Payslip in Germany: How to Read an Entgeltabrechnung

A German payslip, or Entgeltabrechnung, shows how the gross salary turns into the amount paid into your bank account. It lists earnings, taxes, social contributions, the employee’s personal data, and internal codes that payroll uses to transmit information to insurance and tax systems.

It is worth keeping this document together with your employment contract and annual tax statements. You may need it for a tax return, checking pension periods, applying for a loan, renting housing, visa and immigration procedures, and disputes with an employer.

When the Employer Issues an Entgeltabrechnung

Under section 108 of the Gewerbeordnung, the employer must provide a salary statement in text form when paying Arbeitsentgelt if the payroll data has changed compared with the previous period. In practice, employees usually receive it monthly together with their salary or shortly after the money is transferred.

The format depends on the company:

• a paper document in an envelope;
• a PDF in a protected email or HR portal;
• a document in an accounting system, for example DATEV, SAP, or another payroll service.

If salary depends on hours, shifts, bonuses, or overtime, a separate working-time statement often appears alongside the payslip. It may include hours, vacation, sick leave, night shifts, Feiertagsarbeit, and other bases for additional pay.

What a Payslip Looks Like

There is no single design: DATEV, SAP, Lexware, internal HR systems, and small accounting templates all have different layouts. But the logic is almost always the same:

1. employer and employee data;
2. tax indicators;
3. social insurance;
4. gross earnings;
5. taxes and contributions;
6. net pay and the final transfer amount.

An example of what a payslip in a German company can look like.

Employer and Employee Data

The top section usually contains:

• the employer’s name and address;
• the employee’s first name, last name, and address;
• Personal-Nr. — the employee’s internal number;
• Abrechnungsmonat — the payroll month;
• Eintrittsdatum — the employment start date;
• Kostenstelle or Abteilung — the department, if the company uses internal cost accounting.

These details may look technical, but it is better to correct mistakes in them immediately through HR or payroll. Pay especially close attention to your name, address, date of birth, social insurance number, and health insurance fund.

Tax Fields: Steuerklasse, Steuer-ID, and Freibetrag

In the tax block, you most often see the following labels:

Field	Meaning
Steuer-ID	personal tax identification number in Germany; it usually stays with you for life
StKl / Steuerklasse	tax class, which is used to calculate Lohnsteuer
Faktor	coefficient for spouses in Steuerklasse IV mit Faktor
KiSt / Konfession	church tax indicator if the person belongs to a religious community for which the tax is withheld through payroll
Kinderfreibetrag / KFB	child tax allowance used in calculating certain tax components
Freibetrag	individual allowance amount entered by the Finanzamt into the electronic tax attributes
DBA	marker for applying a double taxation treaty, if relevant

Steuer-ID should not be confused with Steuernummer: the first identifies a person, while the second more often refers to a specific tax registration or return. This is usually covered in more detail in a separate topic on tax number in Germany.

Kinderfreibetrag and Kindergeld do not work like a simple “salary top-up.” In most families, Kindergeld is paid separately, and during the annual assessment the tax office checks which is more beneficial: the benefit or the child allowance. So an empty KFB field on a payslip does not by itself mean that something was set up incorrectly for children.

Social Insurance: KV, RV, AV, and PV

German salary is subject not only to taxes but also to social insurance contributions. The payslip usually shows the employee’s share — Arbeitnehmeranteil. In some templates the employer’s share is shown separately; in others it is not displayed.

Main abbreviations:

Abbreviation	German term	What it is
KV	Krankenversicherung	statutory health insurance
RV	Rentenversicherung	pension insurance
AV	Arbeitslosenversicherung	unemployment insurance connected with Arbeitslosengeld
PV	Pflegeversicherung	long-term care insurance

For 2026, the base rates are as follows: Krankenversicherung 14.6% plus the individual Zusatzbeitrag of the fund, Rentenversicherung 18.6%, Arbeitslosenversicherung 2.6%, and Pflegeversicherung 3.6%. For Pflegeversicherung there is a surcharge for childless people over 23 and reduced rules for parents with several children; in Saxony the split between employee and employer shares is different. That is why the amount on your payslip may differ from simply dividing the total rate in half.

If next to Krankenkasse you see TK, AOK, Barmer, or another fund, that is the name of your insurer. The KK % field usually shows the total health insurance rate including the additional contribution of the specific fund.

