Mandatory employee benefits in Peru: a compliance guide for employers

For a company arriving in Peru, the offer letter tells only part of the story. Peruvian law layers a set of mandatory benefits — known locally as beneficios sociales — on top of the monthly salary. Some are paid in cash on fixed dates, some are deposited into accounts the employee controls, some are insurance premiums and some depend on the company’s annual results. Each has its own calculation base, its own deadline and its own inspection risk.

This guide is written for general managers, CFOs, controllers and HR leads, and for regional headquarters that need to understand, budget and supervise the Peruvian benefits cycle. It explains the system as a whole rather than benefit by benefit, and links to our detailed insights where a topic deserves more depth.

Executive overview

Peru’s benefits system rests on a simple idea: a large part of the employee’s annual compensation is paid outside the twelve monthly salaries, and it is paid on dates set by law rather than by company policy. For budgeting and control, that has three consequences.

First, the true annual cost of an employee under the general private-sector regime is materially higher than twelve times the monthly salary. Two statutory bonuses, a severance fund deposited twice a year, a family allowance for employees with children, employer health contributions, mandatory life insurance and, for larger companies, profit sharing all sit on top.

Second, most of these items are calculated on computable pay — the salary plus other amounts the employee receives regularly and can freely dispose of — rather than on base salary alone. A commission plan, a recurring allowance or a housing payment can therefore raise the cost of several benefits at once. Our insight on computable pay in Peru explains the concept in detail.

Third, the calendar creates concentrated cash-outflow months (May, July, November and December) and hard deadlines that labor inspectors check routinely. Late or incomplete payment is not a timing difference in Peru: it is an administrative infringement.

Who is covered, and by which regime

The general private-sector regime applies to most employees. Two variations matter for planning:

• Part-time employees (on average fewer than four hours a day) receive gratificaciones but do not accrue CTS or statutory annual leave, and are not protected against unfair dismissal in the same way.
• Micro and small enterprises registered in the REMYPE, the Ministry of Labor’s micro and small business registry, apply a reduced regime. Under the rules still generally understood to apply (Supreme Decree 013-2013-PRODUCE), microenterprise employees receive fifteen days of annual leave and no CTS or statutory gratificaciones, while small-enterprise employees receive CTS of fifteen daily salaries per year of service (capped at ninety), two gratificaciones of half a salary each, profit sharing and mandatory insurance.

Special regimes also exist for agriculture and construction. They are outside the scope of this guide.

The legal framework, benefit by benefit

Peruvian benefits are scattered across separate statutes rather than consolidated in a single code. The table below maps each benefit to its main source.

Annual leave

Every employee with a full year of service is entitled to 30 calendar days of paid leave. The year of service is not enough on its own: the employee must also meet a minimum attendance record — 260 days worked in a six-day working week, 210 days in a five-day week, or, for shorter schedules, no more than ten unjustified absences in the year. The law treats certain absences, such as maternity leave and a limited number of sick days, as days worked for this purpose.

The timing of leave is agreed between employer and employee, and the employer decides if there is no agreement. Leave pay is the remuneration the employee would normally have earned, and it is paid before the leave starts.

Legislative Decree 1405 and its regulations added flexibility. On a written request by the employee, leave can be split: fifteen days taken in one block or in two blocks of seven and eight days, and the remaining fifteen days in periods shorter than seven days, down to a single day. Employers and employees can also agree in writing to advance leave days against leave to be earned in the future, and to reduce leave from 30 to 15 days in exchange for fifteen days’ pay, charged only against the flexible portion. Up to two leave periods can be accumulated by written agreement, provided that at least seven calendar days are taken after each year of service.

The expensive rule is the triple-pay rule. If the leave is not taken within the year following the year in which it was earned, the employee receives pay for the work performed, pay for the leave not taken and an indemnity equal to one additional salary. The rule does not apply to managers and representatives who chose not to take their leave. On termination, employees with at least one month of service in an incomplete year receive pro-rated leave (vacaciones truncas).

Detailed guidance is available in our insights on annual leave in Peru, on accrued unused leave and the triple-pay rule and on splitting and advancing annual leave.

CTS, the severance fund

CTS (compensación por tiempo de servicios) is a severance fund: the employer deposits it twice a year into a bank account chosen by the employee, and the balance is meant to protect the employee when the employment ends. It applies to employees who work, on average, at least four hours a day.

The deposits are due within the first fifteen calendar days of May and November, covering the November–April and May–October periods. Each deposit equals as many twelfths of the employee’s computable pay for April or October as full months worked in the period, with days counted in thirtieths. Computable pay includes the base salary, amounts received regularly in cash or in kind that the employee can freely dispose of, and one-sixth of the gratificación received in the period. Variable items count if received in at least three months of each six-month period. Items listed as non-remunerative by law — such as occasional extraordinary bonuses, profit sharing or payments that are working conditions rather than pay — are excluded; our insight on remunerative and non-remunerative payments explains the line between them.

