Your gross salary has income tax (Lohnsteuer), possibly the solidarity surcharge and church tax, plus your share of the four social insurances (health, long-term care, pension, unemployment) deducted from it. What's left is your net — the amount that reaches your account.

In Steuerklasse V, about €278/month more Lohnsteuer is withheld than in Steuerklasse IV — so on a €30,000 salary in Berlin your net is about €278 lower every month, until the annual assessment. The money isn't lost; it's withheld during the year and reconciled at your assessment.

No. Your Steuerklasse only sets the monthly withholding (your cash flow), not your annual tax. The real liability is settled at assessment — for couples, from the household's combined taxable income.

Above the BBG your social contributions stop rising. In 2026 it's €69,750 for health and long-term care insurance, and €101,400 for pension and unemployment insurance. Income above those ceilings is contribution-free — only tax keeps climbing.

On top of the general contribution rate, each Krankenkasse charges its own additional contribution (Zusatzbeitrag). The calculator uses an average rate (2.9%); your fund may be higher or lower — you can enter the exact figure.

Kirchensteuer is a surcharge on your income tax (8% or 9% depending on the Bundesland). On a €70,000 salary in Berlin it costs about €1,099 per year in this scenario. Leaving the church raises your net by somewhat less than that: Kirchensteuer is deductible as a Sonderausgabe, so leaving forfeits that deduction — part of the saving comes back as higher income tax at your year-end assessment.

Most employees no longer do: since 2021 a high exemption threshold means the Soli only applies at very high incomes. The calculator applies the threshold automatically.

Because it's taxed at your marginal rate. A €10,000 raise on a €72,000 salary leaves only about €5,409 net — the rest goes to tax and contributions. That's not an error; it's the progressive tariff.

After business expenses, income tax, and voluntary health insurance, less than the invoice suggests. For example, €75,000 of profit becomes roughly €45,941 net per year — depending on your health and long-term care insurance.

Usually not — most Freiberufler are exempt from statutory pension insurance and pay no unemployment insurance. That lifts your net, but it also means no state pension and no unemployment benefit: you have to provide for those yourself.

By default the ermäßigter Beitragssatz (14.0%) — a hauptberuflich self-employed member has no Krankengeld entitlement without a paid add-on (§243 SGB V). Only if you opt into Krankengeld from the 7th week do you pay the allgemeiner Satz (14.6%).

Voluntary GKV is assessed on at least a notional minimum income — the Mindestbemessungsgrundlage. In 2026 that's about €1,318 per month (Bezugsgröße ÷ 3). Even with lower profit, you pay contributions on this base.

Usually barely more: a Gewerbe pays Gewerbesteuer, but it's largely credited back against income tax via §35 EStG. Only above a certain municipal Hebesatz (around 400%) does a residual burden remain. The real difference is classification and paperwork.

The Künstlersozialkasse insures self-employed artists and publicists. Members pay only about half the contributions (the KSK covers the rest, like an employer), are compulsorily insured, and get Krankengeld from the 7th week.

On the standard scheme you add 19% VAT (Umsatzsteuer) to your invoices. That VAT is a pass-through: you collect it for the Finanzamt, it's not part of your profit, and it doesn't reduce your income.

The Finanzamt sets quarterly income-tax prepayments — roughly a quarter of your expected annual tax each quarter. This spreads the tax across the year instead of landing as one large back-payment.