When wages are garnished in Germany, the employer may not simply pay your whole salary to the creditor. A fixed part always stays with you. How much is set by § 850c of the German Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO). From 1 July 2026, 1,587.40 € net a month is exempt if you have no dependants. Part of the amount above that can be garnished. With 2,500 € net and no dependants, that is 638.82 € a month.
This article shows step by step how that amount is reached: from the relevant net income through the exemption limit and the 10 € steps to the upper limit. All figures come from the 2026 exemption notice (Pfändungsfreigrenzenbekanntmachung 2026, BGBl. 2026 I No. 80) and apply from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027.
How wage garnishment works
A creditor first needs an enforceable title, for example a court judgment or an enforcement order. With it, the creditor applies to the local court as enforcement court for a garnishment and transfer order. The court serves it on your employer. From then on, your employer must pay the garnishable part of your wages to the creditor every month. The creditor does not get the rest.
The order usually does not state a fixed amount. It refers to the official garnishment table. Your employer does the calculation with every payroll run. The wage garnishment calculator reproduces exactly this calculation.
Step 1: The relevant net income (§ 850e ZPO)
The starting point is not gross pay but net income as defined in § 850e ZPO. It is worked out like this:
- First, the exempt payments under § 850a ZPO are deducted from gross pay, such as half of overtime pay, additional holiday pay or a Christmas bonus up to 795 €.
- Then the amounts your employer pays directly because of tax and social security rules are deducted: income tax, solidarity surcharge, church tax and your social security contributions.
- If you have private health insurance, your premiums are deducted as long as they are within the usual range.
- Benefits in kind, such as a company car for private use, are added to the cash wage (§ 850e No. 3 ZPO).
If you receive no special payments, net income under § 850e is usually the amount paid out on your payslip. Which payments are protected in detail is explained in What can be garnished from your wages?.
Step 2: The exemption limit
Net income up to the exemption limit is fully protected. The limit is made up of the basic amount under § 850c (1) ZPO plus an increase for each person you support because of a legal obligation (para. 2): 597.42 € for the first person and 332.83 € each for the second to fifth. From the sixth person on, the limit does not rise any further.
| Dependants | Exemption limit per month | Garnishment starts at |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1,587.40 € | 1,590.00 € |
| 1 | 2,184.82 € | 2,190.00 € |
| 2 | 2,517.65 € | 2,520.00 € |
| 3 | 2,850.48 € | 2,860.00 € |
| 4 | 3,183.31 € | 3,190.00 € |
| 5 or more | 3,516.14 € | 3,520.00 € |
Dependants only count if you actually support them: cash maintenance for a child living with the other parent, or support in kind for children and your spouse in your own household. Unmarried partners without a child together do not count. If a dependant has their own income, the court can disregard them fully or partly at the creditor's request (§ 850c (6) ZPO).
Step 3: Rounding down to the table step
Before the calculation, net income is rounded down: to a full 10 € for monthly pay, to 2.50 € for weekly pay and to 0.50 € for daily pay (§ 850c (5) ZPO). So 2,345.67 € becomes 2,340.00 €. That is why the garnishment table has rows such as '2,340.00 to 2,349.99 €'. Within one row the garnishable amount is always the same.
This also explains why, without dependants, garnishment only starts at 1,590.00 €: 1,589.99 € is rounded down to 1,580.00 € and is therefore below the limit of 1,587.40 €.
Step 4: The garnishable share
If the rounded income is above the limit, the excess is not fully garnishable. Under § 850c (3) ZPO, three tenths of it stay exempt, plus two more tenths for the first dependant and one more tenth each for the second to fifth. The rest can be garnished:
| Dependants | Garnishable share of the excess | You keep of the excess |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 70 % | 30 % |
| 1 | 50 % | 50 % |
| 2 | 40 % | 60 % |
| 3 | 30 % | 70 % |
| 4 | 20 % | 80 % |
| 5 or more | 10 % | 90 % |
The result is rounded commercially to the cent. That is the value shown in the official garnishment table.
Step 5: The upper limit of 4,866.30 €
The protection of the excess is not unlimited. Anything above 4,866.30 € net a month is left out when calculating the exempt amount and can therefore be garnished in full (§ 850c (3) sentence 3 ZPO). The calculation then uses the last table row '4,860.00 to 4,866.30 €', and the rest is added in full.
The formula
In short, the garnishable amount is:
P is the garnishable amount, E is net income under § 850e, N is that income rounded down to the table step (at most up to the upper limit O = 4,866.30 €), F is the exemption limit and q the garnishable share (0.7 to 0.1). If N is not greater than F, the first part is zero.
Three worked examples
Example 1: 2,500 € net, no dependants
The limit is 1,587.40 €. 2,500.00 € is already a full table step. The excess is 912.60 €, of which 70 % can be garnished: . 638.82 € can be garnished, you keep 1,861.18 €.
Example 2: 3,000 € net, two dependants
The limit is 1,587.40 € + 597.42 € + 332.83 € = 2,517.65 €. The excess is 482.35 €, of which 40 % can be garnished. 192.94 € can be garnished, you keep 2,807.06 €. With three dependants it would only be 44.86 €, with four nothing at all.
Example 3: 5,000 € net, no dependants
5,000 € is 133.70 € above the upper limit. That part can be garnished in full. For the rest the last table row applies: . 2,290.82 € + 133.70 € = 2,424.52 € can be garnished, you keep 2,575.48 €.
Weekly and daily pay
If you are paid weekly or daily, separate amounts apply. The principle is the same, only the limits and the table steps are smaller.
| Dependants | Limit per week | Limit per day |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 365.33 € | 73.06 € |
| 1 | 502.83 € | 100.56 € |
| 2 | 579.43 € | 115.88 € |
| 3 | 656.03 € | 131.20 € |
| 4 | 732.63 € | 146.52 € |
| 5 or more | 809.23 € | 161.84 € |
| Upper limit | 1,119.90 € | 223.99 € |
Example: 600 € weekly pay with one dependant. The limit is 502.83 €, the excess 97.17 €, of which 50 % can be garnished. 48.59 € a week can be garnished.
When the table does not apply
The table protects you against ordinary claims, for example from loans, invoices or rent arrears. In some cases a different standard applies:
- Maintenance claims: if maintenance creditors garnish, the enforcement court decides under § 850d ZPO how much you keep for your own necessary living costs. This is usually clearly less than the table.
- Intentional tort: here too the court can set a lower allowance (§ 850f (2) ZPO).
- More protection on application: if the exempt amount does not cover your necessary living costs or you have special needs, for example due to illness, the enforcement court can leave you more on application (§ 850f (1) ZPO).
- Social benefits: pensions, unemployment benefit and sickness benefit are garnished like earned income (§ 54 (4) SGB I). Basic income support, formerly citizen's income, cannot be garnished (§ 42 (4) SGB II).
A P-Konto protects the money in your account
Wage garnishment works through your employer. Creditors can also garnish your bank account, though. A garnishment protection account (P-Konto) protects you against that: from 1 July 2026, 1,590 € a month stays free automatically, more with dependants and child benefit. How to get the allowance raised is explained in P-Konto: how to get your protected amount raised.
What you can do now
- Work through your case with the wage garnishment calculator and compare the result with your payslip.
- Tell your employer about everyone you support. Only then can the higher limit be applied.
- Have your current account converted into a P-Konto if your account may be garnished.
- Get help from a recognised debt advice centre. Advice from municipalities, welfare organisations and consumer advice centres is usually free.
How the amounts have changed compared with last year is shown in Garnishment table 2026/2027. To work out your net pay from your gross salary, use the salary calculator.
As of 26 Oct 2026. Sources: 2026 exemption notice of 19 Mar 2026 (BGBl. 2026 I No. 80), §§ 850a, 850c, 850d, 850e, 850f ZPO, § 54 SGB I, § 42 SGB II. This article is general information and does not replace legal advice.