Americans who receive a biweekly salary are pleasantly surprised by 2015

If you live and work in the United States and receive a paycheck every two weeks, you'll likely be in for a pleasant surprise in the form of an extra 27th paycheck this coming year. Typically, a year consists of 26 two-week pay periods spread over 52 calendar weeks, but 2015 will be an exception. This usually happens once every 11-12 years.

Some companies will pay employees 27 salary, thereby increasing the annual income of employees by about 4%, while others will distribute the “extra” salary between regular payment periods.

“It all depends on what’s in your employment contract,” says Debbie Salem of Ernst & Young, one of the largest auditing and consulting agencies. He also warned employees not to take this “extra” payment as a bonus.

Accountants will have to recalculate benefits, payment of health insurance, as well as transfers to pension funds. 27 salary will be reflected in the tax reporting.

Experts advise people who make payments on loans or mortgages twice a month, be careful not to miss the terms of payments. It is best to contact the bank and clarify the situation in your particular case.

Why does the 27 payment period appear from time to time in a year? Everything is very simple, experts explain. The thing is elementary mathematics. In the year 365 days. Since 365 is not divided exactly by 14, every year there are days that are not included in the billing period. In the end, they accumulate so much that an additional payment period is added to the year. This is exactly what happened in 2015.

For people whose work is paid once a week, a year with an additional salary comes about once a year in 5-6.