Germany is famous for its complex and sophisticated tax system. However, we have prepared material on taxation for you in the simplest and most concise way possible.
Why is tax class important and what does it affect?
Determining your tax class plays a significant role when filling out your tax return. Simply put, the tax class affects the amount of salary you will receive.
What is the tax class system in Germany?
The tax class or Steuerklasse determines the amount of income tax depending on your marital status, the income of your partner (spouse) and the number of children. The amount of unemployment benefit or the number of paid holidays is also determined by the tax class.
What tax classes are there in Germany and who is assigned to them?
There are only six tax classes:
- Tax class I is assigned to single, widowed, common-law, divorced, if the spouse lives abroad or the partners are officially separated
- Tax class II is assigned to single parents
- III tax class is assigned to recently widowed persons or to a husband who earns much more than his wife and vice versa (both working in Germany)
- Tax class IV is assigned to spouses with approximately equal incomes
- V tax class is assigned to a husband who earns much less than his wife and vice versa
- VI tax class is assigned to people who work several jobs
Which tax class do you think is most common among migrants in Germany?
That's right, it is usually tax class I.
Most non-residents fall into tax class I or II. If both spouses work in Germany, they can benefit from tax class IV.
How easy is it to determine your tax class online?
To do this, we recommend that you use the simple and free online service https://www.gehalt.de/einkommen/brutto-netto-rechner.
All you need to do is go to the website and fill out the form. Specify your gross salary, your tax class, whether you have children, your state and city of residence, and the last one is your speciality, and click the calculate button.
If you are looking for a job in Germany, you can visit our vacancies page. We offer direct employment from the employer.
Let's calculate the net average salary of a cook of 2500 euros gross with different tax classes, so:
Tax class I - 1760 euros net
Tax class III (with 1 child) - 1857 euros net
III tax class - 1975 euros net
IV tax class - 1874 euros net
V tax class - 1475 euros net
VI tax class - 1437 euros net
This is how the amount of the same gross salary may differ from the net amount, i.e. what you will receive in your hands.
We hope this article has helped you understand the tax classes in Germany.
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