About
Who builds this, and why every figure carries the authority it was checked against.
Take-Home Index calculates what you actually keep from a salary after income tax and social contributions, across every country it publishes. Every figure carries the tax authority it was checked against and the date of that check.
Who runs this
Take-Home Index is built and maintained by Kalin, an SEO specialist with over seventeen years of experience, based in Naperville, Illinois. Originally from Bulgaria.
That last detail matters more than it sounds. Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, replacing the lev at a fixed rate of 1.95583. An early version of this site had Bulgaria denominated in leva, with a contribution ceiling that no longer existed. Someone who reads Bulgarian tax sources caught it. Someone who does not would have published a confidently wrong number for months.
That is the problem this site exists to solve.
Why this exists
Most salary calculators produce a number and show you nothing about where it came from. You cannot tell whether the brackets are current, which tax year they cover, whether social contributions were included, or when anyone last checked. When the number is wrong, and tax data goes stale every year, there is no way for you to know.
Take-Home Index shows its working. Every country page names the authority the figures were checked against and the date. Countries that have not cleared that check are held back rather than published with a disclaimer.
How figures are produced
Tax brackets, allowances and social contribution rates are compiled from each country's own tax authority. A country is published only after each figure has been compared against the authority's own page.
Regions verify separately from national figures, because state and provincial rates change on their own legislative calendar. A country can be nationally verified while its regions are still pending, and the site says so.
Currency conversion uses European Central Bank reference rates, retrieved live. When rates cannot be retrieved, figures are shown in their own currency and labelled as not comparable, rather than converted at a stale rate.
The full approach is set out in the methodology.
What this site does not do
It does not give tax advice. It produces estimates for a single filer, and does not model marital status, dependants, statutory reliefs, or the many deductions available in most countries. It excludes employer-side contributions, which never appear in your gross pay.
It does not track you. Calculations run entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is transmitted anywhere, and there are no accounts.
For anything with money or legal consequences attached, consult a qualified tax professional in the relevant jurisdiction.
Corrections
If a figure looks wrong, it may be. Tax thresholds move mid-year, sometimes with little notice. Bulgaria raised its monthly insurable maximum on 1 August 2026, which changed the annual contribution ceiling partway through the year, and calculators that missed it overstate contributions for anyone above the cap.
Corrections are read and acted on. If you find an error, particularly if you read your country's tax sources in the original language, get in touch.
Contact
[EMAIL PLACEHOLDER: needs a real address before publishing. Suggest hello@takehomeindex.com or corrections@takehomeindex.com, set up as a forwarding alias in cPanel.]