What BGRS Means

BGRS or Beitragsgruppenschlüssel is a four-digit code for social insurance. Each position relates to one type of insurance: health, pension, unemployment, and care insurance.

The typical code 1111 means a regular employee who is subject to all four types of social insurance. But other combinations also occur, for example for Minijob, private health insurance, pensioners, internships, or special forms of employment.

The simplified reading logic is:

Position	Type of insurance	What to check
1st	Krankenversicherung	GKV, voluntary GKV, PKV, or exemption
2nd	Rentenversicherung	whether pension coverage applies or an exemption exists
3rd	Arbeitslosenversicherung	whether unemployment contributions are paid
4th	Pflegeversicherung	whether care insurance applies

If the code does not look normal for your situation, do not guess its meaning from an internet table: ask payroll. Payroll depends on the exact employee category, and that depends on the contract, insurance, age, education status, and income.

What PGRS Means

PGRS or Personengruppenschlüssel describes the employee group. The most common code is 101, meaning a regular employee who pays social contributions without special status markers.

Other common codes include:

PGRS	Usually means
101	standard employee with social insurance
102	Auszubildende, company-based vocational training
103	Altersteilzeit
105	Praktikant in certain cases
106	Werkstudent
109	geringfügig entlohnte Beschäftigung, meaning Minijob
110	kurzfristige Beschäftigung
119 / 120	pensioners with different insurance status

The Minijob threshold in 2026 is 603 euros per month, and the Übergangsbereich for Midijob reaches up to 2,000 euros. If your salary is near these thresholds, check whether the employer classified the employment type and social contributions correctly.

How Gross Pay Becomes Net Pay

In the calculation section, the payslip usually runs from top to bottom: first earnings, then deductions, then the amount to be paid out.

1. Gross Earnings

The Brutto-Bezüge section may contain:

• Gehalt, Monatslohn, or Grundlohn — base salary;
• Stundenlohn and Arbeitsstunden — hourly pay;
• Zuschläge — supplements for shifts, night work, Sunday work, or Feiertag;
• Urlaubsgeld or Urlaubsentgelt — vacation pay;
• Krankheitslohn / Entgeltfortzahlung — continued pay during sickness within the legal period;
• Auszahlung AZK — payout from the Arbeitszeitkonto;
• Bonus, Prämie, Weihnachtsgeld, or Einmalbezug — one-off payments;
• Vermögenswirksame Leistungen (VL) — employer contributions to a savings contract;
• betriebliche Altersvorsorge / AVmG — occupational pension scheme.

The result of this block is Gesamtbrutto, the total gross income for the period.

2. Tax Base

Not everything in Gesamtbrutto is taxed and subject to contributions in the same way. Some amounts may be steuerfrei or sozialversicherungsfrei, while others reduce the base before tax is calculated. That is why Steuerbrutto appears next — the amount from which Lohnsteuer, Kirchensteuer, and Solidaritätszuschlag are calculated.

Solidaritätszuschlag is not withheld from everyone in ordinary payroll. In 2026, the Freigrenze for Einkommensteuer is 20,350 euros for individual taxation and 40,700 euros for joint taxation; the payroll system calculates withholding under the Lohnsteuer rules and the employee’s data.

3. Social Contributions

After taxes, the payslip shows the Arbeitnehmeranteile for KV, RV, AV, and PV. If you have private insurance, voluntary GKV, or a special employment status, this block may look different: for example, the employer may show a Zuschuss instead of a standard GKV deduction.

4. Netto-Arbeitsentgelt and Auszahlung

After taxes and social contributions, you get Netto-Arbeitsentgelt. But that is not always the transfer amount yet. The net amount may have deductions from it or additions to it:

• Vorschuss / Abschlag — an advance already paid;
• Sachbezüge — the monetary value of provided benefits;
• Fahrtkosten or Erstattungen — expense reimbursements;
• VL, if the money is transferred directly into a savings contract;
• persönliche Abzüge — individual deductions, for example repayment of an employer loan.

The final line is usually called Auszahlungsbetrag, Überweisung, or something similar. This is the amount that should match the bank transfer.

Vacation, Sick Leave, and Overtime

During the first six weeks of sickness, an employee usually receives Entgeltfortzahlung from the employer if the legal conditions are met. After that, with statutory health insurance, Krankengeld from the Krankenkasse may apply; the rules depend on insurance status and the reason for incapacity for work.

