The Mexican labor law system has a mechanism that allows workers to claim a share of the company's profits. And this is not the 13th salary. This is PTU (Participación de los Trabajadores en las Utilidades) — a right enshrined in the Constitution and regulated by the Labor Law.
Mexican law specifies that if a company has earned taxable profits, it must distribute a portion of those profits to its employees. This is a fixed 10% of taxable profit, in other words, the base taking into account deductions before paying income tax. The company first calculates its tax profit, allocates 10% of it for PTU, and then the remaining base is used to calculate corporate tax (ISR).
Russian practice of the 13th patch — this is, in fact, a bonus that the employer has the right to pay or not pay, based on internal rules. In Mexico, PTU occurs automatically if the company has a profit. The employer does not choose whether to pay or not, he is obliged to do so.
PTU is not distributed equally among all workers, the distribution mechanism is a little more complicated. Let's say the company's profit was 1,000,000 pesos. Of this amount, 10%, in other words P100,000, must be distributed to employees as PTU. First, these 100,000 pesos are simply divided in half. It turns out two amounts of 50,000 pesos.
The first amount is distributed taking into account the employee’s working time. The company looks at how many days each employee actually worked during the year. The more days, the larger the share. For example, one employee worked all year, another came in the middle of the year. The first one will get more out of this half simply because he worked longer in the company. Days actually worked include vacations, maternity leave and sick leave due to work-related injuries.
The second 50,000 pesos are distributed based on salary level. If you have a higher salary than your colleague, you will receive a larger share of this other half. For the calculation, we take the official salary, which the employer indicates in social contributions in IMSS. If an employee’s salary is unstable, in particular, he receives commissions, bonuses or percentages of sales, then they take not one figure, but the average value for the period.
In the end, PTU will always come out in two parts: one for how much you worked, the other for how much you earned.
PTU payment deadlines are tied to the tax calendar. This is 60 days after filing your annual tax return, in other words before May 31st. Late payment is considered a violation of labor laws.
After the 2021 reform, another important point appeared — A «ceiling», or upper limit on the amount of PTU for an employee. It reaches either three months of the employee's salary or the average PTU of the last three years, whichever is greater. In other words, roughly speaking, consider that at the end of the year the employee is capable of making a maximum of three additional salaries.
There are exceptions to employees' right to PTU. Company management — directors and general managers — They do not receive PTU. Temporary staff are paid only if they work at least 60 days a year. In addition, for management personnel whose salaries are higher, there is a rule for limiting the calculation base (+ 20% maximum of the average) in order to avoid imbalances.
New companies are exempt from paying PTU to employees in their first year of operation. Companies developing a new product receive a two-year deferment. Similar exceptions apply to the mining industry at the exploration stage, charitable organizations and a number of government agencies. Moreover, small businesses with profits below the established threshold are not subject to PTU obligations beyond this.
We note that in recent years there has been a decline in average PTU payments. According to an Aon study, compensation for non-union workers fell by about 10.6% for 2025, while union employees — by 7.2%. PTU is calculated from tax profit, which takes into account deductions, investments, depreciation, and expenses. Companies invest more (and investments reduce profits), actively use outsourcing and allowed deductions, redistribute costs within a group of companies, and optimize the structure of operations. And the tax base decreases — the amount of PTU also decreases.