Kirchensteuer 2026 at 8% or 9% by state, on your wage or income, and what leaving saves
Estimates only, not financial advice. What you type stays on your device. Checked against sources on 18 Oct 2026.German church tax is 8% of the wage or income tax in Baden-Württemberg and Bayern and 9% in the other 14 states, after child allowances. On a 2026 monthly wage of 4,000 euros in tax class I it is 42.54 euros a month in Bayern and 47.86 euros in Berlin.
2026 · Rates and rules read from the sources listed on this page (the earliest on 18 Oct 2026); they may have changed since.
Choose your state: Baden-Württemberg and Bayern charge 8%, the others 9%.
Pick a monthly wage with your tax class, or the year’s taxable income.
Add the child allowances from your tax card; they lower the church tax but not the wage tax.
Read the church tax a month and a year, and with taxable income what leaving the church saves.
Members of the Catholic and Protestant churches and some other religious communities in Germany pay Kirchensteuer, a surcharge collected by the state together with the wage or income tax. This calculator works out how much it is in 2026 and what leaving the church would save.
The rate. The BMF's own wage-tax calculator applies 8% in Baden-Württemberg and Bayern and 9% in the other 14 states; the page uses the same rates, checked state by state against it.
The base (§ 51a EStG). Church tax is not charged on income but on the income or wage tax. Child allowances (Kinderfreibeträge) are deducted first, even where the child benefit is worth more for the income tax itself, so children lower the church tax even when they do not lower the wage tax. With a monthly wage the page computes the wage tax of your tax class by the BMF Programmablaufplan 2026 and the church-tax base with the child allowances on your tax card. With the taxable income of a year it applies the 2026 tariff of § 32a EStG, alone or with Splitting, after 9,756 euros for each full child allowance.
Leaving the church. Church tax paid can be deducted as a special expense (§ 10 EStG). Leaving therefore saves the church tax but loses that deduction, so the income tax rises a little. In the taxable-income mode the page shows the net saving. At 50,000 euros taxable income in Bayern the church tax is 843.84 euros, the deduction is worth 297 euros, and leaving saves 546.84 euros a year.
Not covered. Some states cap the church tax at a share of the taxable income on application (Kappung), and some churches charge a minimum church tax (Mindestkirchensteuer). The BMF calculator leaves the cap and the minimum out too.
For your full net pay, use the Germany Income Tax Calculator.
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Church tax is 8% of the wage or income tax in Baden-Württemberg and Bayern and 9% in the other 14 states, as the BMF's own calculator applies it. On a monthly wage of 4,000 euros in tax class I that is 42.54 euros in Bayern and 47.86 euros in Berlin.
No. Under § 51a EStG church tax is a percentage of the wage or income tax, not of the gross pay. Someone who pays no wage tax, for example on a low income, pays no church tax either. Child allowances are deducted before the base is worked out.
Yes. For church tax the child allowances of § 32 (6) EStG are always deducted, 9,756 euros a year for a full allowance in 2026, even when child benefit is paid instead for the income tax. So a parent's church tax is lower than the rate alone suggests.
Leaving saves the church tax but loses its deduction as a special expense under § 10 EStG, so the income tax rises a little. At 50,000 euros taxable income in Bayern the church tax is 843.84 euros a year, and leaving saves 546.84 euros after the lost deduction.
Only Baden-Württemberg and Bayern charge 8%. Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thüringen charge 9%. The rate follows the church-tax rules of the state concerned.
Some states limit church tax on application to a share of the taxable income, the Kappung, which matters mainly for high incomes. The rules differ by state and church, so this calculator, like the BMF's own, leaves the cap out and shows the full rate.
Rates and rules change; check the source before you rely on a figure.
Still stuck? Ask about Germany Church Tax Calculator 2026 (Kirchensteuer) and anybody who knows can answer. No account needed.
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