Number format: this calculator uses German notation throughout — a comma is the decimal separator and a dot groups thousands. “1.234,56” means one thousand two hundred thirty-four euros and fifty-six cents. The figures come from German tax law, so they are shown the way German authorities write them.
Annual gross wage (Bruttoarbeitslohn im Jahr)
The total wage for a calendar year, as shown in line 3 of the wage tax certificate (Lohnsteuerbescheinigung).
In plain language
This is everything your employer paid you during the year before anything was deducted — salary, Christmas bonus, other bonuses, supplements. You do not have to add it up: the figure is on line 3 of your Lohnsteuerbescheinigung, the annual wage statement you receive in January or February. That is the number you enter in your tax return, and the number the tax office starts from.
In detail
The annual gross wage is the sum of income from employment (§ 19 EStG) in a calendar year, without tax-free components. Employment expenses are deducted from it — the greater of the actual outlay and the employee standard deduction of 1.230 € (§ 9a sentence 1 no. 1 letter a EStG). What remains is the income from employment under § 2 (2) no. 2 EStG. It is the starting point of the chain that runs through special expenses and extraordinary burdens to the taxable income. Wage replacement benefits such as Elterngeld or unemployment benefit are not included: they are tax-free, but they raise the rate applied to everything else through the Progressionsvorbehalt.
Worked example
54.000 € gross wages, no unusual expenses: after the employee standard deduction of 1.230 €, the special expenses standard deduction of 36 € and the pension and insurance contributions (estimated from the wage: 10.854,00 €), the taxable income is 41.880,00 €. The income tax on that is 7.810,00 €. The solidarity surcharge is 0,00 € — the assessed tax is below the exemption limit of 20.350 €.
In brief
From it the greater of actual expenses and the employee standard deduction is subtracted; that gives the income from employment.
Legal basis: § 19 EStG, § 2 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 EStG · as at 2026