Tredicesima 2026: How Much You Actually Get Net (and Why It’s Less)
“I thought the tredicesima would be a full extra salary.”
It is, on paper. The gross is the same as a normal month. But when the December payslip arrives, the tredicesima line is almost always smaller than the net you get every other month, and nobody at work explains why.
There is a specific reason, and it is written into the law on payroll withholding. This guide walks through how the tredicesima netta is calculated in 2026, with real numbers for four salaries, what the December conguaglio does to it, and what to check on your payslip. If you just want your own figure, the calcolatore stipendio netto does the monthly side, and the examples below cover the rest.
What the Tredicesima Is
The tredicesima mensilità is an extra month of pay that almost every Italian employee receives in December. Your CCNL (the national collective agreement for your sector) sets the rules: how it accrues, which absences count, and when it is paid.
For a full year worked, the gross tredicesima equals one normal gross monthly salary. If your contract has 14 payments (common in commerce and tourism), you also get a quattordicesima, usually in summer, and each monthly payment is smaller because the same RAL is split 14 ways.
How Much Is the Gross Tredicesima?
The basic formula:
- Full year: gross tredicesima = RAL ÷ number of monthly payments
- Part of the year: gross tredicesima = gross monthly salary × months worked ÷ 12
In most CCNL, a month counts if you worked more than 15 days in it. Check your own contract, because some count differently.
Example. You were hired on 10 March 2026 with a RAL of €30,000 on 13 payments. Your gross monthly salary is €2,307.69. March counts as a full month (22 days), so you have 10 months. Your gross tredicesima is €2,307.69 × 10 ÷ 12 = €1,923.08.
Absences matter too. Paid leave and holidays normally keep accruing the tredicesima. Unpaid leave (aspettativa non retribuita) normally does not. Sick leave and maternity leave are covered by specific rules in each CCNL, so check yours before assuming a cut.
How the Tredicesima Is Taxed in 2026
Three things come out of the gross, and one thing that normally helps you does not come in.
1. INPS contributions
You pay the same pension contributions as on any other month: 9.19% for most private-sector employees (a little more in some larger companies). An extra 1% applies on pay above the first pension bracket, which INPS set at €56,224 for 2026 (€4,685 a month).
2. IRPEF on monthly brackets
For 2026 the budget law cut the middle IRPEF rate from 35% to 33%. The annual brackets are now 23% up to €28,000, 33% from €28,000 to €50,000, and 43% above that.
For the tredicesima, the employer divides those annual brackets by 12 and applies them to the tredicesima on its own, as if it were a separate month:
| Taxable tredicesima (after INPS) | IRPEF rate |
|---|---|
| Up to €2,333.33 | 23% |
| €2,333.34 to €4,166.67 | 33% |
| Over €4,166.67 | 43% |
3. No detrazioni
This is the part that surprises people. On a normal month, your employer subtracts a slice of your detrazioni per lavoro dipendente from the IRPEF, the tax credit every employee gets. That slice is worked out on the days you worked, and the tredicesima has no days of its own.
The law says so directly. Article 23 of DPR 600/1973 applies the detrazioni to ordinary pay (comma 2, letter a) but not to “mensilità aggiuntive” (letter b), which are taxed on the monthly brackets alone. So the tredicesima is withheld at the full rate.
And no addizionali
One small piece of good news. Regional and municipal surcharges (addizionali) are not taken from the tredicesima. They are worked out at the year-end conguaglio and withheld in installments the following year. That is one of the lines explained in our guida alle trattenute in busta paga.
Worked Example: Tredicesima on a €30,000 RAL
Full year worked, 13 payments, no other income, 9.19% INPS.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross tredicesima (€30,000 ÷ 13) | €2,307.69 |
| INPS 9.19% | −€212.08 |
| Taxable amount | €2,095.62 |
| IRPEF 23% (under €2,333.33) | −€481.99 |
| Detrazioni | €0.00 |
| Addizionali | €0.00 |
| Net tredicesima | €1,613.62 |
About 30% of the gross is withheld.
Net Tredicesima for Four Salaries
Same method, same assumptions, four different RALs:
| RAL | Gross tredicesima | INPS | IRPEF | Net tredicesima | Withheld |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| €25,000 | €1,923.08 | €176.73 | €401.66 | €1,344.69 | 30.1% |
| €30,000 | €2,307.69 | €212.08 | €481.99 | €1,613.62 | 30.1% |
| €40,000 | €3,076.92 | €282.77 | €688.74 | €2,105.42 | 31.6% |
| €55,000 | €4,230.77 | €388.81 | €1,034.51 | €2,807.45 | 33.6% |
At €40,000 the taxable tredicesima (€2,794.15) crosses the monthly €2,333.33 line, so part of it is taxed at 33%. At €55,000 a small slice even reaches 43%.
Why It’s Less Than Your Normal Monthly Net
Same gross, different net. Two things pull in opposite directions:
- Missing detrazioni push it down. At a €30,000 RAL, your yearly detrazioni (the standard employee credit plus the extra €1,000 introduced with the cuneo fiscale cut) come to about €3,044. Spread over 12 months, that is roughly €254 a month the tredicesima does not get.
- Missing addizionali push it up a little. A normal payslip also carries the regional and municipal installments, often a few tens of euros a month depending on where you live.
Put together, if your addizionali run at about €50 a month, a normal month at €30,000 RAL nets around €1,817, and the tredicesima nets €1,613.62. That gap of roughly €200 is what people notice, and it is normal. Our guide to why a raise doesn’t feel like a raise covers the same mechanism from another angle.