Within five working days of each deposit, the employer must give the employee a statement of the calculation. On termination, the employer has 48 hours to deliver the certificate that allows the employee to withdraw the fund.

As a general rule, CTS balances are protected: employees may freely withdraw only the amount exceeding four gross monthly salaries. Law 32322 temporarily changed this by allowing employees to withdraw up to 100% of their balance until 31 December 2026; from 1 January 2027 the general rule applies again. It also allows employees with a terminal illness or cancer to withdraw the full balance at any time.

See our insight on CTS, the severance deposit for calculation examples and common errors.

Gratificaciones

Gratificaciones are two statutory bonuses: one for Fiestas Patrias, Peru’s national holidays, paid in July, and one for Christmas, paid in December. Each equals one monthly salary if the employee worked the full preceding six-month period (January–June and July–December respectively), and both must be paid within the first half of the month, that is, by the 15th. If the period was incomplete, the bonus is paid at one-sixth per full calendar month worked. An employee who leaves before the payment date receives a pro-rated gratificación, provided at least one month was worked in the period.

Gratificaciones are not subject to EsSalud or pension contributions. Instead, the employer pays the employee an extraordinary bonus equal to the EsSalud contribution it would otherwise have made: 9% of the gratificación, or 6.75% where the employee is covered by a private health provider (EPS). Gratificaciones are subject to employment income tax withholding. Part-time employees are also entitled to them.

For a deeper treatment, see gratificaciones, Peru’s July and December bonuses.

Profit sharing

Article 29 of the Constitution recognizes workers’ right to share in company profits. Under Legislative Decree 892, companies that generate business income and have, on average, more than twenty workers in the fiscal year distribute a percentage of their annual pre-tax income:

Half of the amount is distributed according to days worked and half according to each employee’s pay. Each employee’s share is capped at eighteen monthly salaries; any excess goes to a public employment fund. Payment is due within thirty calendar days after the deadline for filing the annual income tax return. Profit sharing is not computable pay for CTS purposes.

Family allowance

Employees with one or more children under 18 — or older children in higher education, up to age 24 — receive a family allowance (asignación familiar) equal to 10% of the minimum wage. With the minimum wage currently set at S/ 1,130 per month (Supreme Decree 006-2024-TR), the allowance is S/ 113 per month. An increase in the minimum wage has been announced but still requires a supreme decree; when it is published, the allowance will rise automatically. The allowance does not apply if the employee already receives a more favorable equivalent benefit under a collective agreement.

Mandatory insurance: Vida Ley, EsSalud and SCTR

Vida Ley is a life insurance policy the employer must take out for each employee. Since Emergency Decree 044-2019 and its regulations, coverage is mandatory from the first day of employment, not after four years of service as under the former rule. Policies must be registered in the Ministry of Labor’s Vida Ley registry (RCVIDALEY), and since 8 August 2025 employees are registered through a bulk upload. Employers should confirm the registration deadline with the Ministry’s current guidance.

EsSalud is the public health insurance system. The employer contributes 9% of the employee’s pay, with the minimum wage as the minimum monthly base. Employers that also provide cover through an EPS obtain a credit against the EsSalud contribution.

SCTR (Seguro Complementario de Trabajo de Riesgo) is supplementary occupational-risk insurance, mandatory for employers that carry out activities classified as high risk in the regulations, covering both health and disability or survivor pensions.

Pension contributions — 13% to the public system (ONP) or 10% plus insurance premium and commission to a private fund (AFP) — are borne by the employee and withheld by the employer, so they affect net pay rather than employer cost.

The annual benefits map for budgeting

The map below consolidates the obligations that recur every year under the general regime. It is designed to be pasted into a budget template or a compliance calendar. Amounts linked to the minimum wage or the tax unit (UIT, S/ 5,500 in 2026) change over time and should be checked at the start of each year.

For a single employee with a full year of service and fixed pay, the arithmetic is straightforward: twelve salaries, two gratificaciones, an extraordinary bonus of 9% on each, CTS deposits that together amount to roughly one computable salary (which already includes one-sixth of the gratificaciones), EsSalud at 9% of monthly pay, the family allowance where it applies, and the Vida Ley premium. Profit sharing, where due, is a function of results rather than headcount. Our annual employment compliance calendar for Peru places these dates alongside other recurring obligations.

