Your employer runs Lohnsteuer withholding every month on your behalf, using the progressive formula the Finanzamt publishes for that tax year. Rather than jumping between flat bands, Section 32a EStG grows your marginal rate smoothly from 14% just above the Grundfreibetrag up to the 42% Spitzensteuersatz, so two euros of extra salary a few thousand apart in income can be taxed at meaningfully different marginal rates even without crossing a hard threshold.
On top of income tax sits the Solidaritätszuschlag, a legacy surcharge that, since 2021, only bites once your income tax bill itself clears €20,350 a year as a single filer. Most salaries on this site land below that line entirely, so Soli often shows as zero. Church tax works differently again: it is entirely optional, applied only if you are a registered member of a church that levies it, and calculated as a percentage of your income tax rather than your salary.
Underneath both of those sits Sozialversicherung, four separate contributions each with their own rate and their own Beitragsbemessungsgrenze (contribution ceiling). Rentenversicherung and Arbeitslosenversicherung fund your pension and unemployment cover; Krankenversicherung and Pflegeversicherung fund your health insurance and long-term care. Unlike income tax, these are flat percentages of gross pay up to the ceiling, not progressive, so they take a bigger relative bite out of lower salaries than higher ones.
This calculator models Steuerklasse I, the correct class for most single employees. If you are married or in a civil partnership, the Steuerklasse III/V vs IV/IV choice changes how tax is withheld each month even though the household's final annual liability stays the same, worth checking with the dedicated calculator below before assuming this single-filer figure applies to you.
