How to Calculate TFR in Italy: Formula, Worked Examples and Reading Your Payslip

Searches for «tfr calcolo» are usually not asking what TFR is. They are asking for the number: how much has actually accrued, whether the payslip figure is right, and how a mid-year hire or a raise changes the math. This page is built to answer exactly that.

For the underlying rule, what TFR is, where it sits while you are employed, the anticipazione advance and the Fondo di garanzia, see our companion page on TFR, Italian severance pay. This page assumes you already know what TFR is and walks through computing it.

Information verified on 21 July 2026. This page provides general legal information and does not constitute legal advice for an individual situation.

The formula, restated for calculation

Every year of service contributes a quota equal to that year's retribuzione utile divided by 13,5 (art. 2120 c.c., comma 2). A worker earning 22.000 euro of retribuzione utile for a full calendar year accrues 22.000 divided by 13,5, which is 1.629,63 euro for that year.

Two adjustments then apply before that quota is finalised: the 0,50% deduction described below, and, from the second year onward, the revaluation of everything accrued in prior years. Both are computed separately from the 13,5 division itself, and mixing them up is the most common source of a wrong number.

What counts as retribuzione utile, in practice

Art. 2120 c.c., comma 2 sets the test: all sums paid in connection with the employment relationship on a non occasional basis, including the cash value of benefits in kind, excluding anything paid purely as expense reimbursement, unless the applicable CCNL says otherwise.

In practice this normally includes base salary, regularly paid overtime, and any mensilita aggiuntiva the CCNL provides for, such as a 13th or 14th month payment, since all of these are non occasional and tied to the job. A genuinely one off bonus is more likely to fall outside it, though the CCNL's own classification of the payment often settles the boundary in a specific case.

Where work was suspended during the year for illness, injury, pregnancy or the post partum period covered by art. 2110 c.c., or where cassa integrazione applied, the pay the worker would have earned under normal conditions is still counted toward that year's retribuzione utile (art. 2120 c.c., comma 3). A covered leave does not create a gap in accrual.

The 15 day rule, and why it applies at both ends

A fraction of a month equal to or greater than 15 days counts as a full month; a fraction shorter than that does not count at all. This single rule decides how many months of a partial year actually enter the calculation, and it applies the same way whether the fraction sits at the start of employment or at its end.

Scenario: two workers hired ten days apart

Worker A is hired on 10 March. From the 10th to the 31st is 22 days, at or above the 15 day threshold, so March counts as a full month and the first year runs March through December, 10 months.

Worker B is hired on 20 March. From the 20th to the 31st is 12 days, below the threshold, so March does not count at all, and the first year runs April through December, 9 months.

On an identical 22.000 euro annual retribuzione utile, Worker A's first year quota is 22.000 divided by 13,5, multiplied by 10 divided by 12, which comes to 1.358,02 euro. Worker B's first year quota, on the same salary but 9 months, is 1.222,22 euro. Two employees hired ten calendar days apart, on the same salary, end that first year roughly 136 euro apart in accrued TFR, purely from where the 15 day line falls.

Worked example: a mid year hire, a raise, and a partial final year

This example is deliberately more detailed than the simple full year case, because it is where most calculation questions actually come from: a hire that does not start on 1 January, a raise partway through the relationship, and a termination that does not land on 31 December.

A worker is hired on 1 April 2021 at 22.000 euro a year in retribuzione utile. On 1 July 2023 their pay rises to 25.000 euro a year. Employment ends on 20 September 2025, which, at 20 days into the month, clears the 15 day threshold, so September counts as a full month.

A few things to notice. First, 2023's retribuzione utile of 23.500 euro is not simply the old or new annual rate; it is the actual pay received that year, six months at 22.000 euro and six months at 25.000 euro. Second, the 0,50% deduction is calculated on the retribuzione imponibile each year, here treated as equal to the retribuzione utile for simplicity, and it is subtracted directly from that year's own quota, not from the running balance. Third, revaluation is only ever applied to the balance carried in from before the current year, which is why 2021 shows no revaluation at all.

