Payslip busta paga in Italy: the thirteenth salary and TFR explained

Every month, an employer in Italy must issue each employee a payslip — the busta paga (cedolino). This is a legal document: it records how many hours you worked, at which level, how much went to the state and pension contributions, and how much has accrued as leave and severance. For a foreign worker who rarely saw an equivalent back home, the busta paga looks like a wall of abbreviations. Inside that wall are things that directly affect your income: whether you are paid at the correct CCNL level, whether the employer actually transfers the contributions shown on the slip, and whether the thirteenth month payment and the TFR accrue as the law requires.

The structure of the payslip

A busta paga in Italy follows the same underlying logic regardless of sector or employer.

• The header. Employer and employee details, including the codice fiscale — if you have only just arrived, first make sure you understand how to obtain a codice fiscale, since formal employment is impossible without one. Next comes the applicable CCNL (the sector's collective agreement), the livello (qualification level within that CCNL) and the contract type.
• The hours block. Working days and hours for the month, overtime (straordinario), sick leave, and permitted hours of absence (permessi).
• The earnings block. The base rate under the CCNL, seniority allowances, overtime pay, and the accrual instalments (ratei) of the thirteenth and, where it applies, fourteenth month payment.
• The deductions block. The employee's share of INPS contributions, IRPEF tax with the regional and municipal surcharges, and any reliefs applied (detrazioni).
• The total: netto in busta. The amount that actually lands in your account.
• The bottom accrual block. A separate table showing days of leave and hours of permessi accrued and used, and the TFR accrued for the current year and cumulatively.

It is precisely this bottom block that gets ignored most often — yet it is exactly where you should be checking: accrued but unused leave, and accrued TFR, are your money, even if it has not physically been paid out yet.

Why the "gross" figure from the interview and the sum on your account are not the same thing

At the interview, the employer usually quotes an amount in lordo — the "gross" salary, before deductions. The difference from what actually reaches your account is not explained by deception, but by the fact that several mandatory components are subtracted from the gross figure one after another.

Part of the INPS contributions is paid by the employee — withheld directly from the salary before the tax is even calculated. IRPEF, the progressive income tax, is then calculated on what remains: the higher the base, the higher the rate applied to its upper portion. The thresholds and rates are set at national level and can change year to year, so there is no point quoting figures here — check the current IRPEF scale on the Agenzia delle Entrate website. On top of the national IRPEF come the addizionale regionale and addizionale comunale — surcharges set independently by each region and each comune, so the rate depends on your tax residence, not your employer.

These amounts are, in turn, reduced by detrazioni — deductions an employee is entitled to simply for being employed, and for dependent family members under conditions set by law. That is why two people on the same "gross" salary can end up with a different "net": their region of residence, family composition, or months actually worked may differ.

The thirteenth and fourteenth month payments

The tredicesima — an additional, thirteenth payment — is guaranteed to employees once a year, usually close to December, by nearly every CCNL in Italy. It is not a bonus at the employer's discretion but a right built into the employment relationship: it accrues gradually, month by month — on the payslip this shows as a separate line, rateo tredicesima, growing every month regardless of when it is actually paid out. The amount is proportional to the time actually worked during the year — if you started mid-year or left before December, you are owed a proportional share, not the full sum.

Quattordicesima — a fourteenth payment — is not provided for by every CCNL, only by some (typically in retail, tourism, and a number of industrial sectors), and it is usually paid in summer. If your contract refers to a CCNL that does not provide for a quattordicesima, its absence from your busta paga is not a mistake. Whether you are entitled to it can only be established by checking the CCNL that applies to your position — not by a verbal promise made at hiring.

Both are part of the agreed annual remuneration, distributed as the sector agreement provides. If the contract names one CCNL, but the work actually assigned matches a different one, check whether the correct agreement is being applied.

TFR: how it accrues and where it goes

Trattamento di Fine Rapporto (TFR), also known as "liquidazione", is a deferred portion of remuneration that accrues throughout the entire period of employment and is paid out in a lump sum when the employment relationship ends, whatever the reason — dismissal by the employer, resignation, the end of a fixed-term contract, or retirement. The mechanism is simple at its core: each year a share of the annual remuneration is set aside separately and gradually revalued, to partly offset inflation over the years it accumulates. The accrual coefficient and revaluation formula are set by law and applied automatically by payroll — every month the payslip shows the running TFR total in the bottom block, and that figure is worth tracking year after year.

There is an important point rarely explained when you are hired: the employee chooses where to direct the yearly TFR contributions. By default, the TFR stays with the employer and is paid out in one lump sum at the end. The alternative is to direct it to a fondo di previdenza complementare, a private supplementary pension fund. The decision is normally made within a period set by law after starting work. Which option is more advantageous depends on your circumstances — the employer's stability, how long you plan to stay in Italy, your attitude to saving — and it is worth deciding consciously, not simply because a form was signed with the hiring paperwork.

The law also allows limited cases of an early partial payout (anticipo TFR) while the contract is ongoing — for example, for medical treatment or a first home — subject to a minimum length of service and grounds set by law. This is an exception, not a right you can invoke at any time.

