German gross to net salary calculator 2026 (Brutto-Netto-Rechner)

How net pay is worked out in Germany

Your employer deducts two groups of items from your gross salary. Taxes: wage tax (Lohnsteuer), the solidarity surcharge for high earners, and church tax if you are a registered member of a church. Social insurance: health, long-term care, pension and unemployment insurance, each split roughly half and half with the employer.

Wage tax depends on your tax class (Steuerklasse): I for single people, II for single parents, III and V for married couples with uneven salaries, IV for equal salaries, VI for a second job. This calculator follows the official 2026 wage tax program of the Federal Ministry of Finance step by step, and reproduces its published test table.

Worked example

4,000 € a month, class I, no children, North Rhine-Westphalia, no church:

• Wage tax 524.50 €, no solidarity surcharge
• Health 350.00 €, care 96.00 €, pension 372.00 €, unemployment 52.00 €
• Net pay 2,605.50 € a month

Children lower the care insurance rate from the second child and reduce solidarity surcharge and church tax, but not the wage tax itself: child benefit (Kindergeld) is paid separately.

Annual wage = monthly × 12. Taxable income = annual wage − 1,230 € employee allowance − 36 € special expenses − the tax-free provision allowance (pension 9.3%, health 7.0% + half the extra rate, care rate; unemployment 1.3% while health, care and unemployment stay within 1,900 €) − 4,260 € in class II. Tax with the 2026 § 32a tariff (splitting in class III, the § 39b special formula in V and VI), divided by 12. Soli 5.5% above a 20,350 € tax free limit with an 11.9% phase-in; church tax 8% in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, 9% elsewhere, on the tax after child allowances. Social insurance on the salary up to 8,450 € (pension, unemployment) and 5,812.50 € (health, care).