Change in social security contributions and contribution assessment limits 2024
The contribution to nursing care insurance already increased on 1 July 2023 (3.4%), while all other contribution rates and the insolvency benefit contribution remain unchanged from previous year. Only the “average additional contribution” to statutory health insurance will rise to 1.7%. The maximum additional employer costs are therefore generally just over EUR 1,500 (monthly, West).
Contribution assessment limits
The contribution assessment thresholds will only change slightly:
- The income threshold for health and long-term care insurance rose to EUR 5,175 per month or EUR 62,100 per year in 2024. The standardised nationwide compulsory insurance limit for statutory health insurance (annual income limit) has risen to EUR 69,300 since 2024.
- The contribution assessment ceiling for pension and unemployment insurance has risen for both “West” and “East”: to EUR 7,550 per month in the West (EUR 90,600 per year in the West) and EUR 7,450 per month in the East (EUR 89,400 in the East) and are thus only slightly apart 34 years after German reunification.
The 2024 contributions at a glance
The contribution rates will remain largely unchanged and will only increase very slightly:
- Health insurance: 14.6% + additional contribution (~1.7%)
- Long-term care insurance: 3.4% (plus 0.6% for those without children; minus 0.25% from the 2nd child per child)
- Pension insurance: 18.6%
- Unemployment insurance: 2.6%
- Health insurance:
The general contribution rate for health insurance remains unchanged at 14.6%.
The additional contributions vary depending on the health insurance fund. They generally range between 0.2% and 1.9%. According to official publications – Federal Gazette, the average supplementary contribution for 2023 is now 1.7% (previously 1.6% in 2023). As in the previous year, the employer bears half of the contribution.
In Detail:
Nursing care insurance
The parity contributions to Nursing care insurance have remained unchanged at 3.4% since the change on 1 July 2023.
The additional contribution to be borne solely by childless employees over the age of 23 is 0.6%.
From the second to the fifth child, there is a discount of 0.25 % per child.
The special case in the federal state of Saxony remains: There, the employee continues to pay a higher share of the nursing care contribution (employee 2.2%; employer 1.2%) because the public holiday “Day of Prayer and Repentance” had been retained in 1995.
Pension insurance
The pension insurance contribution remains unchanged compared to the previous year at 18.6%.
Unemployment insurance
The contribution to unemployment insurance remains at 2.6%.
Accident insurance
The contribution amount for accident insurance is calculated individually for each company by the employers’ liability insurance associations. The average contribution to accident insurance is 1.3%.
U1 and U2 allocations
The U1 (compensation for continued remuneration in the event of illness) and U2 (compensation for maternity leave) contributions are determined by the health insurance funds and therefore vary. There are also different levels of cover, with different contribution amounts.
Insolvency pay
The insolvency pay(“U3 levy”) remains at 0.06%.
Practical Advice
We will be happy to advise you on whether and how exactly benefits in addition to a fixed salary and/or bonus payments in EUR can make sense. For example, take advantage of the tax-free inflation adjustment bonus (up to EUR 3,000 gross = net, still possible until the end of 2024) or the classic company pension scheme: co-financed by employees with a financially neutral contribution from the employer only in the case of deferred compensation.
Tax- and social security-free benefits such as job tickets, childcare subsidies, lunch contributions, etc. are popular and financially attractive measures for salaries above and below the income threshold; more recently, the discounted purchase of “job bikes”, especially e-bikes, in addition to company cars (increasingly now with e- and hybrid drives in particular) have also contributed to employee satisfaction.
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