Methodology & sources
Aftertax is an estimator for comparison, not a tax-filing or payroll service. It never calculates your actual liability. Tax rules reflect the 2025–2026 tax year; exchange rates are approximate as of August 2026.
The calculation approach
You enter one gross salary. It is converted from your chosen currency into each country's local currency, taxed there so that local ceilings and thresholds apply to a like-for-like income, and then every output is converted back to euros for comparison.
For most countries the engine applies mandatory employee social security first, then a personal allowance, then progressive income-tax brackets, then any surcharges. A few countries (Bulgaria, Romania) deduct social contributions from the income-tax base before the tax rate applies, and the engine does this in the correct order. Seven countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Ireland) have systems that stack multiple parallel taxes or tax different bases at once, so each has its own dedicated calculator. Germany's linearly-rising marginal band is integrated in closed form rather than approximated with steps.
The calculation runs entirely in your browser. The salary you type is never sent to a server, stored, or logged. See the privacy policy.
Assumptions behind every figure
- A single filer with no dependents, no children, and no marital tax status.
- Employment income only, with no self-employment, capital gains, rental, or investment income.
- National / federal tax scales, plus a national-average figure where local (municipal, regional, cantonal, communal) taxes are material. Country notes say where a specific locality was used.
- Only mandatory employee social security contributions are included. Employer-side contributions are never part of take-home pay and are excluded.
- No optional deductions, reliefs, or credits beyond those noted per country (pension top-ups, mortgage interest, commuting, etc. are ignored).
- Foreign-currency salaries are converted at approximate rates as of August 2026; results are shown in EUR for comparison.
- Figures are annual gross-to-net estimates and do not account for mid-year rate changes, one-off bonuses taxed separately, or in-year threshold indexation.
Per-country simplifications
Every country is modelled with deliberate simplifications. These are documented, not accidental, but they mean the figures can differ from a specialist local calculator, especially at very low and very high incomes.
| Country | Currency | What is simplified |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | EUR | Assumes 14 salary payments a year. The regular 12 are taxed on the progressive scale (0% to €13,308, up to 55%); the 13th and 14th (holiday and Christmas pay) are taxed at a flat 6% after a €620 exemption. That is the main reason Austrian take-home beats a 12-month estimate. Employee social insurance is 18.07% on regular pay (17.07% on the special payments), capped at €83,160/yr. Low-income tax credits beyond the 0% band aren't modelled. |
| Belgium | EUR | Employee social security 13.07% (uncapped), then income tax on income after that and the standard professional-expenses deduction (30% of net, capped at €5,750). The €10,910 tax-free amount is applied as a bottom-bracket credit; a representative 7% communal surcharge is added (it runs 0–9% by municipality). The low-income work bonus, which cuts social security for small salaries, isn't modelled. |
| Bulgaria | EUR | Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026; figures are shown in EUR. Flat 10% tax on income after mandatory social contributions are deducted. |
| Croatia | EUR | Employee contributions are 20% pension (15% first pillar + 5% second pillar), capped at EUR 143,496/yr; health insurance (16.5%) is entirely employer-borne. Income tax 20% up to EUR 60,000 and 30% above (national default rates; municipalities set their own within a statutory range, e.g. Zagreb is higher). |
| Cyprus | EUR | 2026 tax-reform scale (tax-free up to EUR 22,000). Employee Social Insurance 8.8% capped at EUR 68,904/yr, plus the GESY healthcare levy 2.65% capped at EUR 180,000/yr. |
| Czechia | CZK | Basic tax credit is an approximate recent-year figure. Health insurance (4.5%) is uncapped; social security (7.1%) caps at CZK 2,350,416/yr. |
