What do netto and brutto salaries mean?
How do they differ?
Netto is the amount an employee receives after all taxes are deducted – simply put, it's your "take-home pay".
Brutto is the amount subject to taxation.
As a rule, when hiring someone, a company agrees on a brutto amount, and when calculating the salary, deducts all taxes: insurance, social security, and pension contributions. Thus, in the end, the employee receives the netto amount.
So how can you figure out what netto amount you will get when starting a job?
There is a website called the salary calculator.
You can enter your salary there, specify the type of contract, and it will show you what deductions
are made for you and how much you will ultimately receive.
Let me also explain this with an example:
Suppose you get 4000 zł brutto based on an umowa o prace:
Your netto will be 3029,96 zł, and the total amount the employer will pay is 4819,20 zł.
So what do the calculations actually look like?
First – pension contributions. 390,40 zł will be deducted from your salary for this.
Second – disability insurance. It amounts to 60 zł. At the same time, this insurance guarantees payouts in case of income loss due to the risk of disability.
Sick leave contributions are also taken into account. They amount to 98 zł.
You will pay 310,64 zł for health insurance.
And the income tax is 111 zł, but it is not mandatory for everyone. If you earn less than 30,000 PLN per year, you are automatically exempt from this tax.
Accordingly, you can submit the PIT-2 declaration so that the employer does not make these deductions. But even if you don't submit it, at the end of the year when calculating your tax return, you will still get a refund of the overpaid funds.
In turn, when calculating your salary of 4000 zł brutto, besides the deductions from your salary, the employer must also make the following calculations on their end:
They will pay 390,40 zł in pension contributions;
Disability contributions of 390,40 zł;
Accident insurance is 66,80 zł;
Labour Fund 98 zł;
And you need to pay 4 zł to the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund;
If you calculate the percentage between the amount the employer pays and what the employee receives, it comes out to about 60% in taxes and all possible fees going to the state.
Therefore, when asking for a raise, you need to understand that in addition to the amount you want your salary increased by, the employer will additionally pay about 60% more.
Frequently asked questions:
"Are taxes different for foreigners and Polish employees?"
No, there is no such thing in Poland. Like any other European country, Poland does not tolerate workplace discrimination and actively fights against it. Therefore, if Polish colleagues in the same position as you earn more, you have every reason to report this to the labor inspectorate. However, you should be careful: companies calculate salaries differently, and the fact that you earn less does not always mean legal discrimination. Your base salary might be the same, but the other person could have received a higher bonus.
Is the brutto rate really equal to the netto rate if the employee is under 26 years old?
If you are a full-time student or pupil under 26, under an umowa zlecenie you can opt out of ZUS contributions, and you are also exempt from income tax.
Remember that in order to obtain a karta pobytu, since February 2022 an employee must be insured by their employer. Accordingly, getting a work-based karta pobytu with such a contract can be problematic. You will most likely get it, as no one checks this during the application review process, but difficulties may arise when applying for your next karta or a resident card.
So, stay alert! Also, don't forget to subscribe to the Spravochnik Immigranta channel so you don't miss useful information!
Do you still have any questions? You can always contact me for a free consultation!
See you soon!
Useful materials:
All about the karta pobytu for Belarusian citizens based on a humanitarian visa in 2022.
3 reasons why you shouldn't delay applying for a karta pobytu after arriving in Poland.
Permanent residence in Poland: EU Resident Card - How to get it? Detailed guide.
Karta pobytu based on work or family reunification? What to choose? A complete breakdown.
TOP 5 cases when a karta pobytu can actually be independent of the employer
Refusal of a karta pobytu: reasons people don't talk about (undesirable stay, SIS) - Solutions to the problem
Permanent residence in Poland without a Karta Polaka: the complete process of obtaining a karta stałego pobytu in 2022 based on ancestry
Family reunification in Poland - all about the karta pobytu in 2022 for spouses and children.
Stały pobyt in 2022: Permanent residence in Poland with a Karta Polaka - processing and obtaining financial support
Blue Card in Poland in 2022 - all about the karta pobytu and temporary residence permits for highly qualified specialists.
