The 12% interest on your cesantías in Colombia, for the full year or part of it
Estimates only, not financial advice. What you type stays on your device. Checked against sources on 15 Oct 2026.Every January a Colombian employer must pay the worker 12% interest on the cesantías balance at 31 December, or on leaving, in proportion to the time worked in the year (Ley 52 de 1975, Decreto 116 de 1976). On the 2026 minimum wage with its auxilio de transporte, the cesantías for a full year are $2.000.000 and the interest $240.000.
2026 · Rates and rules read from the sources listed on this page (the earliest on 15 Oct 2026); they may have changed since.
Type the monthly salary; the auxilio de transporte is added when the salary is up to two minimum wages.
Keep 360 days for a full year, or type the days worked since 1 January (30-day months).
Read the cesantías for the year and the interest: cesantías × 12% × days / 360.
Type your salary and the days worked to get your cesantías interest.
Colombian employers owe three payments on top of the salary, and this page works out all three for a semester or a year, in full or in part.
Cesantías. Article 249 gives one month of salary for each year worked, and the proportional part of a year: salary × days / 360. The base is your last monthly salary if it has not changed in three months, or the average of the last year if it has or if your pay varies (article 253).
Intereses sobre cesantías. Ley 52 de 1975 and Decreto 116 de 1976 add 12% a year on the cesantías balance at 31 December, or when you leave, in proportion to the time elapsed: cesantías × 12% × days / 360. They are paid to you in January; there is no interest on interest.
The rest of the article, and all 6 questions about Colombia Prima and Cesantías Calculator, are on the Colombia Prima and Cesantías Calculator page.
Article 306 of the Código Sustantivo del Trabajo gives 30 days of salary a year, in two payments. Each one is the monthly salary, plus the auxilio de transporte if you receive it, times the days worked in the semester, divided by 360. A full semester has 180 days, so it pays half a month.
The cesantías are one month of salary for each year worked, and the proportional part of a year: salary times days worked divided by 360. The salary is your last monthly salary if it did not change in three months, or the average of the last year if it did. The auxilio de transporte is added for workers earning up to two minimum wages.
Multiply the cesantías by 12% and by the days worked in the year, and divide by 360. For a full year that is 12% of the cesantías: $240.000 on $2.000.000. Decreto 116 de 1976 says they are paid in January, or when the contract ends, and that no interest is paid on interest.
No. Article 132 of the Código Sustantivo del Trabajo lets a salary of at least 10 minimum wages plus a 30% benefit factor compensate in advance the legal primas, the cesantías and their interest. A worker on salario integral therefore receives none of the three as a separate payment, though vacations are still due.
Rates and rules change; check the source before you rely on a figure.
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