Run the Numbers on a Job Change: New Salary, Gaps and Commuting in the Big Picture

Published by Adrian Vogel · Reading time: approx. 13 minutes · Last updated: October 2026 · Jurisdiction: Germany

Before you start: This guide is not legal, tax or financial advice. Whether a blocking period applies is decided case by case by the Federal Employment Agency (Agentur für Arbeit). How severance is taxed is decided by the tax office. Is a termination agreement, severance or a company pension involved? Then it is worth talking to an employment lawyer, a tax adviser or your pension provider. OWNAMIC works with the figures you enter. It describes; it does not advise.

In short:

• At the end you see what the new job really brings over the years.
• You need old and new net pay, notice period, commuting costs and pension papers.
• Getting ready takes about 30 minutes.
• OWNAMIC does not turn gross into net and does not check a blocking period.

How the big picture works in general is covered in Carrying your net worth forward. This guide is about a choice many people make by looking only at the gross salary. The question is: is the new job worth it once you count everything?

What you should know

Gross is not net. Gross is the pay in your contract. Net is what reaches your account after tax and other charges. A higher gross salary does not mean the same share more in your account. Your net pay depends on several things. These include your tax class, church tax and your health insurer's extra charge. Salary conversion counts too. That means part of your gross pay goes straight into a company pension. For the sums you need the new net figure. A gross-to-net calculator gives you that. One example is the wage tax calculator of the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF).

Probation lasts six months at most. During that time either side can end the job with two weeks' notice (§ 622(3) of the German Civil Code). General protection against dismissal only starts after six months in the job. And only if the business employs more than ten people (Dismissal Protection Act, §§ 1 and 23). This protection means your employer needs a recognised reason to dismiss you. So when you change jobs, you give up that protection at your old employer for now.

A gap can be expensive. Do you resign without a new contract? Then the Employment Agency usually imposes a blocking period (Sperrzeit) of twelve weeks. This applies if you have no good reason for leaving (§ 159 of Social Code III). During the blocking period, unemployment benefit is suspended. That means it is not paid during that time. On top of that, you get benefit for a shorter time overall. With a twelve-week blocking period, this period shrinks by at least a quarter (§ 148 Social Code III). The same can apply to a termination agreement. That is a contract in which you and your employer end the job by mutual consent. Registering in time matters too. You must register as a job seeker no later than three months before your job ends. If you learn of the end later, you must register within three days (§ 38 Social Code III).

Unemployment benefit is not a salary. It is 60% of a net pay worked out on a flat-rate basis. With a child it is 67%.

Severance has been taxed differently since 2025. Severance is a one-off payment when your job ends. There is a tax rule for it called the one-fifth rule (Fünftelregelung, § 34 of the Income Tax Act). It spreads the severance over five years for tax purposes, on paper. This usually lowers the tax. Since 1 January 2025, though, the employer no longer applies it when deducting wage tax. The employer first holds back the full wage tax. The relief only comes with your income tax return. So less arrives in the month of payment. There may be a refund the following year. Does the job end with severance before the notice period has run? Then unemployment benefit can also be suspended for a while (§ 158 Social Code III).

Commuting costs money and lowers your tax. Since 2026 the commuting allowance (Entfernungspauschale) is €0.38 from the first kilometre. Only the one-way distance to work counts. Costs of moving for your job can be income-related expenses. These are costs for your work that lower your tax. Both only take effect through your tax return.

You can often take a company pension with you. A claim you have already built up is called an entitlement. Vested means it stays yours, even if you leave. Entitlements from salary conversion vest at once. If your employer pays the contributions, there is a condition. You must be at least 21. And the promise must have existed for at least three years (§ 1b of the Company Pensions Act, BetrAVG). With direct insurance, a Pensionskasse or a pension fund, you can take the value with you. Within one year of leaving, you ask for it to be moved to your new employer. This only works up to a cap, the contribution ceiling of the statutory pension scheme (§ 4(3) BetrAVG). Ask your old employer to confirm in writing how high your vested entitlement is.

Preparation: the figures you need (30 minutes)

• your current net pay from your last payslip
• your new net pay from a gross-to-net calculator, with your tax class and your health insurer at the new employer
• extra payments old and new: Christmas bonus, holiday pay, bonus
• your notice period and the start date of the new job. From these you see if there is a gap in between.
• your commuting costs today and in future, plus any costs for moving and a new rent
• for a severance payment: the gross amount and an estimate of the tax with and without the one-fifth rule
• the vesting confirmation for your company pension. It states which claim stays yours.

Step 1: Check your current state

The scenario builds on your current state, meaning things as they are today. If your salary is missing there, the scenario has nothing to work on.