Vacation is paid through Urlaubsentgelt. With a stable monthly salary, this often looks like ordinary pay. With variable earnings, section 11 of the Bundesurlaubsgesetz looks at the average income over the last 13 weeks before vacation, and extra pay for overtime is usually not included in the base.

In the vacation block, you may see abbreviations like:

Field	Meaning
VJ Url. üb.	vacation balance carried over from the previous year
Url. Anspr.	vacation entitlement for the current year
Url. Tg. gen.	how many days have already been used
Resturlaub	how many days remain
Urlaub Tage	vacation days in the payroll month
Urlaub Std.	vacation in hours, if time is tracked hourly

Example of a vacation-days block in a payslip.

Overtime depends on the employment contract, Tarifvertrag, Betriebsvereinbarung, and time-tracking system. On the payslip it may be marked as Überstunden, Mehrarbeit, AZK, Auszahlung Arbeitszeitkonto, or by a separate Lohnart code.

What to Check on Your First Payslip

After the first payment, go through this checklist:

• does the rate match the employment contract or employment contract;
• are Steuerklasse, Steuer-ID, date of birth, and address stated correctly;
• does Krankenkasse match your insurer;
• are Minijob, Midijob, Werkstudent, Ausbildung, or another special status marked correctly;
• are vacation, sick leave, night shifts, bonuses, and Feiertage accounted for;
• are there any strange deductions not explained in the contract or attachments;
• does the Auszahlungsbetrag match the payment into the Girokonto.

If the amount differs from normal, the reason is not always an error. Net pay is affected by bonuses, sick leave, overtime, a change of tax class, Kirchensteuer, moving to another Krankenkasse, a one-off bonus, or a correction for the previous month. But if there is no explanation, it is better to write to HR or payroll quickly and ask for a breakdown.

Common Abbreviations in an Entgeltabrechnung

Abbreviation	Meaning
A / Abfindung	severance compensation
AV	Arbeitslosenversicherung, unemployment insurance
BGRS	Beitragsgruppenschlüssel, code for types of social insurance
E / Einmalbezug	one-off payment
F / Freibetrag	tax allowance or tax-free amount
GB / Gesamtbrutto	total gross income
J	Betrag ist Bestandteil des Gesamtbruttos
Ki.Frbtr. / KFB	Kinderfreibetrag
KiSt	Kirchensteuer
KK	Krankenkasse
KK %	health insurance rate including Zusatzbeitrag
L / Laufender Bezug	regular payment
LSt	Lohnsteuer
MFB	Mehrfachbeschäftigung
PV	Pflegeversicherung
RV	Rentenversicherung
RV-Nr.	Rentenversicherungsnummer
S / Sonstiger Bezug	other or one-off payment
St	Steuer-Brutto
StKl	Steuerklasse
SV	Sozialversicherung
V	Vorjahr or previous period
W	Wertguthaben
Z	Beitragszuschlag zur Pflegeversicherung für Kinderlose

Why It Is Worth Keeping Payslips

Payslips help prove income, employment history, paid contributions, and work conditions. They may be requested by a bank, landlord, Ausländerbehörde, Familienkasse, tax adviser, lawyer, or former employer when restoring data.

You can store paper originals, PDFs, and scans. A practical approach is to organize them by year together with the Lohnsteuerbescheinigung, the employment contract, contract amendments, and correspondence about salary.

If you notice an error, act in writing: briefly describe the month, the payroll line, and the correction you expect. For disputed salary situations, delayed salary, or deductions, it is important not to wait too long because employment contracts and collective agreements often contain Ausschlussfristen.

FAQ

Question	Short answer
What should I do if the payslip did not arrive?	First request it from HR or payroll. If the salary was paid but the statement is not issued, you can refer to section 108 GewO.
Is an error in my surname, address, or insurance critical?	Yes, such errors should be corrected immediately so they do not lead to incorrect tax or insurance data.
Why is my net pay lower than I expected?	Check Steuerklasse, Kirchensteuer, the Krankenkasse Zusatzbeitrag, the PV surcharge, one-off payments, and deductions after net pay.
Where are bonuses shown?	Usually in the Brutto-Bezüge block as Bonus, Prämie, Einmalbezug, or a separate Lohnart.