PAID TIME OFF PLANNER
Estimate paid time off earned by pay period or eligible hours worked. See the current balance, a future balance, workdays available and an optional wage-value estimate.
| PTO earned through the current point | — |
|---|---|
| Additional PTO earned in the projection | — |
| Annualized PTO earning rate | — |
| Hours limited by the entered cap | — |
| Projected balance before planned use | — |
This calculator tracks paid time off in hours. Choose the accrual rule in your employer policy: a fixed number of PTO hours each pay period, or a fraction of one PTO hour for every eligible hour worked. Starting balance and PTO already used let you calculate a current estimate. Additional future periods or work hours and planned leave produce a projected balance.
PTO, vacation time, annual leave and paid time off are often used as overlapping search terms, but an employer may define them differently. Enter the figures from the policy, pay statement or HR system rather than assuming that every hour worked or every pay period is eligible.
Pay-period method: PTO earned = PTO hours per pay period × completed pay periods.
Hours-worked method: PTO earned = eligible hours worked × PTO hours earned per eligible hour.
Current balance: starting balance + earned PTO − PTO already used, subject to the entered checkpoint cap.
Projected balance: current balance + future earned PTO − planned PTO, again subject to the entered checkpoint cap.
Workdays available: projected PTO hours ÷ hours in one workday.
Suppose an employee starts the tracking window with 12 hours, earns 3.08 hours per biweekly pay period, has completed 10 periods and used 8 hours. Earned PTO is 3.08 × 10 = 30.80 hours, so the current balance is 12 + 30.80 − 8 = 34.80 hours.
Project six more periods and 16 planned hours of leave: 34.80 + (3.08 × 6) − 16 = 37.28 hours. At eight hours per workday, that is 4.66 workdays. A rate of 3.08 across 26 periods annualizes to 80.08 PTO hours.
An accrual rate of 0.0384615 means about one PTO hour for every 26 eligible work hours. With a 4-hour starting balance, 520 eligible hours worked and 8 hours used, the estimate is 4 + (520 × 0.0384615) − 8 ≈ 16 hours. Another 260 eligible hours would earn about 10 hours.
A balance cap may stop additional accrual when the employee reaches a policy limit. This calculator applies the cap at the current and projected checkpoints. It cannot reconstruct the exact day a cap was reached or whether taking leave restarted accrual between those checkpoints. For that level of precision, use the dated ledger from the payroll or HR system.
A negative projected balance is displayed as a deficit, not silently changed to zero. Some employers allow borrowing against future PTO and others do not. The optional wage value is only projected hours multiplied by hourly pay. It does not establish whether unused PTO must be paid, which rate applies, or whether the employee is eligible.
Divide annual PTO hours by 26. For example, 80 annual hours ÷ 26 = 3.076923 hours per biweekly pay period. Use the actual number of paid periods in the policy year.
Divide the annual PTO allowance by annual eligible work hours. An 80-hour allowance over 2,080 eligible hours is 0.0384615 PTO hours per eligible work hour.
That depends on the policy. Enter only eligible work hours. This calculator does not decide whether overtime, holidays, leave or unpaid absences earn PTO.
Payroll systems can use service-date tiers, waiting periods, rounding rules, caps applied daily, carryover limits and period cutoffs. A pay statement may also post accrual after the period closes.
Total clock-in, clock-out, break and overtime hours with the Time Card Calculator. Convert durations with the Hours Calculator, count calendar intervals with the Date Calculator, or convert hourly, monthly and annual pay using the Salary Calculator.