Steuerklasse Calculator Germany

Germany uses a system of six tax classes (Steuerklassen, §38b EStG) to determine how much income tax is withheld from your monthly salary. Your tax class does not change your annual tax liability, only how much is taken each month. At year-end, you settle up through your tax return (or, for many single employees, an automatic reconciliation).

Tax Class 1 is the default for single, divorced, or widowed employees. It applies the standard tax-free allowance (Grundfreibetrag) of €12,348 in 2026. If you have no special circumstances, this is your class.

Tax Class 2 is for single parents who live alone with their child and are the sole adult in the household. It adds the Entlastungsbetrag für Alleinerziehende (§24b EStG): €4,260 per year for the first child, plus €240 for each additional child. You must genuinely be the only adult; cohabiting with a partner or another adult disqualifies you.

Tax Classes 3, 4, and 5 are for married couples or registered civil partnerships. Class 4/4 is the default and tracks each partner's own liability closely, so it rarely creates a large refund or back payment. Class 3/5 shifts monthly withholding instead of liability: the higher earner (Class 3) is withheld less, the lower earner (Class 5) is withheld more, using the three-zone procedure in §39b Abs. 2 Satz 7 EStG. Finanzamt Baden-Württemberg publishes the standard rule of thumb: 3/5 approximates the couple's real annual liability when the higher earner has around 60% of combined income. Move far from that split and 3/5 either over- or under-withholds noticeably, which is exactly what the calculator above computes for your numbers instead of assuming.

Tax Class 6 applies automatically to your second job. It has no tax-free allowance and the highest withholding rate, since your Grundfreibetrag is already applied on your main job.

IV/IV with Faktor (§39f EStG) is a lesser-known fourth option: the Finanzamt calculates a personalised factor for Class IV/IV that brings withholding close to your couple's actual combined liability, similar in spirit to 3/5's cash-flow benefit but without its typical back-payment risk. It requires a joint application and, once granted, also makes an annual tax return mandatory.

One interaction almost no calculator mentions: your Steuerklasse affects Elterngeld (parental allowance). Elterngeld is based on average net income in the 12 months before Mutterschutz begins, and a tax class change only counts toward that average if it applied for the majority of those months, in practice roughly 7 or more months before birth. Switching after birth changes nothing for that child. If you're planning a family, this can matter more than the monthly take-home difference between 3/5 and 4/4.

Sources: §38b, §24b, §39, §39b Abs. 2 Satz 7, §39f, and §46 EStG (gesetze-im-internet.de); Finanzamt Baden-Württemberg's published FAQ on the 3/5 vs 4/4 rule of thumb; the Elterngeld/Steuerklasse timing rule via the Familienportal des Bundes; figures cross-checked against bmf-steuerrechner.de, the BMF's own reference calculator.