TVöD explained
The Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst (TVöD) sets pay for a large share of tariff employees at the German federal government and municipalities, from administration to technical and skilled trades to social and educational services and nursing.
The TVöD calculator above turns your Entgeltgruppe, stage and working time into a monthly basic gross figure, an estimated annual special payment and, for tariff employees, an estimated net figure for a regular month.
This guide explains how classification and stages work, how the 1 May 2026 pay raise plays out, how part-time is calculated, how the Jahressonderzahlung is worked out, and how gross pay becomes net pay.
Around 2.5 million people fall under TVöD or one of the states' own collective agreements, which closely follow its structure. If you want to know what should be on your own payslip, or how a change in Entgeltgruppe or stage plays out financially, the tabular groundwork for that lives here.
Who TVöD Covers: Bund and VKA
TVöD is negotiated by ver.di and dbb beamtenbund und tarifunion together with the federal government and the Vereinigung der kommunalen Arbeitgeberverbände (VKA, the association of municipal employers). It applies separately to two areas: the Bund (federal administration, e.g. ministries or Bundeswehr administration; some individual federal agencies, such as the Bundesagentur für Arbeit, instead have their own separate collective agreement) and the VKA (municipal administrations, municipal hospitals and many other municipal employers, though some sectors such as utilities can have their own annexes or agreements).
Both areas have their own pay tables with partly different amounts, even though contractual weekly hours are now a uniform 39 hours in both (VKA's Tarifgebiet Ost ran longer hours until the end of 2022, since lowered to 39 hours from 2023 as well). A full-time gross figure still can't be carried straight across from one area to the other, since the two tables are negotiated independently and can rise at different times or by different amounts.
A separate collective agreement, TV-L, covers the states, and Hesse has its own, TV-H, since it left the Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Länder in 2004. If you're employed by a state, use this site's TV-L or TV-H calculator instead of the TVöD one.
Entgeltgruppen and Classification
Your Entgeltgruppe follows from how your actual role is classified, not from work experience or age. The employer sets it based on the job characteristics defined in the relevant Entgeltordnung, usually at hiring or when duties change enough to warrant reclassification.
The general pay table (Anlage A), which this calculator reflects for general administrative roles, runs from Entgeltgruppe 1 to 15, plus the transitional groups 2Ü and 15Ü for specific staff defined in the agreement (for instance long-serving staff in simple roles, or particularly demanding leadership functions).
Generally, the higher the Entgeltgruppe, the more demanding the required qualification. Entgeltgruppen 1 to 4 mostly cover simple roles, 5 to 8 typical administrative and case-handling roles, and from 9a upward the roles often carry higher qualification requirements and leadership functions. What actually governs classification is always the specific role under the Entgeltordnung. A degree or training alone does not determine the group, and no Entgeltgruppe automatically requires a particular degree.
Experience Stages and Stage Progression
Within an Entgeltgruppe, pay is further staggered by stage, reflecting mainly relevant work experience. Under §16 TVöD, progression to the next stage typically happens after set periods of uninterrupted service in the same Entgeltgruppe: stage 2 is reached after one year in stage 1, stage 3 after two years in stage 2, stage 4 after three years in stage 3, stage 5 after four years in stage 4, and stage 6 (where the group has one) after five years in stage 5. No separate application is needed. Entgeltgruppe 1 and some special tables use different stage durations, and progression is not unconditional.
Changing employer doesn't necessarily reset you to stage 1: relevant work experience from a previous role is credited under certain conditions, so someone hired with genuine prior experience can start higher. The employer decides the exact stage on a case-by-case basis, typically from the relevant experience documented in a CV.
In rare cases of persistently substandard performance, stage progression can be delayed; conversely, exceptional performance can shorten it. This calculator reflects the tabular amount for each stage, not the automatic progression itself - you choose your current stage manually.
Worked Example: Entgeltgruppe 9c
Someone in Entgeltgruppe 9c, stage 3 at a VKA employer earns 4,594.76 € gross per month full-time (39 hours/week) from 1 May 2026. At the same Entgeltgruppe and stage, federal-government pay is slightly lower at 4,589.09 €, since Bund and VKA negotiate separate tables.
Within Entgeltgruppe 9c, pay rises with every stage:
| Stage | Monthly gross (VKA, from 1 May 2026) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 4,010.72 € |
| 2 | 4,290.50 € |
| 3 | 4,594.76 € |
| 4 | 4,922.61 € |
| 5 | 5,275.05 € |
| 6 | 5,527.70 € |
At tax class I, no church-tax membership, residence in North Rhine-Westphalia and statutory health insurance (this calculator's default assumptions), the 4,594.76 € gross in stage 3 works out to roughly 2,920.75 € net in a regular month (October 2026, without the annual special payment). A different tax class, church-tax liability, private health insurance or a different state changes the actual figure.
The 1 May 2026 Pay Raise
The current TVöD table was agreed across two effective dates: one version valid from 1 April 2025, and a further, higher version valid from 1 May 2026. For Entgeltgruppe 9c, stage 3 at VKA, that means: 4,469.61 € gross per month through April 2026, then 4,594.76 € from May 2026.
For the full 2026 calendar year, this example therefore works out to 58,542.07 € gross full-time for the year, not simply the May figure times twelve. The TVöD calculator automatically accounts for a mid-year table change, month by month. This already includes an estimated Jahressonderzahlung (special payment) of 3,905.55 €, paid out with November's salary.
How much the next raise will be after May 2026 isn't settled yet: this agreement's term runs until the next Einkommensrunde (pay round) between the unions and employers concludes. This calculator will be updated once a new table is agreed.
