20 persons, on any day
The bonus chapter applies to an establishment in which twenty or more persons are employed or were employed on any day during the accounting year. One busy day is enough.
Source: Code on Wages, 2019, s.41(2)
Free PDF checklist
HR Bonus Payout Checklist for Indian Employers
Five steps in the order the work is done: eligibility, calculation, approval, payment by 30-Nov-2026, and the records. Built on the Code on Wages and the August 2026 notifications, not on the Act it replaced.
- Thirty-four checks in five steps
- Bank credit by 30-Nov-2026
- Central or State: whose forms apply
Instant download. No card needed.
Attendo presents
Bonus Payout Checklist
For Indian employers
34
checks in five steps
Attendo presents
What's inside
What is inside the checklist
Five steps. Send the payment with the matching bonus letter.
Step 1
Eligibility
Twenty or more persons, wages up to ₹21,000, thirty days' work, and which Government's figures bind you. The central list is short.
Step 2
Calculation
Wages as the Code defines them, the ₹7,000 or minimum wage ceiling, 8⅓% to 20%, and three adjustments: part year, advances and misconduct, on the same wage base as the per-day salary sheet.
Step 3
Approval
The sign-offs that make a bonus run defensible: the eligible list, the rate against the accounts, and each payment named for what it is.
Step 4
Payment
Into the bank account by 30-Nov-2026 for 2025-26, the extension route, and what to pay on time when the rate is disputed.
Step 5
Register and return
What the Central Rules keep, which is three registers and the Form XVII return, and where your State's rules decide.
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Bonus starts on 1 April
Every figure on this list comes from a year of wages and attendance. Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) keeps both.
Why this matters
Why a bonus checklist needs redoing in 2026
Because the one you have was written on a repealed Act. The bonus for 2025-26, paid around Diwali on Sunday, 08-Nov-2026, is the first paid under Chapter IV of the Code on Wages, 2019.
Most of the old numbers survived. ₹21,000 still decides who qualifies and ₹7,000 or the minimum wage still caps the base, notified on 25-Aug-2026 for the Central sphere and, on our reading of section 69(2), carried forward for the State sphere. What moved is the machinery around them, the part a labour codes readiness review tends to skip.
Three things in particular. Bonus must be credited to a bank account; cash is out. The chapter applies at twenty persons, and the old rule catching every factory from ten workers is gone. And the wage it runs on is the Code's wage, the one a Code-ready salary sheet already builds.
The records changed most. The Payment of Bonus Rules, 1975, with Forms A to D, were superseded on 08-May-2026. In the Central sphere there is no bonus register, and bonus paid goes in section H of the annual return in Form XVII. A State-sphere employer, which is most manufacturers and offices, follows its own State's rules.
And the minimum wage can decide more than the ₹7,000 does. Above ₹7,000 the base is the higher of the two, so where the minimum wage for the role is higher, a checklist that stops at ₹7,000 underpays.
Preview
Three checks teams tend to miss
Each one is on the checklist because a 2025 version gets it wrong.
- The leavers. Everyone with thirty days' work in 2025-26 is owed, including people who have left, and a full and final release does not give it up. Count heads on your busiest day too: a festive peak at a retail store can bring a business inside.
- The same year. A customary bonus, or an advance of next year's bonus, paid in November 2026 is adjusted under section 37 against 2026-27, not against the 2025-26 bonus you pay alongside it.
- The sphere. A one-line test on the first page says whether Central or State figures and forms apply. Most private employers are State sphere.
| Step | The question | The figure | What changed | Provision | Checks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Eligibility | Are they in? | ₹21,000, 20 persons | No factory rule | s.26(1), s.41(2) | 10 |
| 2. Calculation | On what base? | ₹7,000 or MW | Code wages | s.26(2), s.2(y) | 9 |
| 3. Approval | Who signs? | 8⅓% to 20% | Name each payment | s.26(5), s.31 | 6 |
| 4. Payment | By when? | 30-Nov-2026 | Bank credit only | s.39(1) | 6 |
| 5. Register and return | What to keep? | Form XVII | Not Form D | rules 48, 74 | 3 |
Key stats
Three numbers that run the checklist
₹21,000 a month, to qualify
Every employee drawing wages not exceeding twenty-one thousand rupees a month is paid bonus. Notified for the Central sphere on 25-Aug-2026, deemed in force from 21-Nov-2025.
