How it works
This calculator turns a yearly gross salary into a net salary the way a German payroll department does it in 2026. It uses the official payroll algorithm (Programmablaufplan) of the Federal Ministry of Finance, so the wage tax matches the published BMF test table for tax classes I to V.
How gross becomes net in Germany
- Social insurance (Sozialversicherung): the employee pays 9.3 % pension (up to EUR 101,400), 1.3 % unemployment (up to EUR 101,400), 7.3 % health plus half of the fund’s surcharge (average 2.9 %, so 1.45 %) and 1.8 % care insurance, the last two up to EUR 69,750. Childless employees aged 23 or over pay 0.6 points more for care; from the second child there is a 0.25-point discount per child, up to the fifth.
- Taxable income: gross pay minus the employee lump sum (EUR 1,230), the special-expenses lump sum (EUR 36), the single-parent relief in class II (EUR 4,260) and the Vorsorgepauschale, which is a lump sum for your pension, health and care contributions.
- Wage tax: the income tax tariff of § 32a EStG applies. In 2026 the first EUR 12,348 are tax-free; the rate then rises from 14 % to 42 % (from EUR 69,879) and 45 % (from EUR 277,826). Class III uses the splitting tariff, class V a withholding scale that is deliberately higher.
- Solidarity surcharge: 5.5 % of the wage tax, but only if it exceeds EUR 20,350 (EUR 40,700 in class III). Children’s allowances lower the base for soli and church tax.
- Church tax: 8 % (Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg) or 9 % of the wage tax for members of a church.
Worked example
Single, tax class I, no children, no church tax, EUR 60,000 gross, average fund surcharge of 2.9 %: taxable income is EUR 46,644, wage tax EUR 9,389 and no solidarity surcharge. Pension insurance is EUR 5,580, unemployment insurance EUR 780, health insurance EUR 5,250 and care insurance EUR 1,440 (the childless surcharge is included). Net pay is EUR 37,561 a year, about EUR 3,130 a month, and of each extra euro you earn about 49 cents go to tax and contributions.
With the same salary in tax class III the wage tax falls to EUR 4,822 and net pay is EUR 42,128; the partner in class V then pays EUR 15,364 on a EUR 60,000 salary. At EUR 100,000 gross in class I the solidarity surcharge is EUR 344.86, because the wage tax of EUR 23,248 is only slightly above the exemption limit.
Tax classes in short
- I: single, divorced or widowed. II: single parent with a child in the household.
- III and V: married couples. Class III for the higher earner (low withholding), class V for the other partner (high withholding). The yearly tax return evens this out, so the choice mainly changes the monthly payslip.
- IV: both spouses in class IV, for similar incomes. Wage tax is the same as in class I.
What this calculator leaves out
It assumes a normal employee on a statutory health fund and a salary paid evenly over the year, without bonuses, company cars, tax-free allowances on the card (Freibeträge), commuter allowance or the Kirchensteuer cap. It uses the nationwide contribution ceilings; the higher employee rate for care insurance in Saxony (2.3 %) and private health insurance are not modelled. Child benefit (Kindergeld) is not part of net pay. For the final yearly tax the Einkommensteuerveranlagung can differ from monthly withholding.