Minijob limit 2026 and 2027: what changes?

In 2026 you may regularly earn up to €603 a month in a minijob, which is €7,236 a year. On 1 January 2027 the limit rises to €633 a month, or €7,596 a year. The reason is the minimum-wage increase from €13.90 to €14.60, adopted by the federal government in the Fifth Minimum Wage Adjustment Ordinance.

Above the minijob limit starts the transition zone, colloquially a midijob. In 2026 it runs from €603.01 to €2,000 a month; in 2027 it accordingly starts at €633.01. The €2,000 ceiling is fixed in the statute (section 20 SGB IV) and is not tied to the minimum wage.

Section 8(1a) SGB IV sets the formula: minimum wage times 130, divided by 3, rounded up to full euros. The 130 stands for ten weekly hours over a year (10 × 52 = 520 hours, divided by 12 months is about 43.3 hours, i.e. 130 ÷ 3). The limit is therefore sized so that a minijob at the minimum wage always allows about ten hours a week.

For 2026 that means €13.90 × 130 ÷ 3 = €602.33, rounded up to €603. For 2027, €14.60 × 130 ÷ 3 = €632.67, rounded up to €633. The Minijob-Zentrale publishes the new value before each turn of the year.

Until September 2022 the limit stood at a fixed €450 for many years. When the minimum wage was raised to €12 on 1 October 2022, the limit rose to €520 and was tied to the minimum wage. Since then it has risen with every minimum-wage increase.

There was never an increase to exactly €600. People searching for it almost always mean the last big step: on 1 January 2026 the limit rose from €556 to €603, just above €600. The table shows every value.

If you are paid by the hour at the minimum wage, you need do nothing: the hourly wage rises to €14.60 by law, and the higher limit absorbs it. Anyone with a fixed monthly wage should look more closely. If in 2026 you get, for example, €603 for 43.3 hours a month, you earn €13.92 an hour on paper. From 2027 that is below the minimum wage, so either the pay has to rise or the hours have to fall.

If you have been just under the limit and would like to work more, from 2027 you can earn up to €633 without losing minijob status. That does not happen automatically, though: more hours or more pay need a change to the employment contract. Conversely, a job that in 2026 pays just over €603, and is therefore in the transition zone, may fall under the new limit in 2027 with unchanged pay. Registration and levies then change; employers do best to clarify this with the Minijob-Zentrale in good time.

In a commercial minijob you pay no wage tax and no health, long-term care or unemployment insurance contributions if the employer applies flat-rate taxation, as is usual. Only your own pension-insurance share of 3.6% is deducted. At the €603 limit that is €21.71, so €581.29 is paid out. With an approved exemption from compulsory pension insurance you receive the full €603.

One exception applies to very small earnings: below €175 a month the pension contribution is still calculated on €175 (minimum assessment base, section 163(8) SGB VI). The employer pays its flat rate only on the actual pay, and you carry the rest. On €100 pay that is €17.55 instead of €3.60. This does not apply if you have another job with pension insurance and your earnings together reach at least €175, for example next to a main job: then it stays at €3.60. With an exemption this contribution drops away too.

The minijob calculator works out your exact amount, including with an exemption. If your pay is above the limit, the midijob calculator shows what you keep net in the transition zone.