The detrazioni are not lost. You receive the full year’s amount across the 12 ordinary months, and the conguaglio checks the total.
The December Conguaglio
At the end of the year (usually in the December payslip, and by law no later than 28 February of the following year) your employer recalculates your IRPEF on the whole year’s income, with all your detrazioni, and compares it to what was withheld month by month.
- If too much was withheld, you get the difference back on the payslip.
- If too little was withheld, the difference is taken.
For a simple case (one employer, a full year, no other income) the conguaglio is often small. It gets bigger if you changed jobs, had periods without pay, received bonuses or fringe benefits, or asked your employer to apply extra detrazioni during the year. And because it often lands in the same December payslip as the tredicesima, it can make the tredicesima look bigger or smaller than it really is.
If the December payslip looks strange, read the tredicesima line and the conguaglio line separately. Our guide on how to read a payslip in 2026 shows where each one sits.
When the Tredicesima Is Paid
There is no single legal date. Most CCNL pay it with the December salary, and many employers pay before Christmas. Your contract, or your company’s payroll calendar, has the exact date.
If you leave a job during the year, you do not wait for December. The accrued part of the tredicesima (the ratei) is paid in your final payslip, together with any unused holiday and the TFR.
Is There a Bonus Natale in December 2026?
Probably not, as things stand. The €100 Bonus Natale paid with the tredicesima was a one-off measure for 2024. As of September 2026, no law brings it back for December 2026, and the 2026 budget law did not include it.
The 2027 budget law will be drafted in the autumn, and new measures sometimes appear late in the year. If a bonus is announced, it will be in official INPS and Agenzia delle Entrate notices, not only in news headlines.
What to Check on Your December Payslip
- The months counted. If you started or stopped during the year, check that the tredicesima uses the right number of months.
- The gross amount. It should match one normal gross monthly salary for a full year, including any fixed allowances your CCNL includes.
- INPS on the tredicesima. It should be the same percentage as on any other month.
- IRPEF on the tredicesima. No detrazioni is normal. Seeing detrazioni there is not an error either, since some payroll systems split them differently, but the total for the year should come out the same.
- The conguaglio line. Separate it from the tredicesima before deciding whether something went wrong.
If you are comparing your tredicesima with a colleague’s, remember that contract, seniority and family detrazioni all change the result. We explain why in why comparing salaries with colleagues is misleading.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the net tredicesima in 2026?
For a full year worked on 13 payments, the net tredicesima is roughly 66% to 70% of one gross monthly salary. On a €30,000 RAL it is about €1,613.62, from a gross of €2,307.69.
Why is the tredicesima lower than my normal salary?
Because the tredicesima is taxed without the detrazioni per lavoro dipendente, which are applied only to ordinary monthly pay. At a €30,000 RAL that is about €254 less tax credit than a normal month.
Are detrazioni applied to the tredicesima?
Normally no. Article 23 of DPR 600/1973 taxes additional monthly payments on the monthly IRPEF brackets without the detrazioni. The full year’s detrazioni are recovered through the ordinary months and checked at the conguaglio.
Are addizionali regionali and comunali taken from the tredicesima?
No. Regional and municipal surcharges are calculated at the year-end conguaglio and withheld in installments during the following year, not from the tredicesima.
What IRPEF rates apply to the tredicesima in 2026?
The 2026 rates are 23%, 33% and 43%. For the tredicesima they apply on monthly brackets: 23% up to €2,333.33 of taxable amount, 33% up to €4,166.67, and 43% above that.
How is the tredicesima calculated if I worked only part of the year?
Gross monthly salary multiplied by the months worked and divided by 12. In most CCNL a month counts if you worked more than 15 days in it.
When is the tredicesima paid?
Usually with the December payslip. Your CCNL or your employer’s payroll calendar sets the exact date. If you leave a job, the accrued part is paid in your final payslip.
Is there a Bonus Natale with the tredicesima in 2026?
As of September 2026, no. The €100 Bonus Natale was a one-off measure for 2024 and has not been renewed for December 2026. Check official INPS and Agenzia delle Entrate notices in case a new measure is announced.
Does INPS apply to the tredicesima?
Yes. The same employee contributions apply as on any other month, 9.19% for most private-sector employees.
Why does my December payslip show a different amount than expected?
The December payslip often contains both the tredicesima and the year-end conguaglio. The conguaglio can add or remove money depending on whether too much or too little tax was withheld during the year.
Conclusion
The tredicesima is a full extra month of gross pay, taxed like a lonely month with no tax credit attached. That is why it lands about €200 short of a normal payslip at middle incomes, and why the December conguaglio can move it further.
Know your gross, expect roughly 30% to come off, and read the tredicesima and conguaglio lines separately. For your monthly figure, run your RAL through the calcolatore stipendio netto, and if the numbers still feel off, our guide on why net pay is lower than gross goes line by line.
Disclaimer and Sources
The figures in this guide are estimates for 2026 based on 13 monthly payments, a full year worked, 9.19% INPS contributions, no other income and no family detrazioni. Your real tredicesima depends on your CCNL, your region and comune, your other income and your employer’s payroll. Tax rules can change with each budget law. This is general information, not tax advice.
Sources: Ministry of Economy and Finance, budget law 2026 summary; INPS circular no. 6 of 30 January 2026; DPR 29 September 1973 no. 600, article 23; article 13 of the TUIR (Testo Unico delle Imposte sui Redditi) for the detrazioni per lavoro dipendente.
