It is December, the deadline to pay the Christmas bonus (aguinaldo) is approaching, and Aspel NOI displays the dreaded “Error al generar el cálculo de aguinaldo” (Error generating the Christmas bonus calculation) right when you need it most. This error prevents the system from correctly calculating the year-end benefit for your employees, stalling a critical payroll process. In this article, I explain the most common causes of this error and how to fix it step by step so you can meet your labor obligations on time.

The aguinaldo calculation in Mexico is a mandatory employer obligation established in Article 87 of the Federal Labor Law (Ley Federal del Trabajo). Every worker is entitled to a minimum of 15 days of salary as a Christmas bonus, paid before December 20. When Aspel NOI fails during this process, the impact is direct: employees without their year-end payment and potential legal penalties for the company.

The Error

When attempting to run the Christmas bonus calculation from Nómina > Procesos especiales > Aguinaldo, Aspel NOI may display one or more of the following messages:

  • “Error al generar el cálculo de aguinaldo” — generic message that appears when pressing the Calculate button
  • “No se puede realizar el cálculo. Verifique los datos del período” — indicates problems with the date range configuration
  • “Error en la tabla de ISR. Verifique la configuración de tablas” — fiscal tables are outdated or corrupt
  • “Overflow” or “Error de desbordamiento” — numeric values out of range, usually caused by incorrectly entered salaries

The error typically occurs in the following scenarios:

  1. First time calculating the Christmas bonus on a new NOI installation
  2. After updating Aspel NOI to a new version without updating the fiscal tables
  3. When employees have incomplete data or incorrect hire dates
  4. Large databases with more than 200 employees and multiple accumulated fiscal years
  5. After a backup restoration where database indexes became damaged

The error appears during the batch calculation process, usually after processing some employees, indicating the problem is associated with specific records or the general process configuration.

Root Cause

The aguinaldo calculation error in Aspel NOI can originate from multiple factors. Below are the most frequent causes:

Outdated ISR Tax Tables

Aspel NOI uses Income Tax (ISR) tables to calculate the Christmas bonus withholding. If the tables do not correspond to the current fiscal year, the calculation engine cannot determine the correct withholding and generates an error. This is especially common when the SAT (Mexico’s tax authority) publishes new tables mid-year and they are not updated in NOI.

Incorrect Hire Dates

The proportional aguinaldo depends directly on the worker’s hire date. If an employee has a future date, an empty date, or a clearly erroneous date (such as the year 1900), the proportionality calculation produces absurd values that NOI cannot process.

Corrupted Database

Aspel NOI database files (DBF/CDX format) are susceptible to corruption from power outages, unexpected system shutdowns, or simultaneous access from multiple terminals without proper network configuration. Damaged indexes prevent NOI from correctly accessing employee records during the batch calculation.

Incorrect Process Configuration

Misconfigured parameters in the aguinaldo calculation window — such as an incorrect salary type (integrated instead of base), an invalid number of bonus days, or a date range that does not cover the employee’s full work period — generate erroneous results or halt the process.

Decimal Precision Issues

In older NOI installations or databases migrated from previous versions, numeric fields may have insufficient decimal precision. When the system attempts to store a result with more decimals than the field supports, an overflow error occurs.

Antivirus or Windows Permission Conflicts

Some antivirus programs block NOI’s access to its temporary files during batch calculation. Similarly, if the Windows user does not have write permissions on the NOI data folder, the process is interrupted when trying to save results.

Step-by-Step Solution

Follow these steps in order to resolve the Christmas bonus calculation error in Aspel NOI:

1. Back Up the Database

Before making any changes, generate a full backup:

  1. Open Aspel NOI
  2. Go to Utilerías > Respaldo
  3. Select Respaldo completo (Full backup)
  4. Choose a safe location (USB drive, network folder, or different disk)
  5. Wait for the process to complete and verify the backup file was created successfully

Important: Never modify payroll data without a prior backup. An error during correction could compromise all your historical information.

2. Update ISR Tax Tables

  1. Visit aspel.com.mx and search for updates for your NOI version
  2. Download the tax table update patch or installer
  3. Close Aspel NOI completely (verify no NOI*.exe processes remain in Task Manager)
  4. Run the update installer as administrator
  5. Open NOI and go to Configuración > Tablas > ISR
  6. Confirm the tables show the correct fiscal year

3. Verify and Correct Employee Data

  1. Go to Empleados > Catálogo de Empleados
  2. For each employee, verify:
    • Hire date: must be a real date, prior to the current date
    • Daily salary: must be a positive and reasonable number
    • Status: active, rehire, or terminated (as applicable)
    • Contract type: must be selected
  3. Use filters to find employees with suspicious dates:
    • Go to Reportes > Catálogo de empleados and sort by hire date
    • Look for empty dates, future dates, or dates before the year 2000 (unless legitimate)