Record your salary:

1. Tap Plus, then Manual.
2. Choose Income and, under More precisely, Salary.
3. Under Amount, enter your net pay. As the Interval, pick Monthly.
4. Under Employer, you can note the company's name.

The Gross Amount field is stored. But the big picture only works with the amount.

Extra payments go in as a separate income with the interval Yearly. The big picture spreads a yearly amount evenly over the twelve months.

Commuting today. Record your commuting costs as an ongoing expense under Service expenses. This can be a job ticket, a season ticket or car costs you know for sure. That way you can swap them out in the scenario later.

Then, in the Finances edition, open the Big picture page. Look at the Data basis under Details. Income and fixed costs must be recorded. Otherwise the chart stays grey.

Step 2: Create the scenario and enter the new salary

A scenario is a what-if based on your real data.

1. In the big picture, scroll below Details to the scenario bar. Tap the + (New scenario).
2. On the Template tab, choose Start with my data. This is the current state, with nothing changed yet.
3. Under Name, enter something like "Job change 2027".
4. On the Scenario objects tab, under Add scenario object, tap Change income.

On the card, set:

• Applies to: your current salary
• New monthly amount: the new net pay from the calculator
• From: the first working day in the new job
• Until: leave empty, so it stays open-ended

Do your extra payments change too? Then add a second Change income on the extra payment's object. Use Change in percent for it. The reason: the New monthly amount always applies per month. If the extra payment is dropped in the new job, enter −100.

Step 3: Model a gap between jobs

If there is no gap, skip this step. If there is one, split the time into phases. Each phase is its own Change income on the same salary:

1. Gap: Change in percent at −100. From the day after your last working day. Until the day before the new start.
2. New job: New monthly amount with the new net pay. From the first working day. Until stays open-ended.

The periods must not overlap. Otherwise the editor says: "overlaps another change of the same income."

Enter unemployment benefit as a separate Income. Do this only for the months it is really paid. With a twelve-week blocking period, that income only starts afterwards. The Employment Agency tells you the amount. Do you need your own health insurance for the gap? Then add it as an Expense per month. Check this with your insurer.

Step 4: Switch commuting, moving and rent

A scenario can only switch a real object on or off as a whole. It cannot end it on a date. For costs that change with the job, there is an honest workaround:

1. On the My objects tab, under Fixed costs, switch off the existing object. This is, for example, the job ticket or the rent.
2. On the Scenario objects tab, add the same costs as an Expense per month. Set Until to the last day before the change.
3. A second Expense per month with the new costs starts From the change. It stays open-ended.

So the scenario pays the old costs until the change, and the new ones after it. A move goes in as an Expense with the interval one-off. This covers the removal firm, the deposit and double rent while you move. The date must be in the future.

The commuting allowance and moving costs may save you tax. Have you estimated this with a tax calculator? Then you can enter it as a one-off Income the following year. If you leave it out, your sums stay on the cautious side.

Step 5: Enter a severance payment

For severance, create two one-off incomes:

• Income "Severance", one-off, in the month of payment. The amount is the sum after the full wage tax the employer holds back.
• Income "Refund one-fifth rule", one-off, the following year. The amount is the estimated refund from your tax return.

Do you want to invest part of the severance? Then add a Savings plan with Repeat set to None, starting the month after the payment. For a special repayment on your loan, there is the Special repayment scenario object. A special repayment means you pay back part of the loan outside the plan. Both only move money around. Your net worth does not change. Only your money assets get smaller.

Step 6: Take the company pension into account

The big picture does not work out pension claims. Have you recorded your company pension as a Financial Asset with its current value? Then that value simply stays where it is when you change jobs. It is not lost.

Have you set up a savings plan on the object for the contributions? Then do this:

1. On the My objects tab, switch off the existing plan in the Savings plans & planned trades group.
2. Use the Savings plan scenario object to add a plan from the new start.
3. Under Applies to, choose the same contract if it is moved. For a new contract, choose New position with the Asset class Financial assets.

Take care not to count anything twice. With salary conversion, the contribution has already come out of your net pay. If you also enter it as a savings plan, it leaves your account a second time in the big picture. You have two options. Either leave it out. Then the contract does not grow in the big picture. Or add the contribution back to your net pay and enter it as a savings plan. Then the flow of money is right, and the contract grows.

Step 7: Compare the current state with the change

At the bottom of the editor, In this scenario already shows the monthly totals. Apply shows the scenario. Save & apply keeps it. Then read:

• The grey line is the Current state (comparison), the path without the change.
• Versus current state after … y gives the difference at the end of the time span. Set the Time horizon to 10, 20 or 30 years. A small gap per month grows large over the years.
• Yearly surplus / deficit under Details shows whether the year of the change turns red. A gap or a move can cause this.
• Liquid assets used up in year … appears if the money in your accounts cannot carry a gap.

