Germany salary calculator 2026: gross, net and raises
Understand a German salary offer and compare a raise using maintained official rules. See monthly and annual deductions together, with explanations of the facts that matter. Your entries stay in your browser.
2026 · DE / EN
What will you take home?
Compare a salary or a raise, with separate taxes and social contributions for each month and year.
Estimated take-home pay
What changes?
Enable salary comparison to see the monthly and annual take-home change.
Your taxes and social contributions
Gross salary comparison
Employer social contributions
Only the statutory employer shares shown here, not complete employment costs. Levies, accident insurance and other costs are excluded. These amounts are not deducted from your net pay.
Assumptions and verified rules
The main estimate uses monthly wage-tax withholding and twelve equal payments. The annual PAP reference can differ because fractions of a cent are discarded. Annual values repeat the same monthly facts twelve times; age or child-count changes during the year are not automatically allocated.
Final annual income tax after filing a return may differ.
- Rule year
- 2026 · 2026-01-01 – 2026-12-31
- Oldest mandatory source check
- 2026-10-31 · 30 days
- Dataset version
- 2026-01-01-final-pap2026
- Final PAP publication
- 2025-11-12
- Internal PAP timestamp
- 2025-10-23 12:40 · 1.0
- App implementation date
- 2026-11-01
Where the gross salary goes
Net pay, taxes and social contributions; the exact amounts are in the table.
Compare year, tax class, health-fund rate, child facts and rounding with your payslip. This is arithmetic guidance, not a binding tax assessment or a decision about your legal status.
How it works
Withholding is not the final assessment
The official payroll method converts recurring gross pay into an annual taxable amount after prescribed deductions. It then determines wage tax and solidarity/church withholding bases. Gross salary is not taxable income. Final annual income tax after filing a return can differ.
Each social contribution stays separate
Pension and unemployment have different ceilings from health and care insurance. The additional health contribution is calculated and rounded separately. Care depends on parent status, relevant children and Saxony. Employer shares are supporting information, never deducted from your net pay again.
Switch periods without changing the offer
A monthly salary of €4,000 corresponds to €48,000 annually. Switching the input period preserves that value. The main estimate uses twelve regular monthly payments. Annual amounts that do not divide into exact cents need a rounded monthly amount and an explicit explanation. Annual-period tax is a separate rounding reference.
Rule year, source check and app update
Rule year 2026; final PAP published 2025-11-12, internal timestamp 2025-10-23 12:40, version 1.0. Oldest mandatory source check: 2026-10-31. Dataset 2026-01-01-final-pap2026; maximum 30-day review. App implementation: 2026-11-01. Overdue data and unsupported years are blocked.
Common questions
Do I need to enter the basic tax allowance?
No. The statutory basic allowance and ordinary standard deductions are maintained automatically. The optional registered annual allowance means an additional personal ELStAM payroll allowance, not the basic allowance. Leave it at zero unless you know an amount is registered.
Why do German salary calculators disagree?
Align year, pay period, tax class, registered allowance, actual health additional rate, care child/parent facts and state first. Twelve monthly deductions can also differ by cents from an annual-period reference. A different result alone does not establish outdated software.
Which additional health rate should I use?
The announced 2026 reference average is 2.9%. It is not every fund’s rate or the actual average of collected contributions. Choose the maintained TK preset if it matches your fund, or optionally enter your known actual rate. No health fund is recommended.
How do ZKF and care children differ?
ZKF is a payroll tax allowance factor affecting solidarity and church tax. Parent status for care continues even when children are older than 25. Additional care discounts instead depend on the relevant number below 25, through the end of their birthday month. These are separate facts.
How much of a raise reaches take-home pay?
Enable comparison and enter the new gross amount. Both salaries run through the full calculation with the same personal assumptions. The difference includes tax progression and contribution ceilings. When gross salaries are equal, a retained-increase percentage is undefined.
What about bonuses, private insurance and mini/midijobs?
This tool covers twelve recurring salaries with ordinary statutory contributions. Monthly pay up to €2,000, private insurance, one-off payments, partial months, combined multiple-job ceilings, age relief or special insurance require other rules. We show a scope message instead of a misleading ordinary net amount.
Practical guides
- Understanding a German payslip
An anonymous worked example explains each deduction and the known personal facts a newcomer needs.
- Comparing German salary estimates fairly
A practical checklist for matching assumptions, source versions and monthly-versus-annual rounding.
Scope and limitations
Informational arithmetic for the expressly supported ordinary situation, not personal tax advice, a legal-status decision or a certified payslip. Excludes mini/midijobs, private insurance, bonuses, partial months, age relief and special insurance. No transmission or persistence of your entries.