Taxes and contributions: what the deduction is made of

The share of INPS contributions withheld directly from the salary is calculated as a percentage of the taxable base, set at national level depending on the CCNL category and the type of contract. An even larger share is paid by the employer on top of the gross salary and does not appear on the busta paga at all — it is part of the company's labour cost and does not reduce the employee's pay directly. Check the current employee contribution rate in the applicable CCNL or on the INPS website.

IRPEF is calculated progressively: the base is split into brackets (scaglioni), each taxed at its own rate, rising with income. The brackets and rates are periodically revised by the state, so there is no point quoting percentages here — check the current scale on the Agenzia delle Entrate website. On top come the regional and municipal surcharges already mentioned — set independently by each region and comune, and subject to change every year.

At year end, the employer carries out the conguaglio fiscale — a recalculation of the tax withheld based on actual annual income, reliefs, and any changes during the year. If too much was withheld, the difference is refunded in the last payslip; if too little, it is added on. So the last payslip of the year deserves a close look.

How to spot that you are being underpaid

The most common problems rarely look like outright fraud — they hide in details that only stand out when compared against the contract and the CCNL.

• An understated livello. The employer assigns duties that correspond to a higher CCNL level, while the contract and payslip show a lower livello — and a lower base rate.
• Unpaid overtime. Hours actually worked do not appear in the earnings block, or are paid at the ordinary rate instead of the higher straordinario rate.
• A mismatch between the real and declared schedule. The employee works full-time but is registered as part-time — a typical scheme for understating income.
• Contributions shown but not paid. The INPS deduction line may look correct, with no guarantee the amounts were actually transferred to the fund.
• Leave and permessi that "vanish". Accrued days written off without being used, or simply missing from the summary block.

The second-to-last point you can check yourself: every employee has access to a contribution account — the estratto conto contributivo — through the personal area on the INPS website, reached via SPID or CIE. It shows which contributions, and for which periods, actually reached your name — regardless of what the busta paga says. A gap between the amount withheld and the amount transferred is worth documenting as soon as you spot it.

How we check your busta paga and recover what was not paid

Working out the payslip's structure on your own is possible — but matching it against the specific CCNL, checking the livello, recalculating unpaid overtime, the thirteenth month and the TFR, and confirming the contributions actually reached INPS, is work that requires the applicable collective agreement, the ability to read official records, and experience an employer is unlikely to explain voluntarily. This is exactly the work we take on.

We start by comparing the employment contract and the duties actually performed against the applicable CCNL, to check whether the assigned livello matches the work done — and if not, we calculate how much the base rate has been understated. We then review the full series of payslips for the whole employment period: whether the thirteenth and, where applicable, fourteenth month payment were correctly accrued, whether the TFR is accruing correctly, whether overtime was paid at the higher CCNL rate, and whether unused leave and permessi are quietly "disappearing". Separately, we cross-check the INPS contribution account against the payslips, to catch cases where contributions were withheld but never transferred — this affects both current income and your future pension and the insurance record used in many immigration procedures.

This matters for another reason too: a stable income from lawful employment is one of the elements weighed when renewing a residence permit and in other immigration procedures, so an understated busta paga can create problems not only with money but with your status. If your position requires a separate work authorisation, it is worth checking it was issued correctly — we covered this in our article on nulla osta and the work permit.

When the review confirms underpayment, we calculate the difference — understated livello, unpaid overtime, underpaid thirteenth month or TFR — and draw up a formal claim (diffida) demanding payment of what is owed and correction of future calculations. Most cases are resolved at this stage: employers who see a sound claim backed by documents usually prefer to settle. If the employer ignores the demand, we take the matter to the competent giudice del lavoro, preparing evidence — payslips, contract, INPS statement, correspondence — so the case is strong before the first hearing. For a basic self-check, see our checklist for reviewing a claim against an employer, which helps you gather documents before the first consultation. If the situation already looks tangled, simply book a consultation and bring the payslips you have: often a first review shows where to start.

Questions we are asked most often

My employer says I am not entitled to the thirteenth month payment because I have worked for less than a year. Is that true?

No, the right arises from the first day of work; it simply accrues in proportion to the time actually worked. If you have only worked a few months this year, you are owed a proportional share, not zero.

Can I claim payment of the TFR while I am still working for the company?

As a rule, no — the TFR is paid out in one lump sum when employment ends. An early partial payout is only possible on a limited list of grounds set by law, subject to a minimum length of service.

I don't have SPID — how can I check whether my employer is actually paying contributions to INPS?

SPID or CIE can be obtained on your own — without them, not only the INPS account is unavailable, but many other government services too. If setting one up proves difficult, we can help check your contribution history as part of a consultation.

My contract states part-time work, but I actually work full-time. What should I do?

This is a common scheme for understating income, affecting not only your salary but the accrual of TFR, the thirteenth month payment, and your pension record, all calculated from the officially declared hours. Document your actual schedule and get it reviewed — a gap between actual and declared time is grounds for a recalculation.

The busta paga is not just a payslip — it records your rights every month: the correct pay level, the accrued thirteenth month payment and TFR, and contributions actually transferred. Learning to read it is worthwhile for anyone employed in Italy — and wherever the figures do not add up, it makes sense to have them checked by someone who knows how to compare a payslip against the CCNL and against the real state of affairs at INPS.

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