--- title: "ETF Savings Plan Calculator (Germany)" description: "Calculate ETF savings plan return: initial capital, savings rate, duration and optional Vorabpauschale tax deduction for a more realistic after-tax view." canonical: "https://investboard.de/en/rechner/etf-sparplan" language: "en" modified: "2026-08-02" author: "Investboard" --- # ETF Savings Plan Calculator (Germany) Calculate your wealth after 10, 20, or 30 years, optionally with German tax deduction (Vorabpauschale). ## How Does an ETF Savings Plan (Sparplan) Work? An ETF-Sparplan (savings plan) invests a fixed amount each month into one or more ETFs. Thanks to the cost-averaging effect (Cost-Average-Effekt), you buy more shares when prices are low and fewer when prices are high. Over long periods, this smooths out the average purchase price. Most German brokers offer ETF savings plans starting from EUR 25 per month, many of them without execution fees. The key levers are the monthly contribution (Sparrate), the investment period, and the expected return. ## The Tax Drag: Why Your Final Wealth Is Lower Than Expected Most savings plan calculators only show the final wealth before taxes. In reality, German investors pay the Vorabpauschale (advance lump sum) on accumulating ETFs every year. This annual tax reduces the capital available for compounding — the so-called tax drag (Steuerbremse). Over a 20-year savings plan with a 7% return, the tax drag can amount to 2-4% of the final wealth. That may sound small, but on EUR 200,000 in final wealth it means a difference of EUR 4,000-8,000. ## How the Tax Deduction Is Modelled The tax deduction is switched off by default. Switch it on and the calculator computes a Vorabpauschale (advance lump sum) on the value at the start of each modelled year, then deducts the tax due from the portfolio at year end. The point that matters for savings-plan logic: contributions made during the same year do not increase the Vorabpauschale. They are removed from the value gain before the statutory cap is applied. Fresh savings are not income and are not treated as such. Two figures from your tax profile then apply: the Teilfreistellung (partial exemption) by fund type, and your tax rate. The rate is the familiar stack of 25 percent Kapitalertragsteuer, 5.5 percent Solidaritätszuschlag on top of it, and, if you are liable for church tax, 8 or 9 percent Kirchensteuer depending on the federal state. ### Tax rate without church tax ```text Effective rate = 25 % × (1 + 5.5 %) = 25 % × 1.055 = 26.375 % ``` The step-by-step derivation is in the [Vorabpauschale calculator](/en/rechner/vorabpauschale). ## The Sparerpauschbetrag in the Model The Sparerpauschbetrag (saver's allowance) is granted in full in every modelled year: EUR 1,000 for single filers, EUR 2,000 for jointly assessed couples. It is not a pool that depletes over the term but an annual figure that is available afresh each year. For a savings plan this has a visible consequence: in the early years the portfolio is small, the Vorabpauschale correspondingly low, and the allowance often covers it entirely. The tax column in the year-by-year table stays at zero even though the deduction is switched on. The tax drag only starts to bite once the taxable Vorabpauschale grows beyond the allowance. At 30 percent Teilfreistellung, 70 percent remains taxable. The single allowance is therefore only used up from a Vorabpauschale of 1,000 / 0.70, roughly EUR 1,429; for joint assessment, from 2,000 / 0.70, roughly EUR 2,857. ## Fund Type and Teilfreistellung The Teilfreistellung exempts a share of the Vorabpauschale before the tax rate applies. That share depends on the fund type: | Fund type | Teilfreistellung | Taxable share | Vorabpauschale that uses up EUR 1,000 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Equity funds (Aktienfonds) | 30 % | 70 % | ≈ EUR 1,429 | | Balanced funds (Mischfonds) | 15 % | 85 % | ≈ EUR 1,176 | | Property funds (domestic) | 60 % | 40 % | EUR 2,500 | | Property funds (foreign) | 80 % | 20 % | EUR 5,000 | | Other funds (sonstige) | 0 % | 100 % | EUR 1,000 | The savings-plan calculator lets you choose between equity funds, balanced funds and other funds. The two property quotas belong to the statutory system but are rarely relevant for an ETF savings plan. The selector changes a single factor, yet it acts across the entire term: switching from equity funds to other funds raises the taxable share from 70 to 100 percent, an increase of roughly 43 percent (100 / 70). The tax drag grows in the same proportion once the Sparerpauschbetrag is used up. ## Tips for Your Savings Plan - Increase your monthly contribution by at least inflation (2%) each year - Regularly check whether your Freistellungsauftrag (tax exemption order) covers the Vorabpauschale - With multiple ETFs: watch out for overlapping holdings in their composition - Use your Sparerpauschbetrag (saver's lump sum) before choosing accumulating ETFs ## What the Calculator Deliberately Simplifies The calculator applies the same Basiszins (base rate) to every modelled year: 3.20 percent, the figure for 2026. That is a deliberate simplification, not a forecast. The Basiszins is set anew each year and cannot be stated credibly for future years. A constant value keeps the model traceable instead of claiming a precision that does not exist. The return is an assumption too, not an expected value: the 7 percent is a preset you can move freely between 1 and 15 percent. The annual increase (0 to 10 percent) and the term (1 to 40 years) are model parameters in the same sense. ### Annual increase of the contribution ```text Rate(year) = rate × (1 + increase / 100)^(year − 1) Example: 300 × (1 + 2 / 100)^(20 − 1) = 300 × 1.02^19 ≈ EUR 437 in year 20 ``` Fund costs are not included. TER, tracking difference, spread and order costs reduce the return on top of this; by how much is explained in [ETF costs: understanding TER and tracking difference](/en/wissen/etf-kosten-ter-verstehen). A pragmatic approach: subtract the expected cost ratio from your return assumption.