FGTS calculator: projected balance and birthday withdrawal

1. What FGTS is and the 8% deposit

The FGTS (Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Serviço, a severance fund) is an account in the employee's name into which the employer pays 8% × gross salary every month (Lei 8.036/1990, art. 15). It is paid on top of salary, not deducted from it. If you tick the 13th-salary option, the calculator adds one extra deposit equal to the monthly one every 12 months, treating the 13º salário (a mandatory year-end extra month of pay) as a full salary. Overtime, premiums and vacation pay also generate deposits in real life; here only the salary you type is used.

2. Return: TR + 3% a year

The balance is adjusted by the TR (Taxa Referencial, a benchmark rate published by the Central Bank) and earns 3% a year in interest, credited monthly (art. 13). The calculator turns 3% a year into its monthly equivalent and combines it with TR: monthly rate = (1 + TR) × 1.03^(1/12) − 1. With the default TR of 0.1691% a month (Central Bank, period 12 Nov–12 Dec 2026) that is about 0.4161% a month. TR changes monthly, so the field is editable. Each month, the return is calculated on the previous balance first and the month's deposit lands afterwards, rounded to the cent.

The FGTS annual profit distribution is not included, because its size is set each year. In years when it is paid, the real balance will end up a little above the projection.

3. Birthday withdrawal (saque-aniversário)

Workers who opt into the saque-aniversário can take out part of the balance once a year. The amount is a rate plus a fixed add-on by balance band (art. 20-D and Annex, added by Lei 13.932/2019):

With “Simulate the birthday withdrawal every year” ticked, the amount leaves the balance at every 12-month mark of the projection (not in your actual birthday month), and later returns accrue on the smaller balance.

The trade-off matters: under the birthday option you cannot withdraw the balance if you are dismissed without cause — you only receive the 40% fine. Switching back to the standard option is allowed, but it only takes effect after the waiting period set in art. 20-C.

4. The 40% fine

The fine line shows 40% × final balance, assuming the whole balance comes from the current job with no withdrawals. In a real dismissal the fine is based on all deposits made during the contract, with their returns; the severance pay calculator shows the full settlement. For the government benefit that follows a dismissal, see the unemployment insurance calculator.

Figures are estimates: the official FGTS statement and the employer's payroll give the definitive numbers.

Take an employee earning R$3,000.00 a month who already has R$5,000.00 in FGTS and wants to see the balance in 24 months, with the 13th-salary deposit and TR at 0.1691%. Each monthly deposit is R$240.00 (8% of salary). Over two years, R$6,240.00 goes in: 24 monthly deposits plus two 13th-salary deposits. Accumulated returns come to R$820.55, so the projected balance reaches R$12,060.55. At the end of year one the balance would be R$8,442.34, allowing a birthday withdrawal of R$2,338.47. On the final balance the band is 15% + R$1,150.00, giving a birthday withdrawal of R$2,959.08. If the employee were dismissed without cause at the end, the 40% fine would be R$4,824.22.