| Denmark | DKK | Stacks a flat 8% labour-market contribution, national bottom/middle/top taxes, and a municipal tax averaging 25.05% (varies ~23–27% by municipality). Church tax and the 60.5% marginal-rate cap are excluded. |
| Estonia | EUR | Flat 22% tax. Social contribution shown is unemployment insurance (1.6%) plus the default 2% funded-pension rate; employees may opt into 4% or 6% instead. |
| Finland | EUR | State brackets applied after an approximate EUR 8,000 deduction standing in for Finland's income-dependent earned-income and basic deductions. Municipal tax modeled as a flat 20% (actual varies ~17–23%). |
| France | EUR | Employee contributions decomposed: CSG + CRDS (9.7% on 98.25% of gross), old-age insurance (6.9% to the PASS + 0.4% uncapped), and AGIRC-ARRCO supplementary pension (about 4% to the PASS, 9.7% above). Employee unemployment and health contributions are 0%. Income tax on the barème after the automatic 10% deduction, plus the CEHR above €250,000. The décote for low earners isn't modelled; the barème uses 2026 estimates. |
| Germany | EUR | Applies the exact 2026 income-tax formula (§32a EStG) to taxable income, which is gross minus the statutory Vorsorgepauschale (deductible pension, health, long-term-care, and, new for 2026, unemployment contributions) plus the standard expense allowances. Solidarity surcharge included with its real transition zone. Church tax and itemised deductions excluded; long-term care uses the childless rate. |
| Greece | EUR | EFKA employee contributions total 13.37% (main pension 6.67%, auxiliary 3.0%, health 2.05%, unemployment 1.65%), capped at EUR 93,143/yr. Income tax 9/22/28/36/44% on gross, less the EUR 777 tax reduction for a taxpayer with no children, which tapers by EUR 20 per EUR 1,000 above EUR 12,000. |
| Hungary | HUF | Flat 15% tax, no general allowance. Family tax allowances (per-child, under-25, newlywed) not modeled. |
| Ireland | EUR | Combines standard income tax (with EUR 4,000 in personal + PAYE credits), the Universal Social Charge, and employee PRSI (4.2%) as three separate charges, matching Ireland's actual system. |
| Italy | EUR | INPS employee contributions (9.19%, +1% above the 'prima fascia', capped at the massimale). IRPEF at 23/33/43% on income after contributions, cut by the employment-income tax credit that creates Italy's no-tax area. Regional and municipal surtax modelled at a combined 2%; it varies from about 1.5% to 2.9% by where you live. Trattamento integrativo included for low earners. |
| Latvia | EUR | Employee state social insurance (VSAOI) is a single 10.5% contribution, capped at EUR 105,300/yr. Income tax (IIN) is 25.5% up to EUR 105,300 and 33% above; the fixed non-taxable minimum is EUR 510/month (EUR 6,120/yr). |
| Lithuania | EUR | GPM (income tax) is 20% up to EUR 82,963 (36× the average wage), 25% to EUR 138,270 (60×), then 32%; a new 25% band was added for 2026. Sodra employee contributions are 12.52% social insurance + 6.98% health, both capped at EUR 138,270/yr. The low-income allowance (NPD) phases to zero above roughly EUR 34,000/yr and isn't modelled. |
| Luxembourg | EUR | Tax Class 1 (single) rates on the 23-band scale, plus a solidarity surtax of 7% of tax due (9% above EUR 150,000 taxable). Employee social contributions total 12.95%: pension 8.5% + health 3.05% (capped at EUR 166,280/yr) + dependency (long-term care) 1.4% on gross above a EUR 8,314/yr allowance. Bracket thresholds may be a step behind 2026 inflation indexation. |
| Malta | EUR | Social security flattens to a fixed EUR 55.93/week once weekly pay exceeds EUR 559.30, modelled here as a hard cap. |
| Netherlands | EUR | Models box 1 for a below-state-pension-age employee: 2026 rates, the national-insurance premium (27.65% on the first €38,883) split from the 8.1% income-tax part of bracket 1, and the general and labour tax credits. Employee insurance (WW, WIA) and the Zvw healthcare contribution are employer-borne and excluded, as is the 30% ruling and the holiday-allowance split. |
| Norway | NOK | Norway taxes 'ordinary income' (22%, after personal + minimum deductions) and gross 'personal income' (progressive bracket tax) in parallel, and both are summed here. |
