Every figure in this repo is gross. This explains what comes off it, and why comparing gross salaries across professions — including in pay.md — overstates the differences between them.
As a rough orientation: net is commonly around 60–65% of gross for an employee at the salary levels in this repo, and the percentage falls as gross rises. A job paying twice another does not pay twice as much into your account.
Two separate deductions, often muddled
| Steuern | Sozialabgaben | |
|---|---|---|
| What | Income tax, church tax, Soli | Pension, unemployment, health, care |
| Rate | Progressive | Flat percentages, capped |
| Capped? | No | Yes — above the ceilings you pay no more |
| Who else pays | — | Your employer pays roughly the same again |
Because social contributions are capped and tax is progressive, the two pull in opposite directions as income rises.
Social contributions
Employee share, split roughly equally with your employer:
| Contribution | Employee share, approximately |
|---|---|
| Rentenversicherung (pension) | ~9.3% |
| Arbeitslosenversicherung (unemployment) | ~1.3% |
| Krankenversicherung (health) | ~7.3% + half the Zusatzbeitrag — see health insurance |
| Pflegeversicherung (long-term care) | ~1.8%, more if you have no children, less with several |
Roughly 20–21% of gross in total, up to annually re-set ceilings. Those ceilings move every January; look them up rather than trusting a figure written here.
Beamte pay none of the pension or unemployment contributions and only a small private health premium against Beihilfe. That is the entire reason their gross is not comparable to an employee’s.
Income tax
- A Grundfreibetrag — a tax-free allowance, indexed annually
- Then a progressive rate rising from 14% to the Spitzensteuersatz of 42%, with a 45% band at the top
- Solidaritätszuschlag — abolished for roughly the bottom 90% of taxpayers since 2021, still payable by high earners
- Kirchensteuer — 8–9% of your income tax, payable only if you are a registered member of a tax-collecting religious community
Kirchensteuer is a trap for new arrivals
When you register your address (Anmeldung), the form asks your religion. Stating one that collects church tax enrols you, and the deduction appears on every payslip thereafter. Leaving later requires a formal Kirchenaustritt at a registry office or court, with a fee, and it takes effect only from that point.
It is not a trick — Germans expect the question — but people fill in the form on day three in the country, in German, and are surprised months later. Answer it deliberately.
Steuerklassen
Your tax class determines how much is withheld each month, not how much tax you ultimately owe. Differences are settled in the annual assessment.
| Klasse | For |
|---|---|
| I | Single, divorced, widowed |
| II | Single parent, with an additional allowance |
| III | Married, where the partner takes V — low withholding |
| IV | Married, both similar incomes |
| IV mit Faktor | Married, withholding matched to each partner’s actual share |
| V | The partner of a III — high withholding |
| VI | A second and further jobs |
The III/V combination is the one that causes arguments. The higher earner takes III and sees a large net; the lower earner takes V and sees a startlingly small one. Nothing is actually lost — it evens out at assessment — but it distorts income-linked benefits such as Elterngeld and Arbeitslosengeld, which are calculated on net pay. IV mit Faktor gives the same annual result with a fairer monthly split.
A reform replacing III/V with IV mit Faktor has been announced repeatedly and repeatedly delayed. Check its current status.
Ehegattensplitting
Married couples and registered partners may be assessed jointly, with the tax computed as though each earned half the combined income. Because the rate is progressive, this is worth a great deal when incomes are unequal and almost nothing when they are similar.
It interacts with the free family health insurance in GKV: for a single-income household, the German system is markedly more generous than the gross figures suggest.
What you can deduct
Employees get a lump-sum Werbungskostenpauschale automatically. Exceeding it is worth claiming:
- Pendlerpauschale — a per-kilometre commuting allowance
- Homeoffice-Pauschale — a per-day allowance for working from home
- Arbeitsmittel — tools, work clothing, professional literature, a computer. Directly relevant to the trades, where tools are bought personally
- Fortbildungskosten — courses and exams, including the Meisterprüfung and the Steuerberater exam
- Doppelte Haushaltsführung — maintaining a second home for work, relevant to Montage and commissioning roles
- Umzugskosten — relocation for work
What is not taxed
Several things this repo treats as real income are tax-free, which is why net comparisons differ from gross ones:
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Night, Sunday and holiday supplements | §3b EStG, within limits — see shift work and supplements |
| Tips | §3 Nr. 51 EStG, without limit — hospitality, hairdressing |
| Spesen — per-diems for time away | Within statutory rates — road haulage, Montage |
A shift-working nurse and a nine-to-five office worker on identical gross do not take home the same amount.
The annual return
Not compulsory for every employee, but usually worth filing — refunds are common, particularly in a year with a move, a course, or a change of job. ELSTER is the official free portal; commercial software and Lohnsteuerhilfevereine are the usual alternatives. Deadlines differ depending on whether you file yourself or through an adviser.
Run your own figures through a Brutto-Netto-Rechner with your Steuerklasse, church-tax status, children and Bundesland before comparing two offers. It is the only way the gross figures in this repo become comparable to each other.
Sources
- Einkommensteuergesetz (EStG) — gesetze-im-internet.de/estg, accessed 2026-09
- SGB IV, V, VI, XI — gesetze-im-internet.de, accessed 2026-09
- ELSTER — elster.de, accessed 2026-09
- Bundeszentralamt für Steuern — bzst.de, accessed 2026-09