Attachable income 2026: finding the right net figure
The German table is only as accurate as the net figure you feed into it. Step by step: what is deducted, what is left out and what is added back.
Net for the garnishment table
€2,800
Attachable from it: €848.82. You keep €2,051.18 of the payout.
| Half of the overtime pay | − €100 |
| Christmas bonus up to €795 | − €0 |
| Holiday bonus, expenses, allowances | − €0 |
| Attachable amount | €848.82 |
Basis: section 850a nos. 1 to 4 and section 850e no. 1 ZPO. Holiday bonus and allowances only insofar as they stay within what is customary.
Prepared by Radif Partners · How we calculate · 2026 table (Federal Law Gazette 2026 I No. 80) and ZPO checked on 28 October 2026
Attachable income in Germany is not the amount on your payslip but an adjusted net figure defined in section 850e of the Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO). First, everything your employer must pay over under tax and social security law comes off the gross: wage tax, solidarity surcharge, church tax and social insurance contributions. Contributions to voluntary continued insurance and to private health insurance are treated the same way, as long as they stay within what is customary. Next, the payments protected by section 850a ZPO drop out: half of any overtime pay, a customary holiday bonus, customary expense and hardship allowances, and a Christmas bonus up to €795. Example: on a payout of €3,100 that includes €300 overtime pay and €120 expenses, only €2,830 goes into the table. With no dependants, €869.82 is then attachable, against €1,058.82 if the full payout were wrongly used. Benefits in kind such as free housing, on the other hand, are added to the cash wage.
Step 1: what counts as earned income
Section 850 ZPO defines the term broadly. It covers wages and salaries, civil servants' pay, retirement pay and similar ongoing payments after leaving a job, survivors' benefits, and pay for services of any kind if they take up all or a substantial part of your working capacity. Compensation for a non-compete clause and pensions from provision contracts are included too. Substance counts, not labels: whether your payslip calls something a premium, a bonus or an allowance does not change whether it can be garnished.
Step 2: deductions under section 850e no. 1
Everything that has to be paid over directly under tax or social security law comes off the gross. That means wage tax with its surcharges and the contributions to pension, health, long-term care and unemployment insurance. Section 850e no. 1 ZPO puts two more items on the same footing: contributions you pay under the social insurance acts to continue your cover voluntarily, and premiums to a substitute fund or private health insurer, as long as they stay within what is customary. Voluntary savings plans or loan repayments are not mentioned there, so they are not among these deductions.
Step 3: take out the items section 850a protects
Some payments never enter the calculation. Section 850a ZPO protects, among other things, half of the pay for overtime hours; extra holiday pay, loyalty bonuses and payments for a special company event within customary limits; expense allowances, travel allowances and danger, dirt and hardship supplements within customary limits; and a Christmas bonus up to €795. That cap is half the monthly basic allowance rounded up to the next 10 euros. Birth and marriage grants, education allowances, study grants, death benefits and allowances for the blind are fully protected as well.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Net payout on the payslip | €3,100 |
| Half of the overtime pay | -€150 |
| Customary expense allowance | -€120 |
| Net for the table | €2,830 |
| Attachable, no dependants | €869.82 |
The example shows why the effort pays off. Feeding the full payout into the table would give €1,058.82. With the adjusted net it is €869.82, so €189 less each month. One-off payments such as the Christmas bonus have their own page: Christmas bonus and overtime.
Exempt part of the Christmas bonus
Exempt part of the Christmas bonus
€795
| Exempt at most | €795 |
| Attachable in a month without bonus | €638.82 |
| Attachable in the bonus month | €1,058.82 |
Step 4: add benefits in kind
If you receive benefits in kind next to cash, such as free accommodation or meals, section 850e no. 3 adds both together. The value of the benefit then covers part of your allowance, and correspondingly more of the cash wage can be taken. With €1,800 in cash and an assumed benefit worth €400, €428.82 of the cash would be attachable without dependants instead of €148.82. If you have several employers or a social benefit on top of your wage, read several incomes.
Only once the net figure is settled does the table come in. Find the row your adjusted amount falls into and the column for the number of people you support by law. If that net figure is below the exemption limit, nothing is attachable, even if the payout is above it. Check each payslip separately: when overtime or allowances make your pay vary, the attachable amount changes from month to month too, because section 850c(1) ZPO always looks at the period the pay is for.