Net salary

Withholding is an advance worked out month by month from the withholding tables, which only look at that month's pay, your marital status, dependants and any disability. Your actual tax is worked out once a year, in your IRS return, on everything you earned that year and after tax credits for health, education, rent, invoices with your NIF and more. The gap between the two is your refund or your bill. Changing jobs, having two employers or earning income with nothing withheld, such as rent you receive, also shifts it.

On salaries and pensions paid from 1 to 30 November 2026, IRS withholding is only half of what the usual tables give (Despacho n.º 12523-A/2026 on the mainland and Despacho n.º 12610-A/2026 in the Azores). It is a way of bringing the 2026 IRS cut, which Parliament authorised with effect from January, into your pay now, and it also covers a Christmas allowance paid in November. It does not apply in Madeira, or to anyone paid more a month than the upper limit of the second-to-last bracket in their table (on the mainland, for example, €20,221 for single people and married couples where both earn, and between €18,169 and €18,529 for pensions). From 1 December the usual tables apply again. If your employer misses the reduction in November, it can correct it in later withholdings until the end of December 2026. The final settlement still happens in your IRS return.

Being paid in duodécimos means your holiday and Christmas allowances, in full or in part, are spread across monthly instalments with your salary instead of being paid in one go in the usual months. It depends on what you have agreed with your employer. Your monthly take-home pay goes up, but the months with the extra payment disappear. Over the year you get practically the same, because the allowances are always taxed separately from your salary.

In 2026, the meal allowance is free of IRS up to €6.15 a day when paid in cash and up to €10.46 a day when paid on a meal card or in vouchers. Anything above those limits is taxed like salary: it is subject to IRS and, as a rule, Social Security contributions too. In 2025 the limits were €6.00 and €10.20. It only counts for the days you are entitled to the allowance, usually the days you actually work.

The standard rate for employees is 11% of gross pay: base salary, holiday and Christmas allowances, overtime, bonuses and any meal allowance above the tax-free limit. Your employer pays another 23.75% on top, which never comes out of your pay. If you are covered by ADSE, a further 3.5% of your base pay is deducted, holiday and Christmas allowances included. Some cases have their own rate, which you can enter in the calculator.

If your employer applies IRS Jovem, part of your salary is already exempt in the monthly withholding: 100% in your first year of income, 75% in years 2 to 4, 50% in years 5 to 7 and 25% in years 8 to 10. It applies up to age 35 (including the year you turn 35), for at most 10 years and up to 55 times the IAS a year (€29,542.15 in 2026). The withholding rate is worked out on your total income and applied only to the part that is not exempt. If you don't ask your employer for it, you can still claim it in your IRS return.

Yes. The calculator covers 2024, 2025 and 2026, and the "Compare" button shows side by side how the same gross salary turns into different take-home pay under each year's tables. With a free guito account, your calculations are saved and you can pick them up on any device.