Only the most recently finalised full year rate, 2,311148%, covering the balance through 31 December 2024 revalued at 31 December 2025 and communicated by ISTAT in January 2026, is a verified current figure. The 1,50%, 3,00% and 2,00% rates shown for the earlier years are illustrative placeholders for how the mechanic works, and the final partial year increment for 2025 depends on an ISTAT figure not yet published in final form at the time this page was verified. Always check the current ISTAT communicato before finalising a real calculation.

Reading your own busta paga

Most Italian payslips carry a running TFR line, often labelled accantonamento TFR or TFR maturato nell'anno, and the December payslip or the annual Certificazione Unica usually states the year's total. You can sanity check that figure with the same formula.

Take a worker earning a steady 2.200 euro a month in retribuzione utile, so 26.400 euro across the year. The annual quota is 26.400 divided by 13,5, which is 1.955,56 euro, or roughly 162,96 euro per month on average. If your payslip's monthly TFR line runs noticeably below that, check first whether a recurring item, overtime, or a mensilita aggiuntiva was left out of what the employer treated as retribuzione utile for that month; if it runs above it, check whether a one off bonus was included that should have been excluded as occasional pay.

The year end figure should also reflect the prior balance's revaluation, so a December payslip's cumulative TFR figure is not simply twelve months of the monthly accrual added up; it also carries whatever the 31 December revaluation added to everything accrued before that year. If your employer has at least 50 employees, part of what you see may already reflect a transfer to INPS's Fondo di Tesoreria rather than sitting purely in the company's own accounts; see our companion page on TFR, Italian severance pay for how that split works and for the anticipazione advance.

When this calculation does not apply the same way

If you have directed your ongoing TFR to a fondo di previdenza complementare, a private pension fund, under the silenzio-assenso mechanism, the fund rather than your employer holds and revalues that portion, and the pension fund's own statement, not your payslip, is the figure to check. The 13,5 divisor and the retribuzione utile test still apply to how much is contributed each year; what changes is who holds and revalues it afterward.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the TFR formula?

Each year's quota is that year's retribuzione utile divided by 13,5. A partial year is pro rated by the months actually worked, and a fraction of a month of 15 days or more counts as a full month (art. 2120 c.c.).

How do I calculate TFR for a partial year?

Use the actual retribuzione utile paid during the months worked that year, divide by 13,5, and apply it proportionally to the months counted. Count a fraction of a month as a full month only if it is 15 days or more, whether that fraction falls at the start or the end of employment.

Does a pay rise during the year change how TFR is calculated?

It changes that year's own quota, because the quota is based on the retribuzione utile actually paid across the months at each rate, not a single annual figure. It does not change quotas already accrued in earlier years.

Is the 0,50% deduction taken from my TFR quota or from my salary?

It is calculated on the retribuzione imponibile, the salary base used for social-security contributions, not on the TFR quota itself, and it is then subtracted from that year's quota. It comes from L. 297/1982, art. 3, a separate rule from art. 2120 c.c.

How is TFR revalued if I leave partway through the year?

For a termination before 31 December, the revaluation on the final partial year uses the ISTAT index change measured through the month employment ended rather than through December, so it is a different figure than a full annual rate (art. 2120 c.c., comma 5).

Where can I check the current TFR revaluation rate?

ISTAT publishes the applicable rate, built from the FOI consumer price index, in a comunicato stampa on prezzi al consumo. Check the current release on istat.it rather than reusing a prior year's figure.

Why does my payslip's TFR figure look different from a simple salary divided by 13,5 calculation?

The most common reasons are the 0,50% deduction on the retribuzione imponibile, which reduces each year's net quota, and, from the second year on, the revaluation applied to the balance carried in from prior years. Check what pay elements were included as retribuzione utile before assuming an error.

Does sick leave reduce how much TFR I accrue?

No. Illness, injury, pregnancy and post partum leave covered by art. 2110 c.c. do not create a gap in accrual; the pay the worker would have earned under normal conditions is still counted toward that year's retribuzione utile.