Turn your annual vacation into per-paycheck and per-hour accrual, track hours earned versus used, and project your year-end balance with carryover caps.
To find your PTO accrual, divide your annual PTO hours by the number of pay periods per year. 15 days (120 hours) paid bi-weekly accrues 4.62 hours per paycheck; your available balance is the starting balance plus accrued hours minus hours used.
Most employers grant paid time off gradually — you accrue a slice of your annual allotment each pay period rather than getting it all on January 1. This calculator turns your annual PTO into a per-paycheck accrual, an hourly accrual rate, and your current available balance after subtracting hours you've already used.
Per-period accrual = Annual PTO hours ÷ pay periods per year. Example: 15 days × 8 hours = 120 hours ÷ 26 bi-weekly periods = 4.62 hours per paycheck. After 10 paychecks you'd have accrued 46.2 hours (about 5.8 days).
Hourly and part-time plans often express accrual as PTO hours earned per hour on the clock: Annual PTO hours ÷ 2,080 (a full-time work-year). So a 120-hour plan accrues about 0.0577 hours of PTO for every hour worked. Enter days or hours above and the calculator shows both.
PTO is tracked in hours by payroll but requested in days by employees. With an 8-hour workday, 1 day = 8 hours, so 40 hours = 5 days. If your standard day is 7.5 hours, adjust the "hours in a full workday" field so day conversions match your employer's.
| Annual PTO | Hours (8-hr day) | Bi-weekly accrual | Per hour worked |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 days | 80 hrs | 3.08 hrs | 0.0385 |
| 15 days | 120 hrs | 4.62 hrs | 0.0577 |
| 20 days | 160 hrs | 6.15 hrs | 0.0769 |
| 25 days | 200 hrs | 7.69 hrs | 0.0962 |
Some plans cap how many hours roll into the next year. Enter a max carryover to see your projected year-end balance capped accordingly. Note that a few states (like California) prohibit "use-it-or-lose-it" forfeiture of earned vacation — check your local law.
The tax figures, rates, and rules on this page are based on the official sources below. This information is provided for general reference only and is not legal, financial, or tax advice.