The gross to net salary in Germany is one of the biggest misconceptions that you will ever get in this country. In a whole lot of countries, when negotiations are made, they focus on net monthly income. Whilst in Germany is the complete opposite.
Get used to Gross annual salary
When you negotiate you should get used to the gross annual salary as it is usually the only offer that you will be provided. Before you actually make a request or even go into an interview, have this number in mind
The net varies mainly because of you
The key most important variables that matter in your net income are:
- Your gross (obviously)
- Your current tax class
- How many children you have
- Your religion
- Your age
- Your insurance premium
- The state that you will be working in
Understanding your net after taxes salary with all these variables is complex. There are plenty of calculators out there. I would recommend this.
Your tax class makes a difference
For most of the cases if you are not married, or not living with your partner, you would be tax class 1 – which is generally the tax class that is taxed the most.
When you are married and living with your partner you can be two choices.
- Tax class 3 for you (if you are the one that get paid a lot) and Tax class 5 for your partner if your partner does not make much
- Tax class 4 for both where both people are working comparable salaries.
The gross to net salary in Germany varies immensely and is closely correlated to the tax class.
Leave a Reply