Salary and tax in Lithuania

Where the money goes

Of €23,208 gross, income tax (Gyventojų pajamų mokestis) takes €3,767 and employee contributions (Valstybinis socialinis draudimas (VSD), Privalomasis sveikatos draudimas (PSD) and II pakopos pensijų kaupimas) take €4,526. That leaves €14,915 a year, or €1,243 a month on average.

The employer pays another €411 in charges on top, 1,8% of the salary. The whole job costs €23,619 a year.

How the income tax works

The income tax (Gyventojų pajamų mokestis) rises through 3 bands, from 20% to 32%. The top rate applies from €138,729 of taxable income. That threshold is 6 times the reference salary of €23,208, so only high earners reach the top rate.

The bands apply to taxable income: what is left after allowances and deductible contributions. That is why the rates bite later than the gross salary suggests.

How the rates rise with the salary

Income tax starts at a gross salary of about €8,990 a year.

At €23,208, 35,7% of pay goes to income tax and employee contributions. Of the next 100 earned, 51 reach the employee, a marginal rate of 49,3%.

At twice that salary, €46,416, the average rate is 39,5% and the marginal rate 39,5%.

The marginal rate is highest at a salary of about €13,900: 49,3%. At about €32,100, a tax relief that shrinks as pay rises, or a zone with a steeper rate, ends; the marginal rate falls from 49,3% to 39,5%.

Average and marginal rates, with worked examples:
Pay rise: How much more take-home pay? (Lithuania)

Among 50 countries

At the same €23,208 a year, converted into each local currency, an employee in Lithuania takes home 64,3%, rank 49 of 50.

The same salary leaves the most in Belgium (97,7%) and the least in Romania (58,5%).

Every country is calculated for the same single employee without children, with the salary converted at the exchange rates of 2 October 2026. A salary that is typical in one country is high in another, so progressive systems look heavier where wages are lower. The ranking says nothing about purchasing power or about what the contributions pay for, such as pensions and health cover. Where the newer rules are not final, a country is calculated with its latest enacted year: Belgium (2025), Norway (2025) and Romania (2025).

Recent rule changes

The model for Lithuania includes these recent changes.

• Income tax has three bands: 20% up to €83,237.40, 25% from there to €138,729, and 32% on the excess.
• Monthly minimum wage rises to €1,153. Annual NPD uses a single formula: €8,964 minus 0.49 times income above €13,836; the second formula is removed.
• VAT on qualifying lodging and regular passenger transport rises from 9% to 12% on 1 January 2026.

Beyond the payslip

The statutory rules in Lithuania on notice, unemployment, sick pay, parental leave and unpaid wages.

• Notice and dismissal

  Darbo kodeksas — 57, 59, 64, 218 ir 220 straipsniai

  1 month / 2 weeks

  Employer notice

  Written notice is two weeks below one year of service and one month after that; it is doubled within five years of pension age and tripled for, among others, parents of a child under 14, pregnant and disabled employees.

• Unemployment benefit

  Nedarbo socialinio draudimo išmoka — Sodra / Užimtumo tarnyba

  12 months in 24

  Contribution record

  Apply within 12 months of gaining unemployed status; payment starts on the eighth day, or after three months if dismissed for the employee’s fault.

• Sick pay

  Ligos išmoka — Ligos ir motinystės socialinio draudimo įstatymas

  Days 1–2

  Employer-paid days

  The employer pays 62.06–100% of average pay for the first two calendar days of incapacity that fall on scheduled working days; Sodra pays from day three.

• Parental leave

  Motinystės, tėvystės ir vaiko priežiūros išmokos — Sodra / Darbo kodeksas 132–134 str.

  126 days at 77.58%

  Maternity leave

  Seventy days before and 56 after birth (140 days for a complicated or multiple birth); the earnings base is capped at the annual social-insurance contribution ceiling and the monthly minimum is €592.

• Unpaid wages

  Garantinis fondas (Sodra) / Darbo kodeksas 15, 147 ir 220 str.

  6 minimum wages

  Guarantee Fund cap

  Pays the approved net wage claim up to six minimum monthly wages (€6,918 in 2026); lodge the claim with the insolvency administrator within 30 days and apply to Sodra within 12 months of approval.

Method and sources

Official sources

• Valstybinė mokesčių inspekcija · Gyventojų pajamų mokestis
• Sodra · Įmokų tarifai
• Euro reference exchange rates, 2 October 2026 (ECB)