Frequently asked questions

There is no single figure that fits everyone. How much net remains depends on your tax class (Steuerklasse), your church membership, the number of your children, your health-insurance fund and your federal state – two people on the same gross can end up with different net pay. As a rough reference, the average gross earnings used by the statutory pension insurance for 2026 are around 4.329 € a month, or about 51.944 € a year. That is an arithmetic mean (the pension-reference Durchschnittsentgelt), not a labour-market median, and on its own it tells you nothing about your net pay. So always look at your own calculation rather than a nationwide average.

Two separate blocks come out of your gross pay. Social insurance funds specific benefits and has four branches: health insurance (general rate 14,6 % plus a supplementary contribution), long-term care insurance, pension insurance (18,6 %) and unemployment insurance (2,6 %). Employer and employee usually split these contributions evenly, and they are only charged up to each branch's contribution ceiling (Beitragsbemessungsgrenze). Wage tax (Lohnsteuer), by contrast, is a genuine tax: it goes into the general state budget, follows the progressive income-tax tariff (§ 32a EStG) and your tax class, and is borne by the employee alone. On top of the wage tax sit the solidarity surcharge (Solidaritätszuschlag) and – if you belong to a church – church tax (Kirchensteuer). In short: social insurance is contributions that buy you cover, wage tax is a tax with no direct return.

Low wages follow their own contribution rules in Germany, which this calculator deliberately does not model. Up to the marginal-employment threshold (the Minijob, currently around 603 € a month) the job is largely free of contributions for the employee; in the transition band above it (the Midijob) up to 2.000 € the employee contributions ramp up gradually rather than applying in full straight away. This sliding zone follows its own formula that does not match the ordinary even split. So for a gross up to 2.000 € we show a calm note rather than a wrong number. For regular employment above that threshold the calculator works as normal.

The contribution to statutory health insurance has two parts: the general rate fixed by law at 14,6 %, and a supplementary contribution (Zusatzbeitrag) that each health fund sets for itself. The calculator uses the average supplementary contribution of 2,9 %, published each year by the Federal Ministry of Health as a reference figure. That is explicitly a reference value, not a number guaranteed for you: your own fund may charge more or less, and the actual member-weighted average runs higher in practice than the published reference. Your health fund tells you the rate that applies to you. For a dependable calculation, enter your fund's rate once the full version allows it.

Church tax is a matter for the federal states, and the regional churches set the rate. In Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg it is 8 % of the wage tax; in every other federal state it is 9 %. What counts is the state of your workplace or residence, not your denomination as such. It is only levied if you are a member of a tax-collecting religious community; anyone who belongs to no such community pays no church tax. Some regional churches cap church tax at very high incomes (the "Kappung der Progression"); that detail varies from one regional church to the next and is left out here.

Nationwide, employer and employee split long-term care insurance evenly – with one exception: Saxony. There, to offset the introduction of care insurance, the Buß- und Bettag holiday was not reinstated as a public holiday, so employees carry 0,5 percentage points more than in the rest of the country. The employer's share in Saxony is fixed at 1,3 %, while the employee's share is correspondingly higher than the usual half of 1,8 % (with one child and no surcharge). Childless employees aged 23 and over pay an additional surcharge of 0,6 %; from the second child onward the contribution steps down. So if you work in Saxony, your net pay is a little lower for otherwise identical inputs.

The solidarity surcharge is 5,5 % of the wage tax, but since 2021 it has only been levied on higher incomes. Up to an annual exemption limit – in tax classes I and IV around 20.350 € of annual wage tax – no solidarity surcharge is due; just above it the surcharge climbs slowly through a mitigation zone before reaching its full rate. For most employees on an average wage that means no surcharge, or only a small one. Whether and how much you pay depends on your tax class and your taxable income. For orientation: the tax-free basic allowance (Grundfreibetrag) in the income-tax tariff is 12.348 € a year for 2026 – only above it does any wage tax arise at all.

There is no statutory entitlement to a Christmas bonus (Weihnachtsgeld) or a 13th month's salary in Germany. Whether you receive such a special payment follows from your employment contract, a collective agreement, or established company practice (betriebliche Übung) – not from the law. Where a Christmas bonus is paid, for tax purposes it counts as an "other payment" (sonstiger Bezug, § 39b para. 3 EStG) and is taxed at your individual marginal rate; unlike Austria's 13th and 14th salary, Germany grants no favourable rate for it. The calculator models only the running monthly salary, not the taxation of a one-off special payment – that is planned for a later stage.