Understanding income taxation and German payslips

Ok, I've received a couple of these now and looked on Toytown but found nothing on this topic. I think this is something everyone needs/should know about... so here's the items I see on my salary that I think are common for everyone... I included translations from what I have discovered. Perhaps others can pitch in and provide some information as well??

Verdienstabrechnung = salary statement

Bruttogehalt = gross salary
Sachbezug Firmen-KFZ = related to corporate car; details anyone?

Gesamtbrutto = gross total
Steuerbrutto, laufende Bezuege = gross tax / regular pay
Lohnsteuer aus monatlichen Bezuegen = wage tax, monthly; also mentions your tax class and if you have children
Solidaritaetszuschlag = solidarity charges; keep providing Berlin money to rebuild even though its done rebuilding as far as I have heard.. so we are providing cash for those new clubs and nice restaurants
Rentenversicherungsbrutto = gross pension insurance; amount of your salary that is used for the rest of the calculations related to your insurance
Rentenversicherung = pension insurance fund
Arbeitslosenversicherung = unemployment insurance

Gesetzliches Netto = legal net; huh?
Freiwillige Krankenversicherung = volunteer health insurance; not sure when I volunteered for this!?
Freiwillige Krankenversicherung Zusatzbeitrag AN = health insurance addition contribution
Freiwillige Pflegeversicherung = longterm care insurance

Auszahlungsbetrag = payment sum; this is what you pocket after all the damages!!! ugh!

Hope this helps you all !
John

Hi all,

Happy New Year.

I have accepted a position in Hamburg and have requested an indication of my net monthly income. As i should expect by now, it seems that i will lose approximately 45% of my income to various taxations. Unfortunately with my limited German language skills (i hope to be improving these!!) i am left a little confused as to whether all these should apply to me. My employer has kindly provided a breakdown of the taxes they have accounted for, as follows:

Lohnsteuer
Solidaritätszuschlag
Rentenversicherung
Arbeitslosenversicherung
Zuschuss KV
Zuschuss PV
Abzuführende KV
Abzuführende RV

If anyone can shed any light on what these individual taxations actually are, and whether as a single, agnostic, British guy i should be paying them, i would be very grateful!!

Thanks in advance for any assistance anyone can offer!

Topics merged by admin

Lohnsteuer = income tax
Solidaritätszuschlag = solidarity tax for East Germany
Rentenversicherung = pension funds
Arbeitslosenversicherung = unemployment insurance
Abzuführende KV = health insurance to pay
Abzuführende RV = pension funds to pay

Lohnsteuer = income tax. This is then splut, between the federal government, states governments and local governments.

Solidaritätszuschlag = Solidarity tax, pays for stuff in eastern states.

Rentenversicherung
Arbeitslosenversicherung
Abzuführende KV
Abzuführende PV

= These are the various categories of what in the UK is called National Insurance. In germany they are split.
Namely, pension/unemployment/health/care.

You could potentially lower the cost by opting out of the public health system.

45% sounds a lot compared to the UK I know but there's no nasty council tax to creep up on you and your disposable income / lifestyle will probably be better than in the UK.

Have fun.

Thanks for all the useful information guys. It seems most of this tax is unavoidable, but i am encouraged by the idea that "disposable income / lifestyle will probably be better than in the UK". :-)

The one thing that seems a little odd though is the two pension payments...

Rentenversicherung
Abzuführende RV

I suppose it's not possible to opt out of the government run pension scheme altogether? LOL! I'm thinking this is a no-brainer..

So... if i'll be paying such an exhorbitant amount in pension schemes and unemployment insurance i'm guessing i'll be allowed to claim the doll if i get laid off and will be able to claim both my (non-existent) UK pension and my German state pension simultaneously right??

Ok.. enough, i'll stop being so facetious. I can't wait to move to Germany!

Yeah if you've paid into the tax system, you can claim the dole, however I'm not sure how much, and if it depends on how much you've paid in already. i think it's based on your previous salary, and it can be very generous here.

The pension issue is a little complicated and it might be best for you to read previous topics on it.

Apologies... i hadn't seen these.

Thanks for the info!