Source: S.O. 4711(E), Gazette of India, 25-Aug-2026, under s.26(1)Form XVII the bonus return, Central sphere
In the Central sphere, bonus paid in 2026 is reported in section H of the annual return in Form XVII by 28-Feb-2027. A State-sphere employer follows its own State's rules.
Source: OSH (Central) Rules, 2026, rule 74, Form XVII section H
Common mistakes
6 Bonus Payout Mistakes Indian Employers Make
Filing a Form D that no longer exists
Form D went with the Payment of Bonus Rules, 1975. In the Central sphere bonus goes in section H of Form XVII; a State-sphere employer checks its own State's rules.
Stopping at ₹7,000
Above ₹7,000 the base is the higher of ₹7,000 and the minimum wage. Where the minimum wage is higher, it is the base. Underpaying can cost up to ten times the shortfall.
Paying in cash
Section 39(1) requires bonus to be credited to the employee's bank account. A cash bonus is not a payment the Code recognises.
Counting the average headcount
Section 41(2) counts twenty persons on any day of the accounting year. A festive peak counts.
Holding the whole bonus in a dispute
Where the dispute is about a higher rate, the 8⅓% is still due within eight months. Only the balance waits.
Ex-gratia on the statutory sheet
Approve a goodwill payment on its own line. On the statutory sheet it ends up called statutory in a letter, and claimed again next year.
Comparison
A 2025 bonus checklist against this one
A downloaded checklist
Written on the 1965 Act
- Every factory, from ten workers
- Bonus on basic and DA
- Paid in cash
- File Form D in thirty days
- One rule for every employer
Free either way
This checklist
Thirty-four checks on the Code
- Twenty persons on any day
- Bonus on the Code's wage
- Bank credit by 30-Nov-2026
- Form XVII or your State's form
- Central and State sphere apart
Five steps, before 30-Nov-2026
Work through them, then post the Diwali holiday notice. Attendo keeps the wages and attendance the bonus runs on.
FAQ
Common questions
Is this bonus payout checklist really free? +
Yes, completely. No card and no trial. The form asks for your name, work email, phone and city, then the PDF downloads straight away. The Attendo team may follow up about payroll software, and you are free to say no thanks.
Do we still file Form D for bonus? +
No. Form D belonged to the Payment of Bonus Rules, 1975, which the Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 superseded on 08-May-2026. In the Central sphere, rule 48 of those Rules sends returns to the OSH Code's forms, and rule 74 of the OSH (Central) Rules, 2026 makes that the annual return in Form XVII, whose section H records bonus paid. It is due by the last day of February, so bonus paid in 2026 is reported by 28-Feb-2027. A State-sphere employer reads its own State's rules.
What is the last date to pay statutory bonus for 2025-26? +
30-Nov-2026. Section 39(1) of the Code on Wages gives eight months from the close of the accounting year, and section 2(a) starts the accounting year on 1 April, so the year that closed on 31-Mar-2026 runs to 30-Nov-2026. Only an order of the appropriate Government, on your application, extends it, and never beyond two years in all. Until an order is made, 30-Nov-2026 stands.
Does a business with fewer than twenty employees pay bonus? +
Not from 21-Nov-2025. Section 41(2) applies the bonus chapter to an establishment where twenty or more persons are employed or were employed on any day during the accounting year. Count the busiest day, not the average. The old Act also caught every factory under the Factories Act, which could mean ten workers. Whether a business it covered owes bonus for April to November 2025 is not settled.
Do contract workers get statutory bonus? +
Yes, on the same tests of ₹21,000, thirty days and twenty persons, from their contractor, who is an employer under the Code. If the contractor fails, the proviso to section 43 makes the proprietor of the establishment responsible, in either sphere. In the Central sphere, rule 21 of the Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 sets the procedure: the proprietor pays the minimum bonus once the employees or a registered union tell it in writing and the failure is confirmed.
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About Attendo
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) is payroll and attendance software used by 40,000+ businesses across manufacturing, corporate offices, retail, hospitals and education. General guidance, not legal advice. This checklist is one of our free HR downloads, each built from the gazette rather than from other templates.
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Thirty-four checks in five steps, from eligibility to the records, as a printable PDF. Free, and no card.
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