Profit
- Revenue
- Expenses
Tax calculator for freelancers in Germany
What is left in 2026 as a freelancer or trader? The calculator works out profit, income tax, trade tax and health insurance from your revenue and expenses.
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Tax calculator for the self-employed: estimate your 2026 income tax
Enter your revenue and expenses and choose whether you are a freelancer or run a trade. The calculator shows your profit, the taxes, what you keep and how much to set aside each month.
Your situation
Your activity
Liberal professions under § 18 EStG pay no trade tax.
Traders pay trade tax on profit above €24,500. Up to a multiplier of 400%, it can be credited against income tax under § 35 EStG.
How many children do you have in total?
Note
Disclaimer: This calculation is based on a series of assumptions and uses average rates. The results should be considered as estimates and not as definitive figures.
Estimated tax and remaining profit
To pay
- Public health insurance (21.10%)
- Income tax ()
- Solidarity surcharge ()
- Trade tax
- Credit against income tax
Your take-home pay
Set aside for taxes each month
Income tax, solidarity surcharge and trade tax divided by 12. You pay health insurance to your fund every month.
How statutory health insurance is calculated
The percentage in brackets is the combined health and long-term care rate for 2026 (it depends on how many children you have). The annual contribution is based on your profit, but never below the minimum assessment base of €1,318.33 per month (€15,820 per year). If your profit is lower, the minimum contribution applies — so the amount can be higher than profit × percentage. For income tax, the calculator deducts health insurance from profit. “Set aside each month” covers only income tax, solidarity surcharge and trade tax, not your health fund.
Examples: €30,000, €60,000 and €90,000 profit
Freelancer, single, no children, statutory health insurance, no church tax. The figures come from the calculator above, 2026 rates.
| €30,000 profit | €60,000 profit | €90,000 profit | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health and long-term care insurance | 6.330 € | 12.660 € | 14.717 € |
| Income tax | 2.501 € | 9.626 € | 20.482 € |
| Solidarity surcharge | 0 € | 0 € | 16 € |
| Total | 8.831 € | 22.286 € | 35.215 € |
| You keep | 21.169 € | 37.714 € | 54.785 € |
| Set aside for taxes each month | 208 € | 802 € | 1.708 € |
Who this page helps most
The focus is intentionally on self-employed tax planning in Germany, not on a broad salary-tax calculator.
Freelancers with uneven profit
If your income moves from month to month, you need an annual view instead of rough intuition. This page is designed for that planning mode.
Solo operators with real business expenses
If you track software, equipment, travel, and other deductible costs properly, your estimate becomes materially more useful.
Founders still planning ahead
Even before your setup is final, the structure helps you understand which figures you need for a realistic tax view.
Which numbers to gather before calculating
Most weak estimates fail because the inputs are unclear, not because the formula is missing. This order keeps the live calculation cleaner.
Lock revenue and period
Use one clear period, usually the current or planned tax year, and anchor the revenue that belongs to that same period.
Separate deductible expenses
You only get to a useful profit figure once business expenses are separated cleanly from private spending.
Add other income and special factors
Additional income, insurance, and special personal circumstances can materially change the eventual tax result.
Check prepayments
If tax prepayments already exist, they belong in the full picture so your planning is not distorted twice.
How to interpret the estimate
A useful calculator should not only output a number, it should also show how trustworthy that number is.
Estimate, not assessment
The output is meant for planning. It will not replace an official assessment or the interpretation of complex edge cases.
Profit matters more than cash in the bank
Self-employed operators often see uneven cash movement. For tax planning, what matters is the profit that remains after deductible costs.
Official sources remain the reference point
Before making final decisions, you should still validate the estimate against current official rules, your own notices, and professional advice where needed.
FAQ
Single and without children, you pay about €9,626 income tax on €60,000 profit, with no solidarity surcharge yet. With statutory insurance, about €12,660 goes to health and long-term care insurance. About €37,714 is left. Calculated as a freelancer, without church tax.
As a single freelancer with €60,000 profit, about €9,624 a year for income tax and solidarity surcharge, so about €802 a month. The calculator shows the amount for your figures. Health insurance comes on top, but you pay it monthly to your fund. As a trader, add the trade tax left after the credit. Set the VAT on your invoices aside separately.
Subtract your business expenses from your revenue to get your profit. Deduct health and long-term care insurance from it. Apply the 2026 income tax tariff to the rest: income up to €12,348 stays tax-free, then the rate rises from 14% to 42%, and from €277,826 it is 45%. If your income tax exceeds €20,350 (€40,700 for married couples), the solidarity surcharge applies on top.
Freelancers in liberal professions such as doctors, lawyers, journalists or translators (§ 18 EStG) pay no trade tax. Traders pay it on profit above the €24,500 allowance: 3.5% of it times the municipality's multiplier. Four times this base amount is credited against income tax (§ 35 EStG), so up to a multiplier of 400% the credit usually offsets the trade tax in full. Choose “Trade (Gewerbe)” in the calculator to include both.
Profit is revenue minus business expenses. As a freelancer or small trader you usually work it out with the cash-basis EÜR (§ 4 (3) EStG): income and expenses count in the year the money moves. Private costs, income tax and trade tax do not reduce your profit.
This page is designed for freelancers, solo self-employed operators, and other independent workers in Germany who want a practical estimate of their likely income tax exposure.
No. The interactive calculator supports planning, not an official tax assessment or individual review against official guidance and professional advice.
The most useful inputs are annual revenue, deductible business expenses, any other income, tax prepayments already made, and personal factors such as insurance or allowances.
For self-employed taxpayers, taxable income is not the same as top-line revenue. The more accurately you separate revenue from deductible expenses, the more meaningful the estimate becomes.
Income tax under the 2026 tariff, the solidarity surcharge, for traders the trade tax with its credit, and statutory health and long-term care insurance: 14% reduced contribution rate, 2.9% average additional contribution and 3.6% long-term care insurance, 4.2% without children. Church tax, VAT, pension insurance and private health insurance are not included.