Rules cited
Every result links to the article of the Labour Code, the decree or the withholding table behind it.
FINANCIAL TOOLS · EL SALVADOR
Free calculators for El Salvador, explained clearly.
Free calculators to understand a loan, see what a card really costs, review an employment settlement, work out the year-end bonus you are owed, get your overtime right, estimate the deductions from your pay and see how your annual return lands, with no signup and the official source in view.✓No signup · Your data stays on your device · Official sources included
LOANPILOT
Choose a tool
01◎
Loan calculator
Compare payments, interest, insurance, effective cost and the impact of extra principal payments.
Calculate a loan→02▤
Credit card
Work out how long the minimum payment takes and what it costs in interest, and how much an extra changes it.
Calculate a card→03§
Settlement and severance
Estimate severance, vacation, year-end bonus and unpaid salary under employment rules.
Estimate settlement→04★
Year-end bonus
Work out the days your length of service earns, the cycle they are counted over and the deadline to pay them.
Calculate the bonus→05◷
Overtime and surcharges
Work out daytime and night overtime, the night surcharge and rest days and public holidays.
Calculate overtime→06%
Payroll withholding
Estimate pension, ISSS and income tax and inspect the official monthly, twice-monthly and weekly bands.
Estimate withholding→07∑
Annual return
Estimate the year's tax against what was withheld, and whether the balance lands in your favour or against you.
Estimate the balance→WHY TRUST THIS
Figures you can check
A calculator is worth little if it cannot be audited. These show the rule they apply, the official document behind it and the date it was last checked.Calculated on your device
No accounts and no tracking: what you type is processed in the browser and never travels to a server.
Dated review
Employment and tax rules state the day they were last read back against the official text in force.
Open formulas
The project is open source: anyone can review the calculation or report a difference.
Sources verified on 14 August 2026
WHAT NOBODY ELSE PUBLISHES
The rules that are not settled
Some figures in Salvadoran law allow more than one reading: the text says one thing and the ministry does another, or no article fixes the figure at all. This site applies one anyway, because a number has to come out, but it names every such case: both readings, the one used here and why.FREQUENTLY ASKED
Common questions about pay, settlements and loans
How is severance for unjustified dismissal calculated?
Article 58 of the Labour Code grants 30 days of salary for each year of service, plus the proportional share for part years, with a floor of 15 days. The daily salary used as the base is capped at four times the sector's daily minimum wage.
What is owed on voluntary resignation?
The Voluntary Resignation Benefit Law grants 15 days of salary per year worked and requires at least two continuous years with the same employer. Here the base salary is capped at two daily minimum wages rather than four.
If I resign, am I paid the vacation for the year in progress?
Here the text and the practice do not say the same thing. Article 187 of the Labour Code grants vacation in proportion to time worked when the contract ends with employer responsibility or the worker is dismissed without legal cause, and then adds that where the continuous year of service is already complete, vacation is paid even if the contract ends without employer responsibility. Read literally, someone who resigns takes the vacation of complete periods and not the fraction of the year in progress. The MTPS official calculation service does pay that fraction on a resignation: the statement we check our results against is a voluntary resignation, and it carries proportional vacation on its own line. Our calculator follows the ministry and shows it to you, and it flags your case on screen when it falls inside that difference, so you know the text admits the other reading before you claim it.
How many days of year-end bonus apply?
The bonus accrues over a cycle running from 12 December to 11 December — that is how the MTPS calculation service prints it — and service is measured when that cycle closes: 15 days of salary from one to under three years, 19 days from three to under ten, and 21 days from ten years onward. 20 October opens the payment window; it is not the day service is measured. If you did not complete the cycle, the proportional share of it is paid. And if your contract ended with a closed cycle still unpaid, that one is owed separately and in full: two lines, not one. For someone leaving before 20 October the rule does not expressly say which scale governs; we use the one at the last day worked, which is what the ministry does, and where the two dates fall on different steps we show you the other figure too.
What is my employer's deadline to pay the year-end bonus?
Since the 2025 reform payment runs from 20 October to 20 December each year, and that last date is the deadline: missing it is a breach and can be reported to the MTPS. 20 October is also the day your length of service is read at, which sets the step of days you are owed. Before the reform both happened on 12 December.
What is the Quincena 25 and when is it paid?
It is a complementary payment equal to 50% of the basic or nominal monthly salary, created by the Ley Especial Quincena Veinticinco, Legislative Decree 499 of 14 January 2026. It reaches only those earning $1,500 a month or less, and it is paid between 15 and 25 January. The general regime starts in 2027; through 2026 the public sector receives it as of right while for private employers it is voluntary. The law declares it non-taxable income and bars every deduction from it — income tax, ISSS and pension alike — makes it unattachable, and keeps it out of the base used to calculate other benefits, so it enters neither your settlement nor your year-end bonus.
How much is deducted for pension and ISSS each month?
The employee pension contribution is 7.25% of contributory salary, with no ceiling. The ISSS contribution is 3%, applied to a maximum salary of $1,000 per month: pay above that ceiling does not increase the deduction.
At what salary does income tax withholding start?
Under the monthly table in force, withholding starts once taxable remuneration for the month passes $550.00. That base is what remains after pension and ISSS, and anyone earning up to $9,100 a year also applies the $1,600 fixed deduction spread across the period.
Why is a loan's effective cost higher than its interest rate?
The nominal rate only covers interest. Effective cost also takes in insurance, fees and the way the debt amortises, which is what makes it the figure that genuinely compares two offers from different institutions.
Is the data I type into the calculators stored?
No. The calculations run inside your browser: no figure you type travels to a server. The site asks for no account, uses no tracking and keeps working with the tab offline once it has loaded.
How is overtime paid in El Salvador?
A daytime overtime hour carries a 100% surcharge, so it is worth double the basic hour. If it also falls at night, a further 25% applies to that already doubled hour, bringing it to two and a half times the ordinary hour.
What am I owed for working a Sunday or a public holiday?
Working the weekly rest day entitles you to that day's basic salary, a surcharge of at least 50% for the hours worked and a paid compensatory rest day. A public holiday worked is paid double: ordinary salary plus a 100% surcharge.
Will I get a refund on the annual tax return?
Not necessarily, and it is worth knowing in advance: the balance lands against you as often as in your favour. The withholding tables already carry the $1,600 deduction inside their upper bands, but article 37 grants it only to someone earning up to $9,100 a year, or to someone above that with receipts for medical costs or tuition. Anyone above $9,100 who spent on neither was under-withheld all year and has a difference to pay. It is nobody's mistake: it is how the tables are built.
What does paying only the credit card minimum cost?
Far more than it looks, because the minimum payment is a percentage of the balance: it falls every month as the balance falls, and the principal it repays falls with it. Interest is charged on the balance, so the debt stretches over years and the total paid can far exceed what was spent. This calculation applies no Salvadoran rule — it is interest on a balance — which is why that page carries no verification badge.