4. Configure the Aguinaldo Calculation Correctly

  1. Go to Nómina > Procesos especiales > Aguinaldo
  2. Configure the following parameters:
    • Cutoff date: usually December 20 of the current year
    • Bonus days: minimum 15 (or the number established by your company policy)
    • Salary type: select Salario diario ordinario (ordinary daily salary, NOT the integrated one)
    • Calculation period: January 1 to December 31 of the current year
  3. Select the employees who should receive the Christmas bonus
  4. Verify that terminated employees who already received their proportional share are not included

5. Run the Calculation in Batches

If the error occurs with batch calculations, process employees in small groups:

  1. In the aguinaldo calculation window, select only one department or group of employees (10 to 20)
  2. Execute the calculation
  3. If it works, move to the next group
  4. If it fails with a specific group, narrow it down to identify the problematic employee
  5. Fix the data of the employee causing the error
  6. Repeat until all employees are processed

6. Repair the Database

If the error persists after verifying data and configuration:

  1. Close NOI on all terminals (critical for multi-user installations)
  2. Go to Utilerías > Reparación de archivos
  3. Select Todas las tablas (All tables)
  4. Run the repair and wait for it to complete
  5. Restart NOI and attempt the aguinaldo calculation again

Alternative Solution

If the standard repair does not resolve the problem, try these alternatives:

Manual Index Reconstruction

  1. Close Aspel NOI completely
  2. Navigate to the NOI data folder (usually C:\Archivos de programa\Aspel\NOI\Datos or your configured path)
  3. Locate the .CDX files (indexes) related to employees and payroll
  4. Rename these .CDX files by adding a .BAK extension (for example, EMPLEADOS.CDX to EMPLEADOS.CDX.BAK)
  5. Open NOI — the system will automatically rebuild the indexes
  6. Attempt the aguinaldo calculation again

Manual Calculation with Export

If you need to pay urgently and cannot resolve the error immediately:

  1. Go to Reportes > Catálogo de empleados and export to Excel
  2. Calculate the aguinaldo manually:
    • Full bonus: daily salary × bonus days
    • Proportional bonus: daily salary × bonus days × (days worked ÷ 365)
  3. Apply ISR withholding according to current tax tables
  4. Record the payments as manual entries in NOI once the error is resolved

Reinstalling the Special Processes Module

  1. Download the complete installer for your NOI version from aspel.com.mx
  2. Run the installer and select the Repair option
  3. This reinstalls program files without affecting your database
  4. Apply all available updates after the repair

Prevention

To avoid this error in future aguinaldo calculations:

  • Update Aspel NOI at least once a year, ideally in October, before the Christmas bonus season
  • Update ISR tax tables every time the SAT publishes fiscal changes
  • Validate employee data quarterly, checking hire dates, salaries, and status
  • Generate weekly backups throughout the year and an additional backup before each special process
  • Run file repair monthly to keep database indexes healthy
  • Configure a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) on the server hosting the NOI database to prevent power outages that corrupt files
  • Perform a test calculation in mid-November with test data to detect issues before the deadline
  • Document your aguinaldo configuration (days, salary type, cutoff date) so you can replicate it each year without errors

”Employee not found in the database” Error

This error appears when the employee record exists in the catalog but their payroll data is incomplete. Solution: verify that the employee has at least one processed payroll period in the year.

PTU (Profit Sharing) Calculation Error

Similar to the aguinaldo error, but related to the profit-sharing process. The causes and solutions are analogous: outdated tables, incorrect data, and corrupted database.

Error When Generating the Aguinaldo Payroll Receipt

After calculating the Christmas bonus correctly, the CFDI receipt generation may fail. This is a different issue related to digital stamping. Consult the CFDI stamping errors section for resolution.

Aguinaldo Amounts That Do Not Match Manual Calculation

If NOI calculates but the amounts are incorrect, it is usually because it is using the integrated daily wage instead of the ordinary one, or the hire dates are wrong. Review the salary type setting in the aguinaldo process configuration.

Summary

  • The aguinaldo calculation error in Aspel NOI is generally caused by outdated ISR tax tables, incorrect hire dates, or a corrupted database
  • Always back up before correcting — a backup prevents data loss
  • First update the fiscal tables and verify each employee’s data before recalculating
  • If the batch calculation fails, process in small batches to identify the problematic employee
  • File repair and index reconstruction solve most database problems
  • As a last resort, calculate manually in Excel and record payments as manual entries
  • Prevent the problem by updating NOI and validating employee data before November each year