German salary tax calculator 2026
Enter your gross salary to see your net pay and every deduction, computed from the official 2026 Lohnsteuer withholding formula.
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How this calculator works
This calculator runs the same Lohnsteuer withholding formula (Programmablaufplan) the Bundesministerium der Finanzen (BMF) publishes for employer payroll systems each year, and is checked against the BMF's own published Prüftabelle test tables for every supported tax year. It covers all six tax classes, the solidarity surcharge, church tax, and all four branches of social insurance (pension, unemployment, health, and long-term care) rather than a simplified approximation.
Key terms explained
- Steuerklasse (tax class)
- Determines how much wage tax your employer withholds each month, based on your marital status and, for couples, how you choose to split withholding between two incomes.
- Lohnsteuer vs. your actual tax bill
- Lohnsteuer is the monthly withholding your employer deducts as a prepayment toward income tax. Your real annual liability is settled separately when you file a Steuererklärung, and the two often differ.
- Solidaritätszuschlag (Soli)
- A surcharge on income tax. Since the 2021 reform, most employees earning below a fairly high income threshold no longer pay it at all. This calculator applies that year's exact threshold automatically.