The mini-job limit: €603 in 2026

The figure

Since 1 January 2026, the earnings limit for marginal employment has been €603 per month.

It is no longer a politically set figure; since October 2022 it has been linked to the minimum wage:

Minimum wage × 130 ÷ 3, rounded up to whole euros
13.90 × 130 ÷ 3 = 602.33  →  rounded up €603

The idea behind it: a mini-job should allow around 10 hours a week at the minimum wage. If the minimum wage rises, the limit rises with it.

And 2027? The Minimum Wage Commission has set a minimum wage of €14.60 for 2027. Zeitflex has stored this figure and calculates the limit for each calendar year from the minimum wage in force at the time — there is no hard-coded number that someone could forget. Please do not already state in notices today what will legally apply in 2027: until the turn of the year it is a decided, but still future, figure.

Why the year counts, not the month

The most widespread misconception: “As long as she does not go over €603 in any month, everything is fine.” That is wrong.

What matters is the annual view: 12 × €603 = €7,236 in the rolling year. A strong month does no harm if another one is correspondingly weaker — as long as the total for the rolling year is right and the forecast at the start was realistic.

That is why Zeitflex calculates with a rolling year: twelve months backwards, not the calendar year.

Occasionally exceeding the limit

Zeitflex shows you how many of these exceptions have already been used in the current rolling year and how many are still available.

What counts — and what does not

This is where other tools calculate incorrectly. Legally, the following applies to earnings under § 14 SGB IV:

The difference with tips is decisive: what a guest leaves on the table voluntarily, in addition and without any entitlement is not earnings — no matter how much. A service charge that the business collects and passes on, or a promised minimum amount, is pay, by contrast. Zeitflex labels the two types separately when they are recorded; tax exemption depends on the type, not on the amount.

For benefits in kind it is an exemption limit: one cent over €50 makes the entire amount taxable — and therefore earnings. Cash is never a benefit in kind.

For SFN premiums, the contribution exemption depends on basic pay: it only remains as long as basic pay does not exceed €25 per hour (§ 1 SvEV). Above that, the premiums are still tax-free, but subject to contributions — and therefore count as earnings. Zeitflex separates the two portions — and that is exactly why hospitality and care produce different results than tools that simply add everything together.

The mini-job monitor in Zeitflex

It is included in all plans, including the free one. Open Mini-job on the left — the item is available to owners and management, not to the employees themselves.

There you see a table with these columns:

• Status — the traffic light for each person: Safe, Watch, Critical, Limit exceeded
• Current month and Year (rolling year), each with utilisation in per cent
• Remaining this month — the time that can still be booked, rounded down to whole five minutes and never rounded up
• Exceedances left — as “X of 2”
• Year history — a bar chart over twelve months with the limit as a dashed line

Clicking a row expands the reasoning: where the remaining time comes from, which hourly wage is stored, and a recommended action in one sentence.

In addition:

• Early warning by email and push at 80 %, 95 % and 100 %
• Check item in the month-end close (step 1) — checked, but not blocking
• Conflict check in the shift plan when a shift is created

The forecast for the rest of the month comes from the published shift plan if your plan includes it — shifts from tomorrow onwards are counted; today is already contained in the clock-ins. Without a shift plan, Zeitflex estimates proportionally from the contractual weekly hours.

Who gets the warning

The early warning runs automatically once a day. It reports exactly once per person, month and threshold — anyone who received the 80 % email today will not get it again tomorrow, only the next level. If a person jumps straight from 70 % to 100 %, the 100 % notice comes immediately, not the 80 % one first.

Recipients are owners and management (roles OWNER and MANAGER):

• by email to the owner's address and to managers with a confirmed address (confirm under Settings → Account), one email per threshold, the most urgent first
• by push to registered devices — also to people without an email address, such as terminal-only users with a PIN

The temporary worker does not get a warning. That is intentional: a message “You are at 95 %” to a temporary worker creates pressure where a planning question is meant. Instead, they can see their own status at any time — as a tile on the dashboard and in the mobile app: status of the current month, remaining time, free exception months and their own monthly totals, without comparison with others.

What happens if the limit is exceeded?

The employment becomes subject to social security, usually retroactively from the point at which the forecast should have been corrected. Contributions have to be paid in arrears — employer and employee share, although the employee share may only be deducted retroactively to a limited extent. In practice, the business is left with a considerable part of it.

That is why the early warning matters more than finding out after the fact. And that is why, when the limit has been exceeded, the monitor does not say “prohibited” but refers to the transition zone: it recommends clarifying with the payroll office whether employment as a midi-job has to be reported from the month concerned. The transition zone is the option for action, not the end.

Short-term employment

The other route: up to 3 months or 70 working days per calendar year (§ 8 (1) no. 2 SGB IV), without an earnings limit, but not as a regular occupation. In agriculture, 15 weeks or 90 working days have applied since 1 January 2026; Zeitflex takes the industry from the business settings.

This is how Zeitflex keeps track of the time limits:

• Every calendar day with at least one clock-in is counted — regardless of its length. That is also how the official guidelines on marginal employment count it.
• People with the employment type Short-term and Mini-job are included. Anyone who left in July and comes back in autumn continues to count in the calendar year.
• On the Mini-job page, a separate box appears for this as soon as at least one person stands out. The traffic light shows Watch from 80 % of the working days, Critical from 95 % or when the week limit is reached, and Limit exceeded above that.
• If the highest monthly earnings exceed the earnings limit for marginal employment, Zeitflex points out that regular occupation needs to be checked.

What Zeitflex does not do here: for the time limits there is no email or push warning run — the traffic light is only shown in the view. Zeitflex does not know about previous employment with other employers; the check is incomplete without this information, and the page says so explicitly. Zeitflex does not conclusively check whether it is a regular occupation.

Frequently asked questions

My temporary worker earned considerably more than usual in December. Is the mini-job gone?

Not automatically. If the extra demand was unforeseeable — a colleague fell ill —, it is one of the two permitted exception months in the rolling year. If it was planned because December is always busier, it belongs in the annual forecast and can break it. The monitor shows you both: the used exception month and the forecast. If the limit has actually been exceeded, the first port of call is the payroll office.

Does the Christmas bonus I pay my temporary workers count?

Legally yes, as soon as it has been promised or is owed through established company practice — then it belongs proportionally in the forecast for the whole year. However, the monitor in Zeitflex does not add one-off payments and bonuses itself. Subtract the amount from the visible annual headroom, or go through the planning with the payroll office.

The waitress gets a lot of tips. Do I have to count them against the limit?

No, as long as they come from guests — voluntarily, in addition, without any entitlement. Tips from third parties are tax-free under § 3 no. 51 EStG and are not earnings. It is different if you put a service charge on the bill and pass it on, or guarantee a minimum amount: that is pay and counts. Record the two separately, and the labelling in the export will be correct.

Why does my temporary worker only see their own budget, not the traffic light of the others?

Because the overview contains the names and projected earnings of all mini-jobbers. That is management information, and the Mini-job menu item is therefore only available to owners and management. Each temporary worker sees their own status — remaining time, monthly totals, free exception months — on the dashboard and in the mobile app, and nothing else.

Need more help?

The exact rules for tax-free premiums are under § 3b: tax-free premiums, recording tips and bonuses under Recording bonuses and benefits in kind. If the limit has already been exceeded, the first port of call is the tax adviser, not the software; for questions about the display, support can help.