How to Legally Increase Net Salary?
If you have agreed on and earn a fixed gross salary with your employer, any tax reduction directly increases the amount of money that lands in your bank account. Here are some of the easiest legal ways to automatically increase your monthly income, shifting the responsibility of tax savings from the state back to your budget.
1. Update and Optimize Personal Deduction (PK Card)
Income tax is only calculated after your tax-free "Personal Deduction" is subtracted from your tax base. All persons have a basic personal deduction of approx. ~560 KM, on which no tax is calculated at all, regardless of the saved items. However, by adding a so-called "Personal Deduction Factor", that minimum threshold increases drastically, which significantly and effectively lowers the part taxed at your city's rates.
Who Qualifies for the Factor?
- Dependent children: The factor share increases per child - each subsequent child adds an incredibly large, higher percentage point of relief (second, third, and beyond!).
- Unemployed spouse: If the spouse has minimal or zero monthly income at the level of the entire year (caregiving, regular study, and earnings up to the limit prescribed by law of about ~3,360 KM/year). Depending on the current and constantly updated tax period, the law is subject to change.
- Determined disability: Deduction is applied according to rulings for outside care purposes, with a special factor for each individual member.
Pro tip about redistribution!
If both you and your spouse work, smart allocation of children is the key to maximization. Never split the relief 50-50 if someone has a far higher and drastically stronger salary (higher marginal tax rate amount), since only that side will fully utilize the mathematical deductions. It is wise for the child to be claimed by them, instead of splitting the child 50/50 on unequal salaries because the one with the lower salary won't "even have an amount to apply that benefit to" at all.
2. Requesting Payment of Tax-free Rewards Instead of Net Raises
As we mentioned in the "How to Negotiate" section - for example, for your 200 KM net monthly bonus agreed and promised, the employer effectively needs to pay about an additional +130 KM in health/social and other forms to the state (totaling about 330 units of cost in full range). It is much better to "direct and negotiate" the payment of 200 KM through the following supports for which the employer does not pay a single cent of "contributions" and thus agrees to the payment with greater ease:
- Annual reward for completed business results (legally allowed up to a huge limit, e.g., 1,000+ KM)
- Monthly hot meal allowance in full through accounting instead of a lump sum
- Transport system and daily tickets, and additional utilities
- Professional educations (which fall under reliefs)
3. Youth Tax Refund (Age Exempt Marginal Rates)
The state grants youth aged **between 25 and 30 years** a full or partial percentage (50%) refund of the excess tax charged and paid through very regular legal exemptions. If you fall under that tax window, expect that excess as a form of bonus (the so-called spring Tax Refund from the state), through which you directly have significantly strengthened cumulative annual funds.