The Federal Reserve is closed on two Fridays in a row at the end of 2026: Friday, December 25, 2026 (Christmas Day) and Friday, January 1, 2027 (New Year’s Day). The last days on which ACH and wire payments settle before each long weekend are Thursday, December 24 and Thursday, December 31, 2026; both are normal Federal Reserve business days. A payroll that should land on either Friday has to settle on the Thursday before or on the following Monday, December 28 or January 4. Working back from Federal Reserve times, a next-day ACH payroll file for Thursday has to reach FedACH by Wednesday night, so your bank’s or payroll provider’s deadline will fall earlier than that.
These year-end payment deadlines are for the people who send the money: owners, AP and payroll staff. For branch hours or a personal deposit, our guides to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day cover that.
The business calendar, December 21, 2026 to January 5, 2027
Federal Reserve open and closed days come from the Fed’s holiday schedule and the weekend rule. The FedACH holiday window comes from Federal Reserve Financial Services; stock and bond market notes come from the NYSE and SIFMA.
| Date | Federal Reserve (ACH, Fedwire) | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Mon, Dec 21 | Open | Normal business day |
| Tue, Dec 22 | Open | Normal business day |
| Wed, Dec 23 | Open | Last evening to send next-day ACH for Thursday settlement |
| Thu, Dec 24 | Open | Last settlement day before Christmas. NYSE closes at 1:00 p.m. ET; SIFMA recommends a 2:00 p.m. ET bond market close. FedACH holiday processing stops at 11:30 p.m. ET |
| Fri, Dec 25 | Closed | Christmas Day. Nothing settles through FedACH or Fedwire |
| Sat, Dec 26 – Sun, Dec 27 | Weekend | FedACH processing resumes at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday |
| Mon, Dec 28 | Open | First settlement day after Christmas |
| Tue, Dec 29 | Open | Normal business day |
| Wed, Dec 30 | Open | Last evening to send next-day ACH for Thursday settlement |
| Thu, Dec 31 | Open | Last settlement day of 2026. SIFMA recommends a 2:00 p.m. ET bond market close; no NYSE early close listed |
| Fri, Jan 1, 2027 | Closed | New Year’s Day. NYSE closed; SIFMA recommends a full close |
| Sat, Jan 2 – Sun, Jan 3 | Weekend | FedACH window for this holiday not yet published |
| Mon, Jan 4 | Open | First settlement day of 2027 |
| Tue, Jan 5 | Open | Normal business day |
Out of 12 weekdays in this stretch, 10 are Federal Reserve business days. Each of the two calendar weeks has four, so anything that usually takes “five business days” runs into the following week.
FedACH holiday windows: Christmas published, New Year’s not yet
For each holiday, Federal Reserve Financial Services publishes when FedACH processing stops and when it resumes. For Christmas 2026, its holiday schedule page lists:
- Processing ends: Thursday, December 24, 2026, 11:30 p.m. ET
- Processing resumes: Sunday, December 27, 2026, 5:30 p.m. ET
When we checked the page on October 23, 2026, its FedACH table covered 2026 holidays only. The window for New Year’s Day, January 1, 2027 had not been published. That holiday is still a Federal Reserve closure, so no settlement takes place on January 1. What is not yet known is the exact time FedACH stops taking files on December 31 and starts again over the weekend. We will add it here once Federal Reserve Financial Services publishes it.
Processing and settlement are not the same thing. A file accepted on Sunday evening, December 27, settles on Monday, December 28 at the earliest, because FedACH settles next-day payments at 8:30 a.m. ET on a business day, according to the FedACH processing schedule. More on the settlement windows is on our ACH processing times page.
Latest days to send next-day ACH payroll for the two Friday paydays
The FedACH processing schedule gives banks these deadlines for next-day and future-dated payments, all in ET: 10:30 a.m., 2:45 p.m., 4:45 p.m., 8:00 p.m. (Sunday through Thursday only), 10:45 p.m. and 2:15 a.m. Payments settle at 8:30 a.m. ET on a later business day. These are the Federal Reserve’s deadlines for banks. Your payroll provider and your bank set their own cut-offs, and those come earlier. Use the times below as the outer limit, not as your plan.
Payday Friday, December 25, 2026
Christmas Day can’t be a settlement date, so the employer picks Thursday, December 24 or Monday, December 28. Which one is company policy; the Federal Reserve does not decide it.
Paying early, on Thursday, December 24:
- Settlement date wanted: Thursday, December 24, 8:30 a.m. ET.
- The business day before: Wednesday, December 23.
- FedACH deadlines on Wednesday evening that settle the next business day: 8:00 p.m. (Wednesday is within Sunday to Thursday) and 10:45 p.m. ET.
- Latest evening deadline at the Federal Reserve: Wednesday, December 23, 10:45 p.m. ET. FedACH also has a 2:15 a.m. ET deadline whose files settle at 8:30 a.m. that same Thursday, but treat that as an emergency margin for your bank, not as a payroll deadline. Your bank needs the file before its own cut-off, and your provider before that.
Under the Nacha Operating Rules, the employees’ banks then have to make the money available by 9:00 a.m. their local time on Thursday, December 24.
Paying late, on Monday, December 28: a file can be sent as a future-dated payment on Thursday, December 24 by FedACH’s 10:45 p.m. ET deadline (processing stops at 11:30 p.m. ET), or after processing resumes on Sunday, December 27 at 5:30 p.m. ET. Both settle at 8:30 a.m. ET on Monday, which means employees are paid three days after their usual payday. Our direct deposit guide explains how paydays move around holidays.
A Same Day ACH file is a fallback, not a plan. One sent by FedACH’s 4:45 p.m. ET deadline on Thursday, December 24 settles at 6:00 p.m. ET that day, so employees would see the money late on Thursday at best. Whether your provider offers same-day payroll at all is its decision.
Payday Friday, January 1, 2027
The same calculation, one week later:
- Settlement date wanted: Thursday, December 31, 2026, 8:30 a.m. ET.
- The business day before: Wednesday, December 30.
- Latest evening deadline at the Federal Reserve: Wednesday, December 30, 10:45 p.m. ET.
- Funds available to employees by 9:00 a.m. their banks’ local time on Thursday, December 31.
If the company pays on the next business day instead, payday becomes Monday, January 4, 2027. The FedACH window for this holiday is not published yet, so we can’t tell you when Sunday-evening files will be accepted. Sending the file before the holiday as a future-dated payment avoids that question.
Weekly and biweekly payrolls
A weekly payroll hits both closures. A biweekly payroll on a Friday schedule hits one of them, depending on its cycle. Payroll providers set their file deadlines a number of days before the pay date, so the holiday shortens the time you have to collect hours and approve the run. With only four business days in each week, it helps to count backward from each pay date with the business days calculator: