Money & taxes
Brutto / Netto
Brutto is your gross salary before deductions; Netto is what reaches your bank account after wage tax and social contributions. For working students the gap is small: on €1,200 gross, a typical student keeps about €1,088, roughly 91%, thanks to the Werkstudentenprivileg.
Every German salary discussion happens in Brutto: job ads, contracts, and negotiations all quote gross figures. From Brutto, the employer deducts wage tax (depending on tax class and amount), possibly church tax and solidarity surcharge, and the employee share of social-insurance contributions. What remains is Netto, the transfer you actually receive.
For regular full-time employees the Netto often lands around 60 to 70% of Brutto. The exact ratio depends on salary level, tax class, church membership, and health-insurance add-on rates, which is why two colleagues with identical gross pay can take home different amounts.
What it means for working students
Working students keep an unusually high share of gross pay: below roughly €1,300 per month there is no wage tax in class I, and the Werkstudentenprivileg limits social deductions to 9.3% pension. A €15 hourly offer is therefore worth nearly €13.60 in your pocket. Always negotiate in Brutto like everyone else, but run the numbers through a gross-to-net calculator before comparing offers, especially against mini-jobs or freelance rates where the deduction logic differs completely.