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I just received a PhD invitation letter from a German University which mentions that my remuneration will be 2/3 of full TVL 13 postion. I do not know what is TVL 13 position(google is of no help here) and didn't wanted to be rude so I am asking here first. Is this a common position or specific to Germany? If anyone knows, currently how much remuneration corresponds to TVL position? Thanks

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It should be TVL, not TVEL, do you want me to edit the question? – walkmanyi Jan 15 at 13:09
@walkmanyi, I checked once again on offer letter and it mentions as TVEL. Universities generally have standard format for invitation letter so I will have to clarify weather it is same as TV-L. Thanks for pointing out though. – alekhine Jan 15 at 14:24
I read the title in the list of questions, clicked eagerly… and am now somewhat disappointed by the content ;-) – F'x Jan 15 at 19:34
@walkmanyi, sorry for late edit. you were correct about TVL – alekhine Feb 26 at 17:50

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TV-L is the German public servant remuneration grade table (Tarifvertrag für den Öffentlichen Dienst der Länder (TV-L)). It is how civil servants Germany are graded for their salaries and similar conditions for their work.

Depending on where your position is, you'll be under TV-L West, or East, or Berlin, or Hessen. Something in your letter might specify this. Either way, there is information on the details here: http://oeffentlicher-dienst.info/tv-l/

Assuming you'd be in West Germany, tax as a single (i.e. not married or living with a life partner or children), this boils down to a basic salary of €2103/month with a net salary after all taxes and health insurance payments of €1383/month.

This will increase as you remain hired, you'll go up the staircase of salaries, going from 1 to 2 after 1 year, from 2 to 3 after an additional 2 years, et.c. Each step is a monthly salary increase of about €150/month net.

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It is not unusual for research groups with less funds to offer so-called "2/3 (or even 1/2) positions", in which you unfortunately get only a part of the full position salary. I think that Mikael's figure is already for the 66% salary - Mikael, can you confirm it? – Federico Poloni Jan 15 at 10:57
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Yes, I plugged in 66% in the box at that webpage. It is very common with less than full salaries in Germany -- my own position back when I did my PhD was a 1/2 position on TV-L (Ost) level 11. – Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson Jan 15 at 15:25
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Just curious, the pay is a fraction of a salary scale, but is the work week also that fraction of, say, 40 hours, or is it a full time position. – Paul Hiemstra Feb 26 at 18:18
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If you are paid a fraction of the full salary, your hours are supposed to be reduced correspondingly. However, since most graduate students don't normally work 40 hours per week at any rate, the actual number of hours to be worked is somewhat open to interpretation. The official number, however, is scaled. – aeismail♦ Feb 27 at 4:42
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@PaulHiemstra: I was expected to work full time for my half salary. The argument was that I was being paid for my teaching, teaching prep, and the assistance I rendered my advisor; while my own thesis work was in my spare time but mandatory… or something like that. – Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson Feb 27 at 10:21
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