Wage garnishment does not put your whole salary at risk. German law protects your income in three stages: certain payments are fully exempt, tax and social security are deducted first, and an allowance stays free from the rest. Only what is left after all three stages can be garnished.
Stage 1: These payments are exempt (§ 850a ZPO)
A creditor may not garnish some parts of earned income at all. They are deducted before the calculation:
- Overtime: half of the pay for overtime hours (No. 1).
- Holiday pay and loyalty bonuses: additional holiday pay, payments on the occasion of a special company event and loyalty bonuses, as long as they do not exceed the usual range (No. 2). Your normal salary during your holiday, on the other hand, can be garnished.
- Expenses and allowances: expense allowances, allowances for work away from home, payment for work materials you provide yourself and allowances for danger, dirt and hardship within the usual range (No. 3).
- Christmas bonus: up to half of the monthly exemption limit rounded up to the next full 10 €. From 1 July 2026 that is 795 € (No. 4).
- Grants: for a birth, a marriage or a registered partnership, unless the creditor is enforcing a claim arising from that very occasion (No. 5).
- Child-raising allowances, study grants and similar payments (No. 6).
- Death and survivor payments from employment (No. 7).
- Allowances for blind people (No. 8).
Anything above these limits counts as normal income. A Christmas bonus of 1,000 € is therefore protected up to 795 €, and the other 205 € go into the calculation.
Stage 2: Tax and social security (§ 850e ZPO)
Next, income tax, solidarity surcharge, church tax and your social security contributions are deducted. With private health insurance, your usual premiums are deducted. What remains is net income under § 850e ZPO. According to the case law of the Federal Labour Court, the exempt payments are deducted at their gross amount (net method).
In practice: take the amount paid out on your payslip and deduct the exempt payments from stage 1 at their gross amount.
Stage 3: Exemption limit and garnishment table (§ 850c ZPO)
A fixed amount of net income under § 850e stays free: from 1 July 2026, 1,587.40 € a month without dependants and up to 3,516.14 € with dependants. Of the excess, 70 % to 10 % can be garnished depending on your dependants. Anything above 4,866.30 € can be garnished in full. Exactly how this works is explained in the main article Wage garnishment in Germany 2026.
Worked example with overtime
Your net pay on the payslip is 3,000 €. It includes 600 € gross for overtime. Half of it, 300 €, is exempt. You have no dependants.
| Calculation | without deduction | with half the overtime deducted |
|---|---|---|
| Net on payslip | 3,000.00 € | 3,000.00 € |
| exempt payments | 0.00 € | 300.00 € |
| Net under § 850e | 3,000.00 € | 2,700.00 € |
| garnishable | 988.82 € | 778.82 € |
| You keep | 2,011.18 € | 2,221.18 € |
The difference: you keep an extra 210 € a month. Enter the amount in the wage garnishment calculator under 'Deduct'. Check whether your employer deducts the exempt payments correctly.
What goes fully into the calculation
All other parts of earned income can be garnished according to the table: your regular salary, commissions, premiums and bonuses unless they fall under § 850a, and sick pay from your employer. A one-off payment usually increases the income of the month in which it is paid and therefore also the garnishable amount. Benefits in kind, such as a company car for private use, are added to the cash wage.
If you have several jobs or a pension besides your wages, the enforcement court adds the incomes together at the creditor's request (§ 850e No. 2 and 2a ZPO). The exemption limit then only applies once.
Pensions and social benefits
- Pension, unemployment benefit, sickness benefit: ongoing cash benefits from social insurance can be garnished like earned income (§ 54 (4) SGB I). The same garnishment table applies.
- Basic income support (formerly citizen's income): benefits securing your living costs under SGB II cannot be garnished (§ 42 (4) SGB II).
- Child benefit: on a P-Konto it is protected on top of the allowance, except for a maintenance claim of the child itself (§ 902 ZPO).
Self-employed people
Self-employed people have no employer to carry out a garnishment. Creditors usually garnish claims against customers or the bank account. For income that is not a regular wage, the enforcement court leaves you, on application, as much as would be exempt from a regular wage (§ 850i ZPO). The bank account is protected by a P-Konto.
When protection is lower
If maintenance creditors garnish because of maintenance, or the claim arises from an intentional tort, lower limits apply (§ 850d, § 850f (2) ZPO). The enforcement court then decides case by case what you keep. Conversely, you can apply for more protection if your necessary living costs are not covered otherwise (§ 850f (1) ZPO).
A recognised debt advice centre checks free of charge whether everything has been calculated correctly in your case. Such centres are run by municipalities, welfare organisations and consumer advice centres.
As of 26 Oct 2026. Sources: §§ 850a, 850c, 850d, 850e, 850f, 850i, 902 ZPO; § 54 SGB I; § 42 SGB II; 2026 exemption notice (BGBl. 2026 I No. 80). All information without guarantee, not legal advice.