How to read your German payslip line by line

The header: your tax and insurance data

The top block identifies you and drives every calculation. Check it first.

• Steuer-ID (Steuerliche Identifikationsnummer): 11 digits, sent by post after your first Anmeldung. Permanent for life.
• Steuerklasse: I for single, III/V or IV/IV for married couples, II for single parents, VI for a second job.
• Kinderfreibeträge: child allowances (0.5 per child per parent). They do not change wage tax but reduce Soli and church tax.
• Konfession / KiSt: 'ev', 'rk' or '--'. If it says 'ev' or 'rk' and you are not a church member, contact the Finanzamt immediately.
• SV-Nummer / Rentenversicherungsnummer: your social insurance number from the Deutsche Rentenversicherung.
• Krankenkasse and its add-on rate (Zusatzbeitrag), plus the Beitragsgruppe code, normally 1111 for a regular employee.
• Kinder PV or 'Zuschlag kinderlos': whether the childless care surcharge applies.

Gross pay and taxable benefits

Brutto lines include your basic salary (Grundgehalt), overtime, bonuses and allowances. Some benefits are added to gross only for tax and insurance purposes and then deducted again further down:

• Geldwerter Vorteil (GWV): a taxable benefit in kind, e.g. company car (1% of list price per month, 0.25% for many e-cars), or a non-tax-free perk. It raises tax and contributions but is not paid out.
• Tax-free items (steuerfrei): job ticket or Deutschlandticket subsidy, meal vouchers within limits, kindergarten subsidies. They increase your payout without tax.
• VWL (vermögenswirksame Leistungen): an employer contribution, often up to €40 per month, paid into a savings plan in your name. It is taxable; the same amount is deducted further down and transferred to the provider.

Tax deductions: Lohnsteuer, Soli, Kirchensteuer

Lohnsteuer is the monthly income-tax prepayment, calculated from the official 2026 tariff (basic allowance €12,348) after flat allowances for work expenses and your actual pension, health, care and unemployment contributions. It depends on your tax class, not on your city.

Solidaritätszuschlag is 5.5% of wage tax, but only if your annual wage tax exceeds €20,350 (single) in 2026. Most employees under about €100,000 gross pay zero.

Kirchensteuer is 8% (Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg) or 9% (all other states, including Berlin) of wage tax, only for registered members of a tax-collecting church. Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and most Indian Christians from non-German churches do not pay it unless they registered as Catholic or Protestant at Anmeldung.

Social insurance contributions

Social insurance is shared roughly 50/50 with your employer. Only your half appears as a deduction.

Income above the ceiling is contribution-free, which is why net pay rises faster at high salaries. If you are privately insured (PKV), KV and PV disappear from the deductions; instead your employer pays a tax-free Zuschuss of up to half your premium, shown as an addition. Compare your situation with the health insurance by salary tool.

Pension contributions are not lost if you leave Germany: Indians can often claim a pension refund after leaving, or count the years under the India–Germany social security agreement.

Worked example: €5,000 gross in Berlin

Assumptions: 2026, monthly gross €5,000, tax class I, no children, age 28, no church tax, public health insurer with 2.9% add-on (the 2026 average), no benefits in kind.

Social insurance totals €1,087.50; tax €782.41. The employer pays a further €1,057.50 (pension, unemployment, health and €90 care) plus small levies (U1, U2, insolvency levy) on top of your gross. With TK's 2.69% add-on, health would be €432.25 instead. Use the salary calculator for your own numbers.

From Netto to Auszahlung

Netto (gesetzliches Netto) is gross minus tax and social insurance. Auszahlungsbetrag is what lands in your bank account after personal items:

• bAV (betriebliche Altersvorsorge): company pension by salary conversion. It is deducted before tax: up to €676 per month (8% of the pension ceiling) is tax-free and up to €338 is also free of social insurance in 2026. Employers must add at least 15% when they save contributions.
• VWL transfer, meal or canteen deductions, job bike leasing, advance payments (Vorschuss) or garnishments.
• Back pay (Nachzahlung) or corrections from earlier months.

Your annual Lohnsteuerbescheinigung in February totals all of this and is sent electronically to the Finanzamt; you need it for your tax return.

Common mistakes and how to spot them

• Tax class VI in your first month. If your employer could not retrieve your tax data (ELStAM) because you had no Steuer-ID yet, class VI may be used, costing several hundred euros. Once your ID is registered, the employer can correct it in a later payroll; otherwise you get it back through the tax return.
• Wrong church tax. Check the 'KiSt' field after your Anmeldung; correct it at the Bürgeramt and Finanzamt.
• Childless surcharge charged although you have a child. Give your employer the birth certificate; if you submit it within three months of the birth, the surcharge stops from the month of birth.
• Wrong tax class after marriage. Married couples are switched to IV/IV automatically; changing to III/V is a separate application at the Finanzamt.
• Prorated first month mistaken for an error: if you started mid-month, gross is reduced by calendar or working days.
• Contributions above the ceiling. RV and AV should never exceed 9.3% and 1.3% of €8,450; KV/PV are capped at €5,812.50.

Step by step

1. Check the header dataConfirm your name, Steuer-ID, tax class, church-tax field and health insurer are correct.
2. Verify gross payCompare basic salary and any bonuses with your contract and note benefits in kind such as a company car.
3. Check the tax linesCompare Lohnsteuer with an online calculator for your tax class and confirm Soli and church tax are zero if they should be.
4. Recalculate social insuranceMultiply your gross by 9.3%, 1.3%, 7.3% plus half the add-on, and your care rate, respecting the ceilings.
5. Review personal deductionsCheck bAV, VWL, job ticket and other deductions against what you signed.
6. Match the payoutMake sure the Auszahlungsbetrag equals the amount credited to your bank account.
7. Raise errors quicklyEmail payroll with the payslip line and the correct value; keep all payslips for your tax return.

Questions people ask

Official sources

• §32a EStG – 2026 income tax tariff
• BMF – Official wage tax calculator
• Deutsche Rentenversicherung – Contribution rates and ceilings
• TK – Current social insurance rates
• TK – Solidarity surcharge 2026

Checked against these sources on 14 October 2026. Rules and fees change; confirm with the authority before you apply.