Part-Time and Weekly Hours
Tabular amounts apply to full-time employment at the currently valid contractual weekly hours. For part-time, pay is prorated by the ratio of your agreed hours to those full-time contractual hours, regardless of whether the reduction is spread across fewer days or shorter days.
At 50% part-time in Entgeltgruppe 9c, stage 3 at VKA (i.e. 19.5 instead of 39 hours/week), gross pay halves accordingly: 4,594.76 € becomes 2,297.38 €.
Allowances, the Jahressonderzahlung, and the supplementary-pension employee contribution are all prorated the same way, based on actual employment share rather than the full-time amounts.
From Gross Pay to Net Pay
Tariff employees in the public sector are social-insurance contributors just like in any other employment relationship. Income tax, potentially the solidarity surcharge and church tax, plus employee contributions to pension, unemployment, health and care insurance, all come out of gross pay.
The TVöD calculator computes net pay using the same income-tax and social-insurance logic as this site's main salary calculator, starting from the tabular monthly gross figure of the month you select. The annual special payment is taxed in the month it is paid, following the official payroll method for one-off payments: the extra tax is the difference between the annual tax with and without it, and social-insurance contributions apply only up to the pro-rata annual ceilings. The month in which it is paid therefore shows its own net figure, and the calendar-year net is the sum of twelve monthly figures.
Worth knowing for your own payslip: the tabular gross figure isn't the same as your total gross once additional allowances, overtime, or time-of-day supplements are added. This calculator only reflects the tabular base pay.
Jahressonderzahlung and Supplementary Pension (VBL)
Staff still employed on 1 December are entitled under §20 TVöD to a Jahressonderzahlung (annual special payment, informally often called Weihnachtsgeld), usually paid out with November's salary. It's calculated as a percentage of average gross pay across July, August and September.
The percentage is tiered by Entgeltgruppe and differs between Bund and VKA: at the federal government, Entgeltgruppen 1 to 8 get 95 %, groups 9a to 12 get 90 %, and groups 13 to 15 get 75 % of that average. VKA applies a uniform 85 %. Social and educational services and nursing have their own, partly higher rates. This calculator works the Jahressonderzahlung out automatically and includes it in the calendar-year gross pay and in November's gross pay.
Nearly all TVöD employees are also compulsorily enrolled in a supplementary occupational pension, usually with the Versorgungsanstalt des Bundes und der Länder (VBL) for the federal government and most VKA employers. Under the so-called Abrechnungsverband West, employees pay an employee share of 1.81% of gross pay for this out of already-taxed income. This calculator offers an optional, off-by-default checkbox for it, since not every employer is VBL-enrolled.
Not modelled: individual allowances, for example for rotating-shift, hardship or on-call duty, and the supplementary pension under Abrechnungsverband Ost, whose contribution and tax treatment differ fundamentally from West.
Social and Educational Services and Nursing: Their Own Tables
Staff in social and educational services, for example early-years educators or social workers in nurseries and youth welfare offices, aren't paid under the general pay table at VKA employers but under a separate table with S-Entgeltgruppen (S2 to S18, Anlage C to TVöD). These groups aren't directly comparable to the general Entgeltgruppen one-to-one, even though fixed equivalences exist for tariff purposes such as the Jahressonderzahlung.
Staff in nursing and care, for example at municipal hospitals or care facilities, are covered by yet another table, the P table (P5 to P16, Anlage E to TVöD). Both special tables are available in this calculator under their own selection on the Public Sector Pay overview page and are calculated with the same net-pay and Jahressonderzahlung logic as the general table.
Social and educational services and nursing use their own, higher Jahressonderzahlung rate than the rest of the VKA table: 90% for the lower Entgeltgruppen and 85% for the higher ones, instead of the otherwise uniform VKA rate of 85%. This calculator applies that different rate automatically once you choose the matching table.
TVöD, TV-L and TV-H Compared
TVöD, TV-L and TV-H all follow the same basic principle: Entgeltgruppen by role, experience stages by work experience, and an annual special payment. The actual amounts, percentages, and sometimes even the shape of the Entgeltgruppen themselves differ, since each agreement is negotiated independently by its own parties.
The most important thing to get right for your own calculation is therefore choosing the correct agreement: TVöD covers the federal government and municipalities, TV-L the 15 states in the Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Länder, and TV-H exclusively the state of Hesse. If you're unsure, your own employment contract or payslip usually states it.
For a move between tariff areas, say from a municipality to a state, relevant work experience is generally creditable, though the exact stage placement is up to the new employer. Comparing this site's relevant calculators helps roughly estimate the financial effect of such a move.
Common Misconceptions About TVöD Calculations
A common mistake is dividing annual net pay, or November's pay including the Jahressonderzahlung, by twelve to estimate a normal month. Since the Jahressonderzahlung is paid once a year and taxed as a one-off, that average does not match what a regular payslip shows. This calculator therefore shows the net pay of a regular month and of the special-payment month separately.
Another common misconception concerns the Entgeltgruppe itself: it follows the actual role performed under the Entgeltordnung, not your qualification, tenure, or age. Two people with the identical degree can be classified differently if their actual job characteristics differ.
Finally, it's easy to overlook that a mid-year table change (such as 1 May 2026) doesn't apply retroactively to the whole calendar year, only from that date onward. If you want to project annual gross pay for a year that spans such a date, don't simply multiply one monthly amount by twelve - calculate each month separately against whichever table was valid then.