Short-time work pay 2026: 60% or 67% of the lost net pay, by the BA table
Estimates only, not financial advice. What you type stays on your device. Checked against sources on 18 Oct 2026.Kurzarbeitergeld in Germany is 60% of the lost flat net pay, or 67% with a child. With a normal gross of 3,500 euros, 1,750 euros actually earned and tax class I without a child, the 2026 table gives 1,433.05 minus 815.95, so 617.10 euros for the month.
2026 · Rates and rules read from the sources listed on this page (the earliest on 18 Oct 2026); they may have changed since.
Type the normal monthly gross without overtime (Soll-Entgelt) and the gross actually earned this month (Ist-Entgelt).
Pick your tax class and say whether you or your spouse have a child.
Read the Kurzarbeitergeld: the difference of the two table amounts, at 60% or 67%.
Open the working to see the rounded wages, the flat deductions and both table values.
When a German company cuts working hours for economic reasons, the Agentur für Arbeit pays Kurzarbeitergeld (Kug) for the lost pay. This calculator works out the amount for one month exactly as the Bundesagentur für Arbeit's 2026 table does.
How the amount is found (§§ 105, 106 SGB III). Two monthly wages go in. The Soll-Entgelt is the gross you would have earned without the short time, without overtime and one-off payments. The Ist-Entgelt is the gross you actually earned. Both are rounded to the nearest 20 euros, and each is turned into a flat net pay (§ 153 SGB III): minus a 20% social-insurance flat rate, minus the wage tax of your tax class by the BMF Programmablaufplan 2026, minus the solidarity surcharge. Church tax and your own allowances do not count. Each flat net is multiplied by 60%, or 67% when you or your spouse have a child counted for tax. The difference of the two results is the Kurzarbeitergeld.
Checked against the official table. The BA publishes these "rechnerische Leistungssätze" as a 21-page table. The calculator reproduces all 5,076 figures of the 2026 table to the cent, for every band, both rates and every tax class. Pay above 8,450 euros a month, the 2026 pension ceiling, counts as the last band.
Conditions. At least a third of the staff must lose more than 10% of their gross in the month (§ 96 SGB III), and the employer must report the loss of work to the Agentur für Arbeit. Kug is paid for at most 12 months.
Tax. Kurzarbeitergeld is free of income tax but raises the tax rate on your other income (Progressionsvorbehalt), so a tax return may follow. For your normal net pay use the Germany Income Tax Calculator; if the job ends, the Germany Arbeitslosengeld Calculator uses the same flat net.
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Kurzarbeitergeld is 60% of the difference between the flat net pay of your normal gross and of the gross you still earn, or 67% with a child. With 3,500 euros normal pay, 1,750 euros earned and tax class I without a child, the 2026 table gives 617.10 euros for the month.
The Soll-Entgelt is the gross you would have earned in the month without the short time, leaving out overtime and one-off payments such as a Christmas bonus. The Ist-Entgelt is the gross you actually earned for the hours worked. Both are rounded to the nearest 20 euros before the table values are read.
The higher 67% rate applies when you, or your spouse living with you, have at least one child counted for tax under § 32 EStG, the same rule as for Arbeitslosengeld. A child allowance of at least 0.5 on your tax data usually shows it. Everyone else gets 60%.
Yes, because the flat net pay deducts the wage tax of your class. Class III leaves the most net and so the highest Kurzarbeitergeld; classes V and VI the least. Class IV uses the same values as class I. With the factor method the Agentur für Arbeit computes the amount by machine.
Kurzarbeitergeld itself is free of income tax under § 3 Nr. 2 EStG, but it counts towards the rate applied to your other income, the Progressionsvorbehalt of § 32b. Anyone who received more than 410 euros of such benefits in a year must file a tax return (§ 46 EStG), and some tax may then be due.
Kurzarbeitergeld is paid for at most 12 months per company under § 104 SGB III. A break of at least a month without Kug extends that period, and after three months without any Kug a new period can start.
Rates and rules change; check the source before you rely on a figure.
Still stuck? Ask about Germany Kurzarbeitergeld Calculator 2026 (Kug-Rechner) and anybody who knows can answer. No account needed.
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