Christmas bonus, overtime and other one-off pay in 2026
In a German wage garnishment, extra payments are not simply part of net pay. Section 850a ZPO protects eight kinds of payment in whole or in part. Here is which ones, and what happens in the month they are paid.
Exempt part of the Christmas bonus
€795
€280 of the bonus goes to the creditor on top.
| Exempt at most | €795 |
| Attachable in a month without bonus | €498.82 |
| Attachable in the bonus month | €778.82 |
Section 850a no. 4 ZPO: half of the monthly allowance rounded up to the next 10 euros. The rest is added to the net pay of the month it is paid.
Prepared by Radif Partners · How we calculate · 2026 table (Federal Law Gazette 2026 I No. 80) and ZPO checked on 28 October 2026
Extra payments are partly protected in a German wage garnishment under section 850a of the Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO). A Christmas bonus (Weihnachtsgeld) is exempt up to €795: half the monthly basic allowance after rounding up to the next 10 euros. Only the part above that is added to net pay in the month of payment and goes through the table. Overtime pay is half protected. Extra holiday pay, loyalty bonuses, payments for a special company event, expenses, travel allowances and danger, dirt and hardship supplements stay exempt as long as they remain within what is customary. Birth and marriage grants, education allowances and study grants, death and grace payments and allowances for the blind are fully protected. Example: on €2,450 monthly net with one dependant and a €1,300 Christmas bonus, the attachable amount in December rises from €132.59 to €382.59. Maintenance creditors face looser limits: they may take more of overtime, holiday pay and the Christmas bonus, but at least half of the normally exempt amount must stay with you.
The eight cases in section 850a ZPO
Section 850a ZPO has two groups. Numbers one to four protect parts of pay only partly or only up to a cap. Numbers five to eight protect certain payments completely. Whatever is protected comes out of net pay before the garnishment is calculated (section 850e no. 1 ZPO); the rest goes through the table.
| No. | Payment | Protected |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pay for overtime hours | half |
| 2 | Extra holiday pay, payments for a special company event, loyalty bonuses | within customary limits |
| 3 | Expense and travel allowances, pay for own work materials, danger, dirt and hardship supplements | within customary limits |
| 4 | Christmas bonus | up to €795 |
| 5 | Birth and marriage grants | fully, except for debts arising from that event |
| 6 | Education allowances, study grants and similar | fully |
| 7 | Death and grace payments from employment | fully |
| 8 | Allowances for the blind | fully |
Payments that are fully protected
Numbers five to eight have no cap. A birth grant, or a grant on the occasion of a wedding or a registered partnership, may be paid to you in full by your employer even while a garnishment is running. It only becomes attachable if the creditor is enforcing a debt that arose from that very birth or marriage. Education allowances, study grants and similar payments, death and grace payments from an employment or service relationship, and allowances for the blind are equally exempt. Maintenance creditors cannot reach these payments either: section 850d ZPO opens up only numbers one, two and four. On the payslip, these amounts therefore never enter the garnishment calculation, subject to the exception for number five.
The Christmas bonus in the month it is paid
The Christmas bonus is protected up to €795. That cap is derived from the basic allowance in the 2026 notice and rises with it every July. Anything above it is added to net pay for the month in which the bonus is paid. Because garnishment above the allowance works in tenths, the creditor does not get all of the excess either.
In the example with €2,450 monthly net, one dependant and a €1,300 bonus, €795 of the bonus is left out. The remaining €505 raises the net figure for the table. Instead of €132.59, €382.59 is attachable in the month of payment, so €250 more. Of the whole bonus you keep €1,050. The calculator at the top shows the figure for your own pay.
Overtime, holiday pay and allowances
For overtime, only half of the pay counts. If you receive €480 for extra hours in a month, you give up at most part of the other half, because it too goes through the tenths. In the example with a €2,450 base wage and one dependant, €252.59 is attachable with the overtime and €132.59 without it. Holiday pay, expenses and supplements are exempt while they stay within customary limits; the law sets no euro figure for that. A maintenance creditor may also reach into the protected half of overtime pay; at least a quarter of that pay, €120 in the example, must then stay with you.
Net for the garnishment table
Net for the garnishment table
€2,690
| Half of the overtime pay | − €240 |
| Christmas bonus up to €795 | − €0 |
| Holiday bonus, expenses, allowances | − €0 |
| Attachable amount | €252.59 |
Maintenance follows different limits. Under section 850d(1) ZPO, maintenance creditors may garnish the payments under nos. 1, 2 and 4 without the limits of section 850a. At least half of the normally exempt amount must stay with you, though, so at least €397.50 of a Christmas bonus. Details are under maintenance garnishment. Which payments outside your wages are protected is shown under non-attachable income.