Taiwan Make-Up Work Days (補班) Explained

補班 (bū bān) meant working an extra Saturday to "pay back" a long weekend created elsewhere in the calendar — a normal day off turned into a working day. Taiwan abolished the rule in the second half of 2025, so there are no make-up workdays in the 2026 or 2027 official calendars. This page explains how the system worked while it existed, so older calendars and forum posts still make sense.

What 補班 actually was

Taiwan's public holidays are set as fixed calendar dates — 10 October for National Day, for instance — rather than "the nearest Monday". When a holiday like that fell close to a weekend, the government sometimes shifted an adjacent Saturday or Sunday to make a single long, unbroken break, rather than leaving an isolated one- or two-day gap. Extending the break that way meant the year would end up with more days off than planned, so a different weekday elsewhere — usually the following or preceding Saturday — was converted into a working day. Offices, schools and many private employers who followed the government calendar all worked that Saturday as if it were a Tuesday.

補班 vs 補假 — the distinction that trips people up

The two terms look similar in English but move in opposite directions, and mixing them up is the single most common confusion for foreign residents reading a Taiwanese calendar.

補假 (bǔjià)	Compensatory day off. If a fixed holiday falls on a Saturday, the day off moves to the preceding workday; if it falls on a Sunday, it moves to the following workday. This still exists and applies every year.
補班 (bǔbān)	Compensatory work day. An ordinary Saturday or Sunday was converted into a working day to offset a longer break granted elsewhere. This was abolished in 2025 and does not appear in the 2026 or 2027 calendars.

In practice, if you see 補班 marked on an old calendar image or a Taiwanese colleague mentions it, it's either historical or a warning that the rule could theoretically return — always check the current year's calendar on the ROC year converter or the official source before assuming a Saturday is free.

Why it existed

Public sector holidays in Taiwan are meant to average out to a consistent number of working days across the year. Historically, the DGPA calculated the calendar so that moving one holiday into a long weekend didn't quietly inflate the annual total of paid days off. The trade-off was unpopular: workers gained a long weekend but then had to give up a Saturday, often with little warning, and school parents in particular found the resulting patchwork of days hard to plan around.

Why it was abolished

In the calendar revision that produced the 2026 work calendar, the DGPA deleted the clause requiring an adjustment day to be worked in exchange for a shifted holiday. The stated rationale was that the public had come to expect a stable five-day working week, and that clawing back Saturdays undermined that expectation even when the total annual leave balance worked out the same on paper. As a direct result, the 2026 calendar has 9 long weekends and no make-up workdays, and the 2027 calendar — already published — carries the same rule forward with none either.

How to check whether a given Saturday is a make-up workday

For any date in 2026 or 2027, the answer is simply no — the rule has been removed. If you're checking an older year (2025 and before), or if you want to confirm the rule hasn't been reinstated for a future year, the authoritative source is the DGPA's government work calendar (政府行政機關辦公日曆表), published at dgpa.gov.tw roughly 6 to 12 months ahead of each year. Third-party calendars and apps sometimes lag behind a mid-year revision, so when in doubt, check the DGPA page directly rather than a cached calendar image.

This page explains a scheduling mechanism, not a legal entitlement to leave. For questions about wages, overtime or attendance obligations tied to any specific day, consult the Ministry of Labor (mol.gov.tw) or your employer's HR department rather than relying on this or any third-party summary.

Frequently asked questions

What is 補班 (bu ban)?

補班, literally "make-up work", was the practice of moving a normal day off (usually a Saturday) to a working day, in order to "repay" an extra weekday that had been granted as a holiday elsewhere in the calendar. It let the government create a long weekend without reducing the total number of working days in the year.

Does Taiwan still have make-up workdays?

No. A mid-2025 revision to the government work calendar rules deleted the provision requiring make-up workdays. Neither the 2026 nor the 2027 official calendar contains one, and the DGPA has said the change reflects the public's expectation of a stable five-day week.

How is 補班 different from 補假 (a compensatory day off)?

They move in opposite directions. 補假 (compensatory day off) is a benefit: when a holiday falls on a weekend, you get an extra day off on a nearby weekday. 補班 was a cost: an ordinary rest day was converted into a working day to balance the calendar elsewhere. Only 補假 still exists.

Why did Taiwan have make-up workdays in the first place?

When the DGPA wanted to create a long weekend by moving a holiday next to a weekend, the total count of days off for the year would otherwise rise. Requiring a nearby Saturday to be worked kept the annual total of working days roughly constant while still producing a longer, uninterrupted break.

Where can I check this year's rules?

The Directorate-General of Personnel Administration (DGPA, 行政院人事行政總處) publishes the binding work calendar every year at dgpa.gov.tw. Since neither 2026 nor 2027 has a make-up workday, there is currently nothing to check for — but confirm directly if the rule is ever reintroduced.