Example (made up): Jonas earns €3,100 net. The new job pays €3,350 net, so €250 more. The new commute costs €120 more a month. That leaves €130 a month, or €1,560 a year. A €4,000 move is paid back after a good two and a half years. Two months' gap at €3,100 net would push that out by almost four more years.

Step 8: Check probation as a second variant

Most job changes go well. Still, you want to know what happens if one does not.

1. Save the scenario. Tap Duplicate scenario in the banner.
2. Name the copy, for example "Job change 2027 – probation fails". Open it with Edit.
3. Set an Until on the new salary six months after the start.
4. Add a Change income at −100% for the months of searching, for example three months.
5. After that, add another Change income. Enter the net pay you would then realistically expect.

You can also choose the Income stops template instead. Then every regular income stops from next month on. The big picture then shows how many months your savings cover your costs.

Choose a scenario … switches between the variants. Back to current state takes you back. Every page visit starts in the current state.

Common mistakes

• Comparing gross figures. 10% more gross is usually less than 10% more net. Only compare net with net.
• Underestimating the gap. Twelve weeks of blocking period plus a shorter benefit period soon add up to more than a month's pay.
• Letting the old object and the new expense count at the same time. When you add the new commuting expense, switch off the old job ticket. Otherwise the scenario pays twice.
• Entering severance gross. It is paid out after full wage tax.
• Forgetting extra payments. If the new job pays no Christmas bonus, that can eat up a pay rise.

What OWNAMIC does not do here

• OWNAMIC does not convert gross to net. It knows neither wage tax, social charges nor tax classes. The new net figure comes from an outside calculator.
• OWNAMIC does not check for a blocking period. It does not work out unemployment benefit either. The Employment Agency decides both.
• OWNAMIC does not calculate tax on severance. It does not apply the one-fifth rule either.
• OWNAMIC does not value a company pension. It shows what you have recorded as a value and a savings plan. What the contract pays in old age is in your documents.
• A real object does not end on a date in a scenario. It counts fully or not at all. Step 4 shows the workaround with a time-limited expense.
• A scenario is not a promise. It shows what follows from your figures.

Checklist to take with you

• New net pay worked out with a gross-to-net calculator, extra payments old and new noted
• Salary recorded net as Salary, extra payments as a yearly income
• Scenario created with Start with my data and named
• Change income with the new net pay from the first working day, open-ended
• Gap entered as a −100% phase, unemployment benefit only after any blocking period
• Registered as a job seeker no later than three months before the end, if a gap is possible
• Old commute and old rent switched off and replaced by a time-limited expense, new costs from the change
• Move and severance entered as one-off amounts, severance net
• Company pension: vesting confirmation requested, transfer within one year checked
• "Probation fails" variant duplicated and compared with the main scenario

Read on: Carrying your net worth forward · Run the numbers on parental leave · Wealth in view

Sources

• Federal Ministry of Finance: Wage and income tax calculator (German): https://www.bmf-steuerrechner.de/
• German Civil Code § 622, notice periods and probation (German): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/bgb/__622.html
• Dismissal Protection Act § 1, six-month qualifying period (German): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/kschg/__1.html
• Dismissal Protection Act § 23, small businesses with up to ten employees (German): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/kschg/__23.html
• Social Code III § 159, blocking period (German): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/sgb_3/__159.html
• Social Code III § 148, reduced entitlement period (German): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/sgb_3/__148.html
• Social Code III § 38, duty to register early as a job seeker (German): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/sgb_3/__38.html
• Social Code III § 158, suspension with a severance payment (German): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/sgb_3/__158.html
• Social Code III § 149, amount of unemployment benefit, 60% or 67% (German): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/sgb_3/__149.html
• Income Tax Act § 34, one-fifth rule (German): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__34.html
• Gleiss Lutz: Employers no longer apply the one-fifth rule (German): https://www.gleisslutz.com/de/know-how/kuenftig-keine-anwendung-der-fuenftelregelung-durch-arbeitgeber
• Income Tax Act § 9, income-related expenses and commuting allowance (German): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__9.html
• Lohn-Info: Commuting allowance from 2026 (German): https://lohn-info.de/fahrkostenersatz_entfernungspauschale.html
• Company Pensions Act § 1b, vesting (German): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/betravg/__1b.html
• Company Pensions Act § 4, transfer (German): https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/betravg/__4.html

Deadlines, rates and limits reflect the situation in October 2026 and can change. In individual cases, the Employment Agency, the tax office and your employment contract decide.