Salarium

How we calculate German net pay

What net means here

Net pay is gross salary minus income tax (Lohnsteuer), the solidarity surcharge, church tax if you are a member, and the employee's share of health, long-term care, pension and unemployment insurance. It is the payout on a German payslip (Auszahlungsbetrag).

Income tax with the official algorithm (2026)

We follow the Federal Ministry of Finance's payroll algorithm (Programmablaufplan, 12 November 2025) for a monthly pay period: employee allowance €1,230, special expenses allowance €36, single-parent relief €4,260 (class II), the pension and health allowance (Vorsorgepauschale), the income tax formula of § 32a EStG with a basic allowance of €12,348, splitting in class III and the special rule for classes V and VI.

From 2026 the Vorsorgepauschale adds unemployment insurance as long as health, care and unemployment together stay within €1,900, and the old minimum amount no longer exists.

Solidarity surcharge and church tax

The solidarity surcharge is 5.5 % of income tax but only once annual income tax exceeds €20,350 (class III: €40,700), with a transition zone at 11.9 % of the excess. Church tax is 8 % of income tax in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg and 9 % elsewhere. Both use the child allowance of €9,756 per child and year.

Social insurance (2026)

Health 14.6 % plus the fund's add-on (average 2.9 %), split equally; long-term care 3.6 % (employee 1.8 %, Saxony 2.3 %), plus 0.6 points for childless employees aged 23 or over, minus 0.25 points per child from the second to the fifth; ceiling €5,812.50 a month. Pension 18.6 % and unemployment 2.6 %, split equally, up to €8,450 a month. Between €603.01 and €2,000 a month employees pay on a reduced base.

What is not included

Personal allowances registered with the tax office, the factor method, one-off payments such as Christmas bonuses, benefits in kind, the age relief from 64, pensions, and the flat-rate tax on minijobs that the employer pays.

How each value was verified

Of the values in this year's rules, 34 are confirmed by an official source, 6 by at least two independent secondary sources, 1 are derived by arithmetic from verified values (for example last year's threshold times the published indexation factor), 3 are confirmed indirectly by reproducing an external result, and 3 are long-standing statutory values that still need an official source.

Values still waiting for an official source:

Sources

Rules for the 2026 tax year, last checked on 2026-09-26. Every rate and threshold is taken from the sources below.

Put the result on your site

Copy this snippet to show the net figure for an amount on your page. Change n (the gross amount) and add &region= where regions matter. It links back to the full breakdown.

<iframe src="https://www.example.com/en-de/embed/?n=3000" width="320" height="120" style="border:0" title="Salarium" loading="lazy"></iframe>