The contract says one number and the bank account shows another. Here is the whole path from one to the other, step by step, on 2026 rates.
Gross is the figure written into the employment contract. Net is what reaches the account. The gap between them is not the employer being generous or stingy — it is three mandatory contributions withheld from your pay, plus one tax the employer pays on top of it.
Withheld from your salary: the second pension pillar, the unemployment insurance contribution, and income tax. In that order, and the order matters: income tax is calculated only after the first two.
Four steps, always in the same sequence:
An example on a gross salary of €2,000. The pension pillar takes €40, unemployment insurance €32. Deduct the tax-free minimum of €700 and income tax comes to €270.16. What lands is €1,657.84.
Step one has to use your own pillar rate. If you raised it to 6%, net pay drops by roughly sixty euros a month — that money is not lost, it goes to your pension account.
| Gross | Net | Cost to employer |
|---|---|---|
| €1,000 | €905.92 | €1,338 |
| €1,500 | €1,281.88 | €2,007 |
| €2,000 | €1,657.84 | €2,676 |
| €3,000 | €2,409.76 | €4,014 |
| €5,000 | €3,913.60 | €6,690 |
Calculated with a 2% pension pillar and the €700 tax-free minimum applied. Without the application on file, net pay is lower: income tax is then charged on the whole amount.
Employer cost does not stop at the gross salary. On top of it come social tax at 33% and the employer's unemployment contribution at 0.8% — neither is withheld from your pay, both are added to it.
So an employee on €2,000 gross actually costs the company €2,676 a month. That gap is worth knowing in a salary conversation: the employer is thinking about total cost, you are thinking about what lands, and the two differ by almost a third.
Social tax also has a floor. Even on a very small salary it must be paid on at least the monthly base of €886, which comes to €292.38 a month. Health insurance depends on it.
Roughly €1,657.84, counting the €700 tax-free minimum, 22% income tax, 1.6% unemployment insurance and a 2% pension pillar. That employee costs the employer €2,676 a month.
No. You have to file an application with one employer. Without it, income tax is charged on the full gross amount and net pay is lower.
Because social tax at 33% and the employer's unemployment contribution at 0.8% are not withheld from your pay — they are added on top. On a gross salary of €2,000 that totals €2,676.
No. It used to shrink at higher incomes; from 2026 the €700 a month is the same for everyone.
€946 a month. The social tax monthly base is a separate figure — €886 a month, meaning at least €292.38 of social tax.