Freelance Take-Home Calculator (Germany, After Tax)
Estimate German freelance (Freiberufler) take-home after a tax set-aside: the rate you need for a target net income, or the net income from a rate.
Estimate only, not tax advice. The set-aside is a single percentage for tax and social contributions - it does not model brackets, VAT, or deductions, which vary by income, region, and circumstances. Confirm with an accountant.
Rate, costs, tax, and take-home
In Germany, an employee (Angestellter) has income tax and social contributions withheld from gross (brutto) pay, while a Freiberufler or sole trader pays income tax and usually funds their own health and pension. The default is a rough average and does not reflect your tax class or Land.
A freelance rate has to cover more than your target income. Business costs come off the top, and tax and social contributions come out of the profit, so the rate you bill is well above the money you keep. This tool works in both directions: the rate needed for a target take-home, or the take-home implied by a rate.
The set-aside percentage is pre-filled with a rough average for the country you pick (2026) and is yours to change. It is a planning estimate, not a tax return.
Take-home questions
Does the default reflect my tax class?
No. The default is a single average that ignores your Steuerklasse, church tax, and Land. Change the percentage to match your situation.
How are billable hours a year calculated?
Hours a week, times the weeks you actually work after time off, times your billable share. A 40-hour week at 70% billable with six weeks off is far fewer billable hours than 40 times 52, which is why a rate set from a salary figure comes out too low.
What is the billable percentage?
The share of your working time a client pays for. Admin, sales, invoicing, and learning are real work that nobody bills, so 100% is not a number anyone reaches.
How is tax handled?
As a single flat percentage of profit, which is a planning estimate rather than a tax calculation. Brackets, allowances, social contributions, and local rules all move the real figure, so confirm it with an accountant before you commit to a rate.
What counts as annual business costs?
Everything the business pays for before you do: software, insurance, equipment, accounting, workspace. Leaving them out raises the take-home figure by exactly their amount.
Freelance take-home in other countries
Track the billable hours behind the rate
Sandtime.io records billable and non-billable time as you work, so your real billable share and rate rest on data, not a guess. Free for unlimited users, without surveillance.