ACH holidays
ACH settles only when Federal Reserve Banks are open. They close at weekends and on 11 federal holidays. Those 11 are recurring rules, not a list to relearn each year, so the dates below follow from them.
| Holiday | Also called | When it falls | Can the date shift? |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | — | January 1 | Yes. Saturday means no closure; Sunday moves it to the Monday |
| MLK Day | Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. | Third Monday in January | No. Always a weekday |
| Presidents Day | Washington's Birthday | Third Monday in February | No. Always a weekday |
| Memorial Day | — | Last Monday in May | No. Always a weekday |
| Juneteenth | Juneteenth National Independence Day | June 19 | Yes. Saturday means no closure; Sunday moves it to the Monday |
| Independence Day | — | July 4 | Yes. Saturday means no closure; Sunday moves it to the Monday |
| Labor Day | — | First Monday in September | No. Always a weekday |
| Columbus Day | Indigenous Peoples' Day | Second Monday in October | No. Always a weekday |
| Veterans Day | — | November 11 | Yes. Saturday means no closure; Sunday moves it to the Monday |
| Thanksgiving Day | — | Fourth Thursday in November | No. Always a weekday |
| Christmas Day | — | December 25 | Yes. Saturday means no closure; Sunday moves it to the Monday |
Other names for these dates
Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., Washington's Birthday and Juneteenth National Independence Day are the names used on the Federal Reserve's own published holiday schedule. Indigenous Peoples' Day is a name some states and employers use for the same date. Those names refer to the same closures as the names in the table above, so the rules on this page apply whichever name your calendar or payroll system uses.
The two observance rules
Only the five fixed-date holidays can move, and they move in two different directions. A fixed-date holiday landing on a Saturday does not close Reserve Banks at all, and the Friday before is a full banking day. That is the case most published calendars get wrong, because the federal office calendar does take that Friday off and the Reserve Banks do not. A fixed-date holiday landing on a Sunday moves the closure to the following Monday. The six holidays defined as the Nth weekday of a month always land midweek, so neither rule ever touches them.
| Date | Holiday | Same Day ACH | Next Day ACH | Two Day ACH |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, November 11, 2026 | Veterans Day | Tue, Nov 10, 2026 | Mon, Nov 9, 2026 | Fri, Nov 6, 2026 |
| Thursday, November 26, 2026 | Thanksgiving Day | Wed, Nov 25, 2026 | Tue, Nov 24, 2026 | Mon, Nov 23, 2026 |
| Friday, December 25, 2026 | Christmas Day | Thu, Dec 24, 2026 | Wed, Dec 23, 2026 | Tue, Dec 22, 2026 |
| Friday, January 1, 2027 | New Year's Day | Thu, Dec 31, 2026 | Wed, Dec 30, 2026 | Tue, Dec 29, 2026 |
| Monday, January 18, 2027 | MLK Day | Fri, Jan 15, 2027 | Thu, Jan 14, 2027 | Wed, Jan 13, 2027 |
| Monday, February 15, 2027 | Presidents Day | Fri, Feb 12, 2027 | Thu, Feb 11, 2027 | Wed, Feb 10, 2027 |
Schedules by year
Every closure date for one year, with the observance rules already applied: 2026 · 2027 · 2028 · 2029 · 2030.
One holiday rather than a whole year
Each closure has its own answer, including what it does to a file submitted around it, under is ACH processing on a holiday.
A date, not a rule
For a specific file, use the settlement date calculator. Working backwards from a payday you have to hit, use the payroll cutoff calculator. For today only, check whether the Fed is open today.