| Poland | PLN | Employee ZUS: pension 9.76% and disability 1.5% (capped at PLN 282,600/yr) plus uncapped sickness 2.45%, and the uncapped 9% NFZ health levy. PIT at 12%/32% on gross minus deductible ZUS and the PLN 3,000 cost-of-income deduction, less the PLN 3,600 tax-reducing amount (12% of the PLN 30,000 tax-free amount). The health levy has not been PIT-deductible since 2022. 4% solidarity levy above PLN 1,000,000. |
| Portugal | EUR | Flat 11% employee Social Security (TSU, uncapped). IRS on the 2026 mainland nine-bracket scale (12.5%–48%), on income after the specific employment deduction (the greater of EUR 4,104 or the year's contributions), plus the 2.5–5% solidarity rate above EUR 80,000. Personal collection deductions (health, education) and the minimum-existence rule aren't modelled. |
| Romania | RON | Flat 10% tax on income after CAS + CASS (35% combined) are deducted. The sliding personal deduction (meaningful only near minimum wage) isn't modeled. |
| Slovakia | EUR | Employee social insurance 9.4% (sickness 1.4%, old-age pension 4%, disability 3%, unemployment 1%) capped at EUR 201,168/yr, plus health insurance at 5% (raised for 2026) with the assessment-base cap abolished. Income tax 19% then 25% above roughly EUR 44,000. |
| Slovenia | EUR | Employee social security totals 23.1% (pension 15.5%, health 6.36%, long-term care 1.0% (new July 2025), unemployment 0.14%, parental 0.10%), uncapped, plus a flat compulsory health contribution of EUR 39.36/month. Because that flat fee is charged regardless of income, modelled take-home is slightly negative at EUR 0 gross. The income-tested extra low-earner allowance isn't modelled. |
| Spain | EUR | Employee social security (6.5%: common contingencies, unemployment, training, MEI) capped at the EUR 61,214/yr base, plus a small solidarity contribution above it. IRPF uses the state scale plus the default autonomous scale; real communities range from noticeably lower (Madrid) to higher (Catalonia, Valencia). Includes the EUR 2,000 expenses deduction, the employment-income reduction, and the EUR 5,550 personal minimum. |
| Sweden | SEK | Municipal tax uses the national average of 32% (actual varies from about 29% to 35% by municipality). The basic deduction is approximated as a flat SEK 20,000. The 7% employee pension fee is omitted since it's offset by an equal tax credit, so the net effect is roughly zero. |
| Switzerland (Zurich) | CHF | Cantonal + communal tax shown for Zurich (canton + city) only, as a reference point; Swiss cantons vary enormously, from roughly half Zurich's rate (e.g. Zug, Schwyz) to noticeably higher (e.g. Geneva). |
| United Kingdom | GBP | 2026/27 tax year, England/Wales/NI rates (Scotland's bands differ and aren't modelled). Income tax 20/40/45% over the £12,570 personal allowance, plus employee National Insurance at 8% then 2%. All thresholds are frozen until 2030–31. Models the personal-allowance taper between £100,000–£125,140, which creates an effective ~60% marginal band there. |
Sources
| Source | Used for |
|---|---|
| PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries | Primary reference for personal income tax brackets, allowances, and mandatory social security rates in each country. |
| National tax authorities and finance ministries | Official rate tables and thresholds (e.g. HMRC, Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, Agenzia delle Entrate, Skatteverket, Skatteetaten, ESTV/AFC). |
| OECD Taxing Wages | Cross-checking effective tax wedges and average-wage burdens for sanity testing. |
| Reference net-salary calculators | Country-specific payroll calculators used to spot-check the engine's output at low, average, and high salary levels. |
| European Central Bank reference rates | Basis for the approximate EUR foreign-exchange rates (as of August 2026). |
Disclaimer
This tool provides estimates for comparison purposes only. It is not tax, financial, or legal advice, and it does not calculate your actual tax liability. Tax laws change frequently and the figures here may not reflect the most current law, your residency status, your filing status, or reliefs specific to your situation. Before making a decision such as accepting a job, relocating, or negotiating a salary, consult a qualified tax professional in the relevant country. See the full disclaimer and terms of use.