Germany pay and tax, 2026

The German tax year

Germany taxes the calendar year. Employees’ income tax is withheld monthly as Lohnsteuer; filing an annual return is optional for many single employees and compulsory for others, including couples in tax classes III/V. Each November or December the Federal Ministry of Finance publishes the payroll program flow (Programmablaufplan) for the coming year, and the social insurance ceilings are set by ordinance around the same time.

What comes off a German payslip

Roughly a fifth of a typical salary goes to social insurance, split equally with your employer: pension insurance (9.3% employee share), unemployment insurance (1.3%), statutory health insurance (7.3% plus half your Krankenkasse’s additional contribution) and long-term care insurance (1.8%, more without children). Then comes Lohnsteuer, worked out from your tax class (Steuerklasse I to VI), the solidarity surcharge for high earners, and church tax if you are a registered member of a church that levies it.

What our calculator covers

The Germany net salary calculator runs the official BMF program flow for 2026 and 2025, so the Lohnsteuer matches certified payroll software for the same inputs. It covers all six tax classes, child allowances, church tax in every state, statutory or private health insurance, the childless surcharge and child reductions in care insurance, the Saxony split, and Minijob and Midijob rules. Bonuses paid as one-off “other payments”, the Faktorverfahren and the annual assessment are outside it.

Key figures for 2026

• Basic allowance (Grundfreibetrag): €12,348; child allowance €9,756 per child.
• Solidarity surcharge only above €20,350 of annual income tax (single).
• Church tax: 8% in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, 9% elsewhere.
• Minijob limit €603 a month; Midijob zone up to €2,000.

Lohnsteuer source: the BMF Programmablaufplan 2026. Every parameter is on the 2026 rates page, and 2025 for the year before.

A note on language

This guide is in English for people working in Germany who don’t read German payroll terms every day; the German word is given alongside each one so you can match it to your Lohnabrechnung. To compare a German offer with one elsewhere, use the take-home pay hub.