A ₹1.2 crore package. A $150,000 offer. A €90,000 relocation contract. Numbers like these get thrown around as if they mean the same thing everywhere. They don’t. What actually lands in your account depends on a completely different deduction stack in every country — income tax bands, social insurance, sometimes a church tax, sometimes a regional surcharge that changes if you move fifty kilometers. Compare gross offers across borders and you’re comparing the wrong number.
Here’s what actually comes out of a paycheck in nine countries, and where to run your own numbers.
India: PF, professional tax, and income tax slabs
Indian salaries get hit three ways: 12% employee Provident Fund on basic pay, a small flat professional tax that varies by state, and income tax on the remainder using the applicable slabs. The PF portion isn’t lost — it’s forced retirement savings — but it doesn’t show up in your bank account this month, which is why “CTC” and “take-home” are two very different conversations with your employer. Run your numbers on the Net Salary / Take-Home Pay Calculator (India).
Once you know your take-home number, the next question is what to do with it. If you’re in India, government-backed schemes are worth comparing first — see the PPF Calculator for a fixed, tax-free return, the NPS Calculator for a market-linked retirement account, or the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana Calculator if you’re saving for a daughter. If real estate is part of your plan instead, run the numbers with the Rental Yield Calculator before you commit.
United States: federal tax, FICA, and a state that may or may not tax you
US paychecks deduct federal income tax and FICA (Social Security + Medicare) everywhere, then state income tax — which ranges from 0% in Texas, Florida, and seven other states to over 13% in California. The same federal salary nets very differently depending on your zip code. The US Paycheck / Take-Home Pay Calculator covers federal + FICA + state for any pay frequency, and the State Income Tax Estimator shows what your specific state does before you even get to gross-to-net math.
United Kingdom: income tax, National Insurance, and your pension
UK take-home pay comes from income tax on top of your personal allowance, National Insurance, and — for most employees — an automatic workplace pension deduction that reduces take-home now in exchange for retirement savings later. All three combine in the UK Take-Home Pay Calculator.
Ireland: three separate deductions on the same payslip
Ireland is unusual in keeping income tax, USC (Universal Social Charge), and PRSI as three genuinely distinct lines rather than folding them together — each with its own bands and logic. It looks more complicated on paper than it is in practice, but it means a quick mental estimate is less reliable than in most countries. The Ireland Take-Home Pay Calculator combines all three.
Germany: up to five deductions before you see a euro
German payroll is the densest on this list: progressive income tax (Einkommensteuer), the solidarity surcharge (Soli) above a threshold, an optional church tax if you’re a registered church member, and social insurance covering pension, health, unemployment, and long-term care. That’s potentially five separate deductions on one payslip. The Germany Take-Home Pay Calculator combines them into one net figure.
France: taxed as a household, not an individual
France’s income tax uses the quotient familial — total household income divided by a number of “parts” based on marital status and children — before the progressive bands apply, then adds CSG/CRDS social contributions on top. A single person and a married couple with the same combined income can owe meaningfully different tax. The France Take-Home Pay Calculator handles both.
Spain: it depends which region you live in
Spanish income tax (IRPF) splits between a national scale and a regional scale set independently by each of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities, so the same income is taxed differently in Madrid than in Valencia. Add Social Security contributions on top. The Spain Take-Home Pay Calculator uses representative rates and flags the regional variance explicitly.
Italy: national tax plus a local surcharge
Italy’s IRPEF national bands come with an additional regional and municipal surcharge that varies by where you’re registered to live, on top of INPS social security contributions. The Italy Take-Home Pay Calculator combines both, with the local surcharge shown as an approximation.
Netherlands: Box 1, and a major break for eligible expats
Dutch salary income falls under “Box 1” of their tax system, taxed at progressive rates. Incoming expat employees who qualify may be eligible for the 30% ruling, which allows up to 30% of gross salary to be paid tax-free — a genuinely significant difference in take-home pay for those who qualify. Compare both on the Netherlands Take-Home Pay Calculator and the 30% Ruling Calculator.
Why this matters more than it used to
Remote work and cross-border hiring mean more people are genuinely choosing between offers denominated in different currencies, under different tax systems, for the first time. A recruiter quoting gross salary isn’t lying — they just aren’t answering the question you actually need answered. Before you accept, extend, or compare any international offer, run the actual net number through the calculator for that country rather than eyeballing a percentage.
New to YogiCalc? Start with Introducing YogiCalc: 130+ Free Calculators for Finance, Tax, Health & More for the full picture of what’s available, or browse every country’s full calculator set from the YogiCalc homepage.
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