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Gross-to-net calculator for Germany 2026 (German payroll)

German rules, for people working in Germany. In the example, a gross salary of €2,800 a month leaves €1,941.00 net (tax class I, no children, no church tax, additional contribution 2.9%). Your net pay depends on tax class, children, health insurer and state. This is a model calculation of German payroll with the 2026 rules.

Your details

Regular pay before deductions. Not covered, so leave out: one-off payments such as a Christmas bonus, benefits in kind such as staff meals, and tax-exempt Sunday, public holiday and night premiums.

Shown in your payroll tax details, for example 0.5 per child for one parent. Only affects the solidarity surcharge and church tax, only in tax classes I to IV.

We assume you live and work there. The state sets the church tax rate and, in Saxony, the long-term care contribution.

The official average for 2026 is 2.9 percent (§ 242a SGB V); your insurer may charge more or less. You pay half.

Counts for the long-term care reduction from the second child, up to the fifth.

Only for the age relief amount. The calculator applies it for people born in 1961; it does not calculate for earlier years of birth.

Example using the displayed inputs

Model calculation for Germany, subject to the assumptions below.

Net pay per month
€1,941.00
Net pay per year (twelve months)
€23,292.00
Gross pay per month
€2,800.00
Income tax withheld (Lohnsteuer)
€250.00
Solidarity surcharge
€0.00
Church tax
€0.00
Health insurance (your share)
€245.00
Long-term care insurance (your share)
€67.20
Pension insurance (your share)
€260.40
Unemployment insurance (your share)
€36.40
Total deductions
€859.00

Calculation step by step

Annual salary: monthly gross times 12
€33,600.00
less employee allowance (for low pay only the part that does not exceed it)
€1,230.00
less special expenses allowance
€36.00
less lump sum for insurance contributions (Vorsorgepauschale, payroll tax figure, rounded up to whole euros)
€6,771.00
= taxable annual income
€25,563.00
Annual income tax from the tariff (§ 32a EStG; class III with splitting, V and VI under § 39b(2) sentence 7 EStG)
€3,000.00
Income tax per month: annual tax divided by 12, rounded down to the cent
€250.00
Annual income tax after child allowances (base for solidarity surcharge and church tax)
€3,000.00
Solidarity surcharge per year (5.5 percent, with threshold and phase-in zone)
€0.00
Contribution base (midi-job: employee base, otherwise capped at the ceiling)
€2,800.00
Contribution ceiling health and long-term care insurance per month
€5,812.50
Health insurance: your rate (7.3 percent plus half the additional contribution)
8.75 %
Regular care rate; for midi-jobs see the separate amounts below
2.40 %
Contribution base (midi-job: employee base, otherwise capped at the ceiling)
€2,800.00
Contribution ceiling pension and unemployment insurance per month
€8,450.00
Pension insurance: your rate (half of 18.6 percent)
9.30 %
Unemployment insurance: your rate (half of 2.6 percent)
1.30 %

How the calculation works

We calculate a constant monthly salary for the year 2026. Income tax (Lohnsteuer), the solidarity surcharge and the base for church tax follow the official payroll tax program of the German Federal Ministry of Finance for 2026 (Annex 1, version of 12 November 2025). The program scales your monthly gross pay to a year (times 12), deducts allowances and a lump sum for insurance contributions (Vorsorgepauschale), applies the income tax tariff and divides the annual tax by 12 again, rounded down to the cent.

Contributions to health, long-term care, pension and unemployment insurance use the 2026 contribution rates, each only up to the contribution ceiling. Outside the transitional range you bear half of health, pension and unemployment contributions; for health insurance that includes half of your health insurer's additional contribution. For long-term care insurance your parent status matters (surcharge for people without children from 23, reduction from the second child under 25), and in Saxony the employee share is higher. Church tax is 8 percent in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria and 9 percent in the other states, based on income tax after child allowances, rounded to the cent in the usual commercial way.

Every intermediate step is shown under the result. We checked our income tax calculation against the test table in the payroll tax program and against the finance ministry's XML pseudocode; both sources are in the list of sources.

What the calculator does not cover

This is a model and does not replace a payslip. It does not calculate: private health insurance, mini-jobs, apprenticeships, multiple jobs, special insurance situations and varying pay, the factor method in tax class IV, allowances and additions in your payroll tax details, Christmas or holiday pay and other one-off payments, benefits in kind, tax-exempt shift premiums, pension-type income, the time after the statutory retirement age, company pensions, capital-forming benefits and a cap on church tax.

In payroll tax, child allowances only reduce the solidarity surcharge and church tax, and only in tax classes I to IV. The federal state you choose applies to both your home and your workplace. We apply the age relief amount for people born in 1961. Not all final official values for 2027 are available yet; the calculator stays locked for that year.

Common questions

Why does my payslip show a different net amount?

Your payslip can contain items this calculator does not know, such as one-off payments, benefits in kind, capital-forming benefits or allowances. Rounding in individual payroll programs can also differ by a few cents. Your employer's payslip is always the reference.

Where do I find my health insurer's additional contribution?

Each statutory health insurer sets its own additional contribution and publishes it on its website. The official average additional contribution rate for 2026 is 2.9 percent (§ 242a SGB V), the value used in the example. Employees and employers each bear half.

Why do people without children pay more for long-term care insurance?

Anyone aged 23 or over without children pays a surcharge of 0.6 percentage points that the employee bears alone (§ 55(3) SGB XI). Parents with several children under 25 pay 0.25 percentage points less per child from the second child, up to the fifth child.

How does the calculator handle a midi-job?

The transitional range applies to constant pay of €603.01 to €2,000 for a full month. First confirm the conditions in the form. Apprenticeships, multiple jobs, short-time work and other special cases are not calculated. Mini-jobs up to €603 remain excluded; their hours are shown by the minimum wage calculator.

For 2026, F = 0.6619, G = €603 and the upper limit is €2,000. The total base is F × G + (2000 − G × F) / (2000 − G) × (gross − G). The employee base is 2000 / (2000 − G) × (gross − G). Both are rounded to cents. The basic and additional health contributions are rounded separately. Care insurance uses the employee base at 1.8% (Saxony 2.3%); people without children additionally pay 0.6% of the total base. Child reductions are calculated separately from the employee base and deducted. Payroll tax and the insurance allowance still use full gross pay under the payroll tax program. Pension entitlements continue to use full earnings; opting out of the reduction is no longer provided for since July 2019.

What changes in Saxony?

In Saxony the employee bears a higher share of long-term care insurance (§ 58 SGB XI). Choose Saxony as the federal state. Church tax is 9 percent there.

Sources and review date

Sources reviewed: 20 October 2026; incomplete full-text checks are marked.

More calculators

General information, not tax or legal advice and not a payroll calculation. We calculate carefully using the stated German rules, but we cannot rule out errors. Your case may differ. Ask your payroll office, a tax adviser or your health insurer. Your entries stay in your browser; we do not store or send them.

Drafted with AI assistance.