Gross is not your salary. Here is where it goes.
Pick your country, type the gross number from your contract, and watch it split into the lines your payslip lists. Thirty European countries, every one on this year’s statutory rates, and every one checked against a published calculator so you can see how close it lands.
2026 rules. Single, tax class I, no church tax, no children. Health includes half the 2.9% average supplementary rate; care includes the 0.6% childless surcharge. Contributions stop at the 2026 ceilings, €8,450 and €5,812.50 a month. Your insurer's supplement may differ, which moves the net by a few euros.
Checked. At €3,000 this page says €2,067; bruttonetto-online.de, 2026, class 1 says €2,054.
€2,943 lands. 36% never reaches you.
Gross €4,600. Contributions €1,001, income tax about €656.
Over a year: €55,200 gross, €35,318 in your account.
Your next €100 of gross would give you €53 of it.
The contributions are this year’s statutory rates and the income tax is the real tariff for a single person with standard deductions, which is why it is lower than the flat share often quoted for an average earner: tax is progressive, so a smaller payslip pays a smaller share. Where a country pays 13 or 14 instalments, as Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Austria do, the year is your figure times that number, and the maths follows. Your own payslip is still the truth; this page teaches you to read it.
Common questions
Why is my net lower than this?
Church tax, a higher health insurer supplement, a different tax class, or a private pension deduction. Each shows up as its own line on the payslip; find the line and you have found the difference.
Is the employer part in here?
No. Your employer pays contributions again on top of your gross, in some countries almost as much as you do; that is the tax wedge, a separate lesson. This page splits only the number on your contract.
How accurate is it?
Each country shows its own check: a gross figure, what this page says for it, and what a published calculator says. They agree within about a percent for most countries, and where they do not, the note says why, usually a regional rate or a relief that depends on your circumstances.
Why is my country missing?
Either its tax is set locally rather than nationally, like Switzerland where the canton and commune decide, or we have not been able to source its rules well enough to publish a number we trust. A missing country is better than a wrong one.