A little more money in the account, although the salary has not changed – that will apply to most employees in 2022. Even if the plus is minimal in many cases, it is noticeable that the net salary has changed slightly on the first pay slip in the new year, despite the gross salary remaining the same. The reason for this are some legal changes that came into force at the turn of the year.
The increase in the basic tax-free allowance has the most significant effect. But adjustments to the income threshold for pension and unemployment insurance also come into play.
Single parents benefit the most
“In general, the relief is significantly lower than in previous years,” explains the IT service provider for tax consultants, Datev, who calculated how the changes will actually affect different salary levels. A few examples for employees in East Germany: Employees with middle and high incomes benefit the most. The biggest plus across all tax brackets and salary levels is achieved by single parents with one child in tax bracket II and a monthly gross of 5600 euros. This group would have 1135 euros more in the account over the year with the same gross salary. The reason that single parents benefit more than average is that the tax exemption for single parents is automatically taken into account in payroll from this year, explains Datev.
With an average salary of 3500 euros per month, the net salary changes much less. Single people in tax class I can, for example, expect 97 euros more per year, a married couple with two children in tax class III can expect 150 euros more than in the previous year.
Childless people with low incomes receive a lower net salary
However, there are also groups that do not benefit at all or even have to accept higher deductions. This includes employees in the lower salary levels who are in tax class III. While the net salary of married people with two children and a monthly gross amount of between 1500 and 2000 euros according to the evaluation of the Datev simply remains the same as in 2021, for childless people in the same salary group it is even reduced by a minimum of 18 to 24 euros per year. This is because the childless surcharge for long-term care insurance has been increased.
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