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Vacation Accrual Calculator

Enter annual vacation days, pay periods per year, and periods worked to find the accrued vacation.

How it is calculated

The annual allowance is spread evenly over the pay periods in a year. per period = annual_days ÷ pay_periods, accrued = per period × periods_worked and remaining = annual_days − accrued. Results are shown in days to two decimals, but the calculation uses the unrounded per-period figure, so multiplying the rounded per-period value by your periods will differ slightly. Pay periods per year is 52 for weekly pay, 26 for biweekly, 24 for semi-monthly and 12 for monthly. Pay periods and periods worked must be whole numbers, there must be at least one pay period, and periods worked cannot exceed the pay periods in the year. The annual allowance can be 0 to 366 days. Anything outside these limits gives no result. The tool does not cover carry-over, accrual caps, waiting periods or payout of unused time.

Worked example

An employer grants 15 vacation days a year, pays biweekly (26 pay periods), and you have worked 10 periods. Step 1: accrual per period = 15 ÷ 26 = 0.5769 days, shown as 0.58. Step 2: accrued so far = 0.5769 × 10 = 5.77 days. Step 3: remaining to accrue this year = 15 − 5.77 = 9.23 days. Note that 0.58 × 10 would give 5.80, which is why the unrounded rate matters. If an hours-based policy is used instead, multiply the days by your daily hours.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Entering the number of pay periods you have been paid so far in the second box. That box is periods per year (26, 24, 12), while the third is periods worked. If the third is larger than the second, there is no result.
  • Using months as pay periods for a biweekly payroll, which gives 12 instead of 26 and doubles the per-period figure.
  • Multiplying the rounded 0.58 yourself and getting 5.80 instead of 5.77. The tool uses the exact rate.
  • Entering a part period such as 10.5. Periods must be whole numbers, so count completed pay periods only.
  • Treating the result as a balance you can take now. Accrued days are not the same as days left after you have already taken time off, and no cap or carry-over limit is applied; subtract and check your policy yourself.

About this calculator

Under an accrual-based PTO policy, employees do not receive their full annual vacation allowance all at once — instead, they earn a fraction of it with each pay period worked. The accrual rate per period is simply the annual vacation days divided by the number of pay periods in a year, and the amount banked so far is that rate multiplied by the number of periods actually worked.

This is the standard method payroll and HR systems use to track vacation balances throughout the year, since it lets a new hire start earning time off immediately even though they have not been employed a full year yet. From the annual vacation allowance, pay periods per year, and periods worked, it shows both the per-period accrual rate and the total accrued so far.

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