement, where up to 80% of the balance can be withdrawn. The employer must pay everything within 10 days after the end of the contract (art. 477, par. 6); after that, a fine equal to one salary is due (par. 8). If you do not enter the FGTS balance, it is estimated at 8% of the salary per full month, so the fine is only a guide.
Legal basis: CLT arts. 477, 479, 482, 483, 484-A, 487, 146 and 147; Lei 12.506/2011 on proportional notice; Lei 4.090/1962 on the 13th salary; Lei 8.036/1990 art. 18 and Decreto 99.684/1990 on the FGTS fine; Súmulas 171, 261 and 380 of the TST and Súmula 386 of the STJ. The result is an estimate: collective agreements, averages of variable pay and absences can change the amounts.