Cyprus public money, in plain words
Where Cyprus's public money comes from, where it goes, and what your share is.
A series of short stories about taxes and the state budget, each built on one official number. Read them in any order.
A running estimate: the government's projected totals for 2026 spread evenly over the year. Real payments are lumpier. Tax arrives in instalments and pensions go out monthly.
What do you earn?
Type your gross salary and see how much of it reaches the state.
On a gross salary of €31,260 a year, 24% reaches the state
Usual citizen
You take home €26,545 a year, €2,212 a month.
Under the 2025 rules your income tax would have been €1,636 a year; the 2026 reform saves you €500.
Worked out on your device. We don't record what you enter.
of your gross pay reaches the state: about €7,590 a year, or €633 a month. Your employer pays another €4,814 in contributions on top of your salary.
In an eight-hour day you work the first 1 h 57 min for the state, until 10:57.
- Left to save or spend, after VAT€23,67076%
- VAT and duties when you spend (estimate)€2,8759%
- Income tax€1,1364%
- Social insurance€2,7519%
- GESY€8283%
An employee with one salary, no other income and no optional deductions, under the rules for tax year 2026: income tax bands of 0% to €22,000, 20% to €32,000, 25% to €42,000, 30% to €72,000 and 35% above; social insurance 8.8% up to €68,904; GESY 2.65% up to €180,000. "Relocated for work" applies the exemption for new residents taking up first employment in Cyprus: half of pay is exempt from income tax at €55,000 or more, otherwise a fifth, up to €8,550. VAT and duties are an estimate, drawn hatched: about 12% of what a household spends, with the share of take-home pay that is spent assumed to fall from 95% to 60% as income rises. The funds' surplus is the state's own contribution, not yours, and is not shown. Not tax advice.
The stories
Three acts: what you pay, what the state does with it, and what people argue about.
Act I · You
What do I pay, and what do I get?
- A quarter of your pay4 min read
- The tax you never see4 min read
- The 2026 tax reform: what changed in January5 min read
- Do I have to file a tax return?4 min read
- Who actually pays income tax5 min read
- The lightest tax on work in the EU4 min read
- Your municipal bill4 min read
- Your electricity and water bill, in euros4 min read
- Waiting for GESY: the wait nobody measures4 min read
- A pension if you came later5 min read
Act II · The state
Where does it all come from, and where does it go?
- Fourteen billion in, thirteen out6 min read
- Two pots, not one5 min read
- The pension promise5 min read
- What GESY costs, and who pays5 min read
- What €100 buys3 min read
- Thirty years in one slider6 min read
- Who holds the debt5 min read
- A smaller state than Europe's4 min read
- Water and the budget4 min read
- The town hall that spends five cents in the euro5 min read
Act III · The arguments
What are people actually disagreeing about?
- Three numbers, one budget3 min read
- One pay bill, four percentages5 min read
- Defence, the fastest-growing line4 min read
- The defence contribution that is not kept for defence5 min read
- Promised and delivered4 min read
- Ministry by ministry4 min read
- The ten biggest projects3 min read
- The company tax bet4 min read
- The tax nobody collected4 min read
- The carbon bill5 min read
- Brussels, in and out3 min read