I have a simple question, that is confusing me, when a company says the salary is 30k or 40k, what does that imply?
I'm not a native speaker, but I know that 'k' means thousands.
However, how much would I receive per month? That quantity divided by twelve?
Does that number includes taxes or is already the final value?
Thanks in advance.

Annual salary, before taxes.

In general, I would say it is your annual salary before you pay taxes, and would be divided by 12 and paid once per month. This makes sense because, depending on where you work and where you are from, the company won't know what deductions need to be made until they know who they are hiring (so they can't advertise the 'final' salary).

However, just as a counter example, I worked in the Netherlands for a while and my annual salery was actually divided by 14. I was then paid twice in May and twice in December. I also paid less tax than Dutch nationals because of a scheme the government has to attract skilled workers. So basically, it can vary.

It's the gross annual amount. You'll get 1/12 of that less taxes depending on where you live.

In the UK, for example, that means tax at 22% or 40% and employees national insurance contributions which vary wildly but often run to something like 6%.

The quoted amount will not include additional benefits -- you have to ask about those. They may (or may not) include pension contributions, health plans, dental plans and so on.

If the amount includes those things as well then it's typical to call it a "package", as in "total package worth 40k" may mean a 35k salary plus 5k in pension contributions. Some companies use this terminology because they operate schemes where people have flexibility in whether they get salary or benefits.

Others have addressed that it is pre-tax "gross" income, and does not mention benefits.

Exact pay details are something you should discuss before accepting the job offer.



You should ask what the pay period is at the company.

One common value is a paycheck every two weeks, which means there are 26 paycheks in the year. The benefit is that the check is always the same amount of money. This is easier on employers for accounting reasons. Perhaps the most annoying part about a two-week pay cycle is that twice a year you have a month with 3 paychecks, with the following month not seeing a paycheck until late in the calendar.

A paycheck by day of the month --- perhaps a single paycheck on the 1st, or two paychecks on 1st and 15th --- is a bit more work for the accountants because of the variable number of days in a month. I dislike this format because I prefer knowing exactly what amount will be deposited. Different amounts of pay mean different costs and deductions taken from the gross, so the net pay doesn't easily equate a fixed amount per days in the month.

Quote: Original post by Relfos
how much would I receive per month? That quantity divided by twelve?
Does that number includes taxes or is already the final value?

Yes: That quantity divided by twelve.
Then subtract taxes and other withholding to determine how much the monthly take-home would be.

But why do you need to know the monthly take-home now?

Maybe they're checking the affordability of a relocation or something?

Quote: Original post by Katie
Maybe they're checking the affordability of a relocation or something?

Exactly, that's why I created this topic.
Thanks everyone for the useful answers!