Understand the calculation
Rules and data effective scope: TV-Ärzte/VKA · basic pay 2025–2026 · 40 weekly hours · TdL unavailable
Last reviewed: 2026-10-30
Table of Contents
Who does this doctors’ calculator cover?
The calculator supports standard TV-Ärzte/VKA basic table pay for communal hospitals. Groups I, II, III and IV have different valid steps. Use the confirmed classification from your contract or payslip. TdL, individually contracted chief physicians and divergent employer agreements are excluded.
Standard steps use completed years of relevant activity: I at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 medical years; II at 0, 3, 6, 8, 10 and 12 specialist years; III at 0, 3 and 6 senior-physician years; IV at 0 and 3 years in the corresponding leading role. Your employer determines credited service and performance adjustments. Group, step and working time remain constant throughout the modelled year.
Compare part-time pay and tariff changes consistently
Full-time is 40 weekly hours. At 80%, the calculation uses 32 hours and 80% of each applicable gross table cell, rounded to cents. A tariff change applies from its effective month; annual gross sums all twelve actual monthly amounts.
The three complete tables on the separate reference page come from the annex to §18 of the VKA agreement and were cross-checked against the Marburger Bund publication. The July 2024 table is used only to calculate January–July 2025 correctly. No pay is assumed for periods from 2027 onward.
What gross and net include
The automatic tariff calculation supplies basic table pay. Confirmed recurring taxable supplements and contractual one-off payments can be entered separately. Individual duty valuation, tax-exempt supplements, employer savings contributions and occupational pensions are excluded. No universal Christmas payment is added.
The net estimate accounts for wage tax and social-security contributions for 2025 or 2026. Mandatory professional pension-fund members also receive a net estimate using the selected contribution model. Individual occupational-pension arrangements and salary conversion are excluded. Annual net sums twelve separate payroll calculations and supported one-off payments.
Professional pension funds: a contribution is still payable
An exemption from statutory pension insurance for an employed physician does not usually mean there is no pension cost. Mandatory professional-fund membership can replace the statutory arrangement for the relevant employment. The standard contribution option models an RV-linked mandatory contribution and the corresponding employer subsidy. For a fund notice with different mandatory amounts, use the confirmed-amount option and enter the total contribution and employer subsidy separately. The employee cost is the total minus the subsidy. A voluntary top-up is not automatically another payroll deduction eligible for the same subsidy.
The BMF payroll tax formula explicitly includes mandatory professional pension funds in its pension-provision allowance. Simply switching pension insurance off would remove that allowance and distort withholding. This calculator therefore retains the applicable notional tax treatment and changes the actual contribution shown in the cash ledger. Choose whether your employer remits the whole fund contribution or you pay it yourself. That choice changes the payout presentation, while disposable income after the same contribution should remain consistent. Confirm that the exemption applies to this employment, particularly after an employer change.
Bonuses and duties belong in the correct pay category
Basic TV-Ärzte/VKA pay is not a promise of a thirteenth salary. The optional Christmas, holiday and performance-payment fields describe additional contractual entitlements that you confirm, not standard bonuses inferred from the table. Enter actual gross amounts at your chosen working time. The calculator does not apply the part-time share to those amounts again. Recurring taxable duty remuneration can be entered as a constant monthly supplement, while a separately paid bonus belongs in its payment month. A zero entry is appropriate when there is no confirmed entitlement.
Supported one-offs are paid from April through December during uninterrupted full-year employment with the same employer. Their payroll tax is calculated separately using projected annual wages; contribution ceilings also account for earlier one-offs. January-to-March payments need a March-clause assessment and are outside this simplified form. Tax-exempt night, Sunday or holiday supplements cannot be inferred from a lump-sum duty amount. Working hours, valuation level, overlap rules and actual performance of the work matter, so the form accepts confirmed taxable pay rather than inventing a universal duty percentage.
Prepare the details from your payslip
Start with a recent ordinary payslip and your employment contract. Record the applicable agreement, confirmed group and experience step, contractual weekly hours and the month you want to compare. Then check your tax class, federal state, church-tax status and health insurer. Use the insurer's own additional contribution rate rather than assuming every fund charges the national average. Changing several settings at once makes a discrepancy harder to explain: first reproduce the basic gross salary, then add your personal deductions and finally compare additional payments.
Children affect different parts of payroll in different ways. The registered child-allowance count is not necessarily the same as the number of children relevant for long-term care insurance. Likewise, private health insurance requires actual premiums and the certified basic-coverage amount used for tax withholding. A figure copied from a household budget may include supplementary cover that does not belong in that tax field. The calculation is only as specific as the information entered, so compare each setting with the corresponding payroll record before treating a difference as an error.
Read monthly net, bank payout and annual totals separately
Regular monthly net answers what remains after the modelled deductions from recurring wages. A bonus has its own withholding calculation and may leave a different proportion of its gross amount. Annual net is a sum of the individual payroll months, including supported one-off payments; it is not the final income tax determined after a tax return. Other income, deductible expenses, a spouse's earnings and changes during the year can alter that final assessment. Keep these distinctions in mind when comparing two job offers or choosing a working-time percentage.
Bank payout can also differ from money available to spend. If an employer pays a subsidy while you transfer the full private insurance premium or professional-fund contribution yourself, part of the amount arriving in your account is already committed. Compare offers using income after those payments, and reserve the required contribution before allocating rent, savings or discretionary spending. Employer contributions are useful information about the remuneration package, but they are not an extra net salary payment unless the stated collection method actually pays them to you.
A worked example
At group I, step 1 and 80% working time, monthly gross is EUR 4,487.88 in January–May 2026 and EUR 4,577.64 from June. Annual gross is 5 × EUR 4,487.88 + 7 × EUR 4,577.64 = EUR 54,482.88. Working time is 32 hours a week. Duty pay and other additions are excluded.
| Step | Assumption / calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Group / step / working time | I / 1 / 80 % | 32 weekly hours |
| January–May | 5 × €4,487.88 | €22,439.40 |
| June–December | 7 × €4,577.64 | €32,043.48 |
| Annual gross | Sum of twelve months | €54,482.88 |
| Regular June net | Class I · NRW · age 35 · childless · GKV 2.9% · RV-linked fund · no church tax | €2,911.76 |
Common questions
Is TV-Ärzte/TdL available too?
Currently, only TV-Ärzte/VKA is supported. TV-Ärzte/TdL is unavailable.
How is my professional pension fund included?
The standard case uses mandatory contributions matching statutory RV. You can enter different confirmed mandatory contributions and employer subsidies; the tax allowance remains included under the BMF rules.
Are duty pay and Christmas payments included?
Only confirmed additional amounts that you enter. No universal duty allowance or contractual Christmas entitlement is assumed.
Sources and scope
The linked sources explain the rules, effective dates and scope used in this calculator.
- Bundesministerium der Finanzen: PAP 2026 / Vorsorgeaufwendungen; mandatory professional fundsSource checked: 2026-10-30 · Effective scope: 2026; comparable treatment confirmed in BMF 2025 dialog
- Ärzteversorgung Westfalen-Lippe: Versorgungsabgaben 2026Source checked: 2026-10-30 · Effective scope: 2026
- Bundesministerium der Justiz / Bundesamt für Justiz: SGB VI · §172a · 2026-10-30Source checked: 2026-10-30 · Effective scope: 2025–2026
- Bundesministerium der Justiz / Bundesamt für Justiz: EStG · §39b(3) · 2026-10-30Source checked: 2026-10-30 · Effective scope: 2025–2026
- Bundesministerium der Justiz / Bundesamt für Justiz: SGB IV · §23a · 2026-10-30Source checked: 2026-10-30 · Effective scope: 2025–2026
- VKA / Marburger Bund: TV-Ärzte/VKA, 10. Änderungstarifvertrag, 4 June 2026Source checked: 2026-10-30 · Effective scope: Table changes: 1 August 2025, 1 June 2026
- Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Länder: TV-Ärzte, 9 June 2026; Anlage ASource checked: 2026-10-30 · Effective scope: 1 April 2026–31 August 2027; earlier table needed for January–March 2026