How to run the benefits cycle: a step-by-step process

A benefits system that works does not depend on one payroll analyst remembering dates. It follows a repeatable process:

1. Classify every employee. Confirm regime (general, MYPE, other), working hours (four hours or more a day) and management or trust status. These determine which benefits apply.
2. Define computable pay in writing. List every payment item, classify it as remunerative or non-remunerative with a documented rationale, and identify which variable items meet the regularity test.
3. Build the annual calendar. Load the dates in the benefits map into the payroll and treasury calendars, with internal cut-offs a few days before each legal deadline.
4. Plan leave at the start of the year. Agree a leave schedule, record any agreements to split, advance, reduce or accumulate leave in writing, and flag employees at risk of triggering the triple-pay rule.
5. Calculate, review and approve. Before each CTS deposit and gratificación payment, run a second-level review on a sample, especially for employees with variable pay, mid-period hires and leavers.
6. Pay and document. Keep payslips, CTS statements, deposit receipts and leave agreements in a form that can be produced quickly in an inspection.
7. Reconcile provisions. At each quarter-end, reconcile accruals for leave, CTS and gratificaciones against the payroll ledger.
8. Review annually. Once a year, test the whole cycle: sample calculations, confirm insurance registrations and check whether headcount has crossed the profit-sharing threshold.

Operational execution of monthly payroll is often entrusted to a specialized provider — within our group, Lynch Payroll handles that monthly processing — but the decisions that drive the numbers, such as the classification of pay items or the terms of leave agreements, are legal decisions that should be taken and documented before payroll runs.

What management and regional headquarters should do

Local HR teams execute benefits. Management and regional headquarters should set the frame:

• Own the definition of pay. Global compensation plans — sales incentives, retention bonuses, car or housing allowances — should be reviewed for their Peruvian treatment before they are rolled out, not after the first CTS deposit.
• Budget on the Peruvian map, not on a global multiplier. Group-wide on-cost percentages rarely capture the structure of Peruvian benefits.
• Request a short compliance dashboard. A quarterly one-page report covering CTS and gratificación payments made on time, leave balances over twelve months, insurance registrations and open inspection matters is enough to supervise the system.
• Treat accrued leave as a liability. Unused leave is not a soft HR metric; it becomes a cash cost with a statutory multiplier.
• Align exit processes. Every termination triggers a final settlement combining pro-rated gratificación, pro-rated leave, CTS and other items. Our insight on the final settlement on termination in Peru sets out what it includes.

Frequent mistakes

The same errors recur across companies of every size:

• Using base salary instead of computable pay for CTS and gratificaciones, leaving out regular commissions, allowances or overtime.
• Labelling items as non-remunerative without support. A payment called a “bonus” or “condition of work” that is in substance regular pay will be treated as pay.
• Letting leave accumulate until the triple-pay rule applies, often for senior staff who “never have time”.
• Assuming Law 32322 suspended CTS deposits. It did not.
• Forgetting the extraordinary bonus of 9% (or 6.75%) on gratificaciones.
• Delaying Vida Ley until the end of probation, when coverage is required from the first day.
• Missing the profit-sharing threshold when headcount grows past twenty during the year.
• Informal leave agreements. Splitting, advancing, reducing or accumulating leave without a written agreement weakens the employer’s position.

Exposure and inspection risk

SUNAFIL, Peru’s national labor inspection authority, reviews benefits in most inspections, whether triggered by a complaint or by a planned campaign. Inspectors typically request payslips, CTS deposit statements, gratificación calculations, leave records and insurance policies. Where a shortfall is found, the inspector usually issues an order to remedy within a deadline; remedying before the infringement report is issued can substantially reduce the proposed fine.

Beyond fines, benefits errors create civil claims. An employee who leaves can claim unpaid differences in CTS, gratificaciones and leave, with interest, and a systemic calculation error multiplies across the workforce. In a transaction, buyers will price these differences into the deal. That is why benefits sit at the center of any serious review of employment risk.

Where to go deeper

This guide is the reference for the benefits cluster. Each topic has a dedicated insight:

• Leave rules, attendance record and scheduling: Annual leave in Peru.
• The cost of unused leave and how to prevent it: Accrued unused leave in Peru: the triple-pay rule.
• Flexibility tools under Legislative Decree 1405: Splitting and advancing annual leave in Peru.
• Deposit mechanics, computable pay and Law 32322: CTS in Peru: the severance deposit explained.
• The July and December bonuses and the extraordinary bonus: Gratificaciones: Peru’s July and December bonuses.
• What must be paid when employment ends: Final settlement on termination in Peru.

If you need an independent check of how your company calculates and pays benefits, our statutory benefits review tests calculations, pay-item classifications and documentation against the law, and our annual leave service addresses leave planning and accrued-leave exposure. For a first, structured view of where your company stands, start with the employment compliance check.

Bottom line

Peruvian statutory benefits are predictable once they are understood as a system: a shared definition of computable pay, a fixed calendar and a small number of rules — the triple-pay rule, the extraordinary bonus, the profit-sharing threshold, Vida Ley from day one — that carry most of the risk. Companies that document their pay classifications, plan leave, reconcile provisions and give management a simple view of the calendar rarely face surprises, in an inspection or in a transaction.