Contracting in Germany

[scooterscot]

There's an 180 day rule very similar to the one in the UK, just make sure you don't exceed and tax in the UK. i.e no more than 180 days in any continuous period even if it spans two tax years.

Cheers.

I'm familiar with this rule, have never exceeded it before. I intend to spend the majority of my time in the UK.

[Olly]

erm so you could be one day into the second German tax year and still staying in Germany tax year - and in Germany more then 180 in the year before and you would be liable to German tax in the second year?

[tim123]

erm so you could be one day into the second German tax year and still staying in Germany tax year - and in Germany more then 180 in the year before and you would be liable to German tax in the second year?

I'm not sure what you are suggesting but the German rule is if you are resident in Germany for a continuous period of 181 days, then you are tax resident for that period, even if it spans two tax years.

This is not how the UK rule works as 91+90 days in the UK would not make you tax resident for either year.

HTH

tim

[scooterscot]

erm so you could be one day into the second German tax year and still staying in Germany tax year - and in Germany more then 180 in the year before and you would be liable to German tax in the second year?

I don't intend to be resident while I'm over there. I'll spend the bulk of my time working in the UK... but there will be times I'll have to spend up to 180 days in Germany. (not continuously)

[scooterscot]

I'm not sure what you are suggesting but the German rule is if you are resident in Germany for a continuous period of 181 days, then you are tax resident for that period, even if it spans two tax years.

WHS

I worked under a similar rule while working in Norway except it was 60 days over one year. A return flight to the UK would reset the clock.

Most of Europe operates to something similar. It's not rocket science although reading some of the posts in here might make you think otherwise.

[Olly]

erm ok i'm being a bit dim here...
tax resident for that period....so say i live in germany for 200 days...id pay german tax on any income in those 200 and then i go back to uk and pay uk tax for any other days?

[Fred Bloggs]

Sorry, but this has just got even more confusing to me. Are we suggesting here now that I could commute weekly to Germany for (say) 2 years but because it is less than 180 continuous days, I would pay no tax in Germany? That just doesn't seem right to me.

[scooterscot]

Sorry, but this has just got even more confusing to me. Are we suggesting here now that I could commute weekly to Germany for (say) 2 years but because it is less than 180 continuous days, I would pay no tax in Germany? That just doesn't seem right to me.

Resident, resident is the keyword here let me repeat resident....

Do you know how many days you are allowed to spend in Germany before register for residency? It takes less than a minute to find out, go on have a google.

Only when you're a resident do you become liable for tax.

If you don't intend to spend any more days than required to register for residency you don't have any individual tax worries.

[Northerner]

Do you know how many days you are allowed to spend in Germany before register for residency?

Only when you're a resident do you become liable for tax.

If you intend to spend more than 3 months in Germany then you must register your residence within 7 days of arrival.

Generally speaking (as German taxation/Double Tax treaties are too complex to explain in a few sentences) if you spend more than 183 days physically in Germany (it does not have to be continuous) in a calendar year then your worldwide income would be taxable in Germany.

[Fred Bloggs]

Thank you. That is as I would understand it.