How to calculate net salary in Brazil: the order of operations

The order of the calculation

Net pay comes from a chain of operations in which each step consumes the result of the previous one. That is why there is no single "deduction rate" on the salary: INSS comes out first and, in doing so, changes the base on which income tax will be computed. Reversing this order, or adding the INSS and IRRF rates and applying everything at once to the gross, always gets the figure wrong, usually too high, because it ignores that IRRF falls on a base smaller than the full salary.

1. Start from the gross salaryAdd the base salary and the month’s taxable earnings (overtime, night premium, commissions). Indemnity-type benefits do not enter here, we cover them later.
2. Deduct INSSApply the progressive bracket table to the gross, respecting the ceiling. INSS is the first deduction and lowers the base of the tax that follows, see the INSS guide.
3. Build the IRRF baseFrom the gross, subtract INSS, the per-dependent deduction and court-ordered alimony. It is this base, not the gross, that goes to the tax table.
4. Compute IRRFApply the monthly table with its deductible portion and, in 2026, the reducer that exempts income up to R$ 5,000, see the IRRF guide.
5. Subtract the other deductionsTransport voucher (up to 6% of the base salary), health plan, advances, authorized union dues. What remains is the net.

Gross salary

Base salary plus the month’s taxable earnings, before any deduction. It is the starting point of the whole calculation.

Contribution base (INSS)

The salary on which INSS is levied, capped at the R$ 8,475.55 ceiling in 2026. Above the ceiling, the surplus generates no contribution.

Tax base (IRRF)

The gross minus INSS, dependents and alimony. Different from the INSS base: income tax starts from an already smaller figure.

Deductible portion

A fixed amount per IRRF bracket (from R$ 0 to R$ 908.73) that replaces the bracket-by-bracket math: it is subtracted once from the top-rate result.

INSS: progressive by brackets, with a ceiling

A CLT employee’s INSS is computed like income tax: by marginal brackets. Each bracket has its rate, and the rate applies only to the slice of salary inside that bracket. A R$ 3,000 salary does not pay 12% on R$ 3,000; it pays 7.5% on the first bracket, 9% on the second and 12% only on the piece that reaches the third. The 2026 table comes from Interministerial Ordinance MPS/MF No. 13/2026.

Adding the four slices at the top gives the maximum deduction: 7.5% of R$ 1,621.00, plus 9% of the next bracket, plus 12% of the third, plus 14% up to the ceiling, totals R$ 988.09. No CLT worker pays more INSS than that, however high the salary. That is why INSS is progressive up to the ceiling and regressive above it: someone earning R$ 8,475 pays 11.66% of salary; someone earning R$ 16,000 pays the same R$ 988.09, which is only 6.18%.

The IRRF base and the table with a deductible portion

Withholding income tax does not fall on the gross salary. The law requires first deducting INSS, a portion per dependent and court-ordered alimony. What remains is the tax base. Only after building this base do you consult the monthly table.

The deductible portion exists to avoid a cascading calculation: instead of adding 7.5% of one slice, 15% of the next and so on, you apply the top rate to the whole base and subtract a constant that "gives back" what was overcharged in the lower brackets. The result is identical, in a single step. The 2026 monthly table comes from Law 15,191/2025.

1. 2015–2023A frozen table

   The monthly table went nearly a decade without full correction, eroding the exemption bracket year after year with inflation.

2. 2023Monthly simplified discount

   Law 14,663/2023 creates the simplified discount (25% of the exemption bracket) as an alternative to the legal deductions.

3. 2025New table and exemption up to R$ 5,000

   Law 15,191/2025 raises the exemption bracket to R$ 2,428.80 and Law 15,270/2025 creates the reducer that zeroes tax up to R$ 5,000.

Two examples with the math laid bare

Example 1, a low salary, within the exemption. Gross of R$ 3,000, no dependents. INSS adds three slices: 7.5% on R$ 1,621.00 (R$ 121.58), 9% on the R$ 1,281.84 slice (R$ 115.37) and 12% on the R$ 97.16 above R$ 2,902.84 (R$ 11.66). The exact sum is R$ 248.5998, which payroll rounds to R$ 248.60. Since the gross is below R$ 5,000, the Law 15,270/2025 reducer zeroes IRRF: there is no tax to withhold. The net is R$ 3,000 − R$ 248.60 = R$ 2,751.40, a bite of just 8.29%.

Example 2, a high salary, above the INSS ceiling. Gross of R$ 12,000, four dependents and R$ 600 of other deductions (health plan plus transport voucher). Since R$ 12,000 exceeds the R$ 8,475.55 ceiling, INSS stops at the maximum deduction: the 7.5%, 9%, 12% and 14% slices add to R$ 988.09 and grow no further. The IRRF base starts from the gross, not the full salary: R$ 12,000 − R$ 988.09 (INSS) − R$ 758.36 (four dependents × R$ 189.59) = R$ 10,253.55. With four dependents, deducting R$ 758.36 beats the R$ 607.20 simplified discount, so the itemized deduction applies.

Now the tax. Since the gross exceeds R$ 7,350, there is no reducer and the full table applies. The base R$ 10,253.55 falls in the top bracket (27.5%), with a deductible portion of R$ 908.73: IRRF = R$ 10,253.55 × 27.5% − R$ 908.73 = R$ 2,819.73 − R$ 908.73 = R$ 1,911.00. The net is R$ 12,000 − R$ 988.09 − R$ 1,911.00 − R$ 600 = R$ 8,500.91. INSS and IRRF alone take 24.16%, proportionally triple the previous example, because IRRF entered and climbed brackets.

Beyond INSS and IRRF

INSS and IRRF are the mandatory deductions, but a real payslip has other lines that change the net. They come in the last step, after the tax is already computed, and therefore do not affect the IRRF base.

• Transport voucher: the employee pays up to 6% of the base salary (Decree 95,247/1987, art. 9); anything above that is covered by the employer.
• Health and dental plan: premium or co-payment deducted from payroll.
• Advances and unjustified absences.
• Union dues, now optional and deducted only with the employee’s express authorization.

FGTS appears on the payslip but is not a deduction: it is 8% of the gross deposited by the employer into a linked account in your name, without leaving your net pay. To read each line of the payslip and check that the deductions add up, see the payslip guide. And when December comes, the same INSS and IRRF reasoning repeats over the 13th salary, which is taxed separately from the month’s pay.

Gross in the offer, net in your pocket

Job offers almost always quote the gross salary, and that is where the comparison misleads. Two offers with the same gross can yield quite different net pay, because the net depends on dependents, alimony and the contract’s deductions, and the benefits package that never touches payroll (meal voucher, profit-sharing, an employer-paid plan) changes the outcome without showing in the gross.

The rule is simple: convert both offers to net, add the cash benefits each one provides and only then compare. The net-salary calculator does the conversion in seconds; the finance calculator version breaks INSS down bracket by bracket. For the full annual package, add vacation, the 13th salary and the exit scenario of a severance.