🇩🇪 Tax residency in Germany

Germany's residency test has two triggers, and neither is a pure day count. The first is domicile (Wohnsitz): if you keep a home in Germany that is available for your use, you are tax resident from day one, no matter how few days you actually spend in the country. A rented flat you keep the keys to counts. The second is habitual abode (gewöhnlicher Aufenthalt): a continuous stay of more than six months, roughly the familiar 183 days, makes you resident even without a home there. Short interruptions like a holiday or a visa run do not reset that clock.

The practical consequence: the dangerous trigger is the apartment, not the calendar. Ending the lease and deregistering (Abmeldung) matter far more than counting days. If your spouse or children stay in a family home in Germany, the tax office will generally treat that home as available to you, and residency usually follows even if you personally are mostly abroad.

Once resident, Germany taxes worldwide income. The top marginal rate is 45 percent, with a solidarity surcharge and church tax (if you are registered with a church) potentially on top. Foreign freelance income, dividends, and rental income all belong in the German return; foreign tax paid can often be credited or the income exempted under a treaty, but it still has to be declared.

Germany has no nomad or expat tax regime. There is no reduced flat rate for new arrivals and no exemption for foreign-source income: once resident, the standard progressive system applies from the first euro.

On treaties: Germany runs one of the widest treaty networks in the world. A US-Germany income tax treaty is in force and generally provides credit relief so the same income is not fully taxed twice; US citizens still file a US return every year wherever they live. A UK-Germany double taxation agreement is also in force. For any other home country, check the official treaty list before assuming relief; whether and how a treaty helps depends on the specific country pair and the income type.

When is a Steuerberater worth paying for? When you have income from multiple countries, German clients or a German-registered entity, property in Germany, or a mid-year move in or out. Those are the situations where a wrong self-assessment costs real money. A single foreign employer and no German ties usually is not one of them.

The short version: a home available to you in Germany makes you resident regardless of days, and a stay over six months makes you resident regardless of homes.

This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice.