Germany Social Insurance

[NotAllThere]

... they can demand the social insurance of approx EUR 500 a month, ...

Is that all? I pay ~€1400 a month.

[BlasterBates]

..ah are you paying Krankenversicherung as well ?

If you're paying Arbeitgeber/Arbeitnehmer you may want to review, whether your Sozailversicherung is optimised.

I payed none and I think I might get away with it.

[darmstadt]

I presume that you're talking about pension and unemployment as health insurance isn't really a state thing. When I went from permie to contract I went to the BfA who basically told me it wasn't worth paying Sozial as I'll get diddley squat back and its not compulsory. For health you need to either pay into a Krankenkasse such as AOK (who also handle those imports on E101 and E106) or go private although once you're private its practically impossible to go back to a Krankenkasse. Watch out for church tax as well

[DaveB]

MrsB has been nagging at me to look at working in Germany as she really likes the country and fancies a 3 or 6 month stint over there to see what living there would be like. I have to say following the thread from those that do the tax and NI equivalents look horrendously complicated compared to the UK.

[NotAllThere]

..ah are you paying Krankenversicherung as well ?

Nah - I'm in Switzerland. I think probably I overall pay less tax than I would contracting in Germany. Krankenversicherung for the whole family is about ~500 a month.

I definitely pay less tax than I would in the UK on the same gross income.

[Cyberman]

You can claim a refund on most of those contributions if you do not remain in Germany. It's a pain because there is 2 year waiting period before you can apply for it, and of course all of the forms are in german!!

[ThomasSoerensen]

aren't you guy set up as freiberufers
I am set up as freiberufer and have VAT number and everything. I delivered (via my german accountant) a profit estimate and pay tax every 3 months based on this.
I pay no unemployment ,pension or re-unification tax, just a tax on my profit. I sorted out health insurance privately, which was fun doing while having a 8 month pregnant wife residing in switzerland

[darmstadt]

aren't you guy set up as freiberufers
I am set up as freiberufer and have VAT number and everything. I delivered (via my german accountant) a profit estimate and pay tax every 3 months based on this.
I pay no unemployment ,pension or re-unification tax, just a tax on my profit. I sorted out health insurance privately, which was fun doing while having a 8 month pregnant wife residing in switzerland

Same here only I think you'll find you do pay Solidaritätszuschlagsteuer as this is a percentage of your income tax, in other words, a hidden tax. I pay VAT in advance every 3 months and income tax is slightly different in that I pay in advance a certain amount for the year and then pay tax every few months for previous years, confused, you will be...

[TykeMerc]

Ok after "Solidaritätszuschlagsteuer" I'm now convinced you lot are just making up words to confound those of us who can barely cope with UK tax let alone the German equivalent.

I'm rather glad I turned down the Frankfurt gig offered last week as I have all the foreign language abilities of a dead dog.

[BlasterBates]

Darmstadt ...the BfA has now disappeared, and they told me the same thing when I started (blah blah it isn't worth it). However... it doesn't matter what they told you all those years ago, you just need to bear in mind that the newly formed Deutsche Rentenversicherungs Bund will be sending you a "Kontenklärung". This is now automatic, for anyone not paying in. They started doing it only last year. If you've already filled one out and they didn't question your Selbständigigkeit then you're in the clear. If you do get one, then expect them to send you a further questionaire about whether you have more than one Auftraggeber and do you have any employees, and if you can't say yes.....be afraid.