Finance Married couples who own a rental property can reduce their tax using a strategy called the Ehegattenschaukel. Here is how it works. You sell your investment property to your spouse at the current market price. Your spouse depreciates the property using the new, higher purchase price. Your spouse can deduct the depreciation value from their income. Hence, reducing the tax. After ten years, your spouse sells it back to you. You repeat the cycle. Read more ->โ
Finance German tax office has launched MeinElster+ app. You can now scan and upload your invoices in the app. The app will automatically suggest where each invoice belongs. It even prefills all your information from the previous tax return. The goal is that you can file your income tax return in a single click. But the app has a long way to replace the tax software, especially for people who don't know what expenses they can deduct from the taxes.
Health You can pause your public health insurance contributions when you leave Germany temporarily. To do so, you must apply for the "Anwartschaft" status. Under this, you inform your public insurer that you are leaving Germany and want to pause the insurance. You pay a small monthly contribution to ensure you can access the public system upon your return. We are organizing a webinar with an insurance expert. The expert will explain this option in detail and how it works. It's free to join. You can register here.
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Free Webinar: Pause your public health insurance contributions
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This is the first webinar in our health insurance series. In this series, an expert we recommend will explain
When can you pause your public health insurance contributions in Germany
Common misunderstandings around โpausingโ public health insurance
Whether switching between public health insurers is possible and how it works
โโCan't make it live? Sign up anyway. We'll send a recording so you don't miss it.
Letting a friend drive your car could cost you โฌ5,000 or more
If someone who is not listed on your car insurance policy drives your car and meets with an accident, the following happens.
Your car insurance will pay for the third party's damages. The reasoning is that the third party is not responsible for your failure to list the driver.
Your car insurance can demand compensation of up to 5000โฌ from you. The compensation claim could be higher if you intentionally didn't mention the driver.
If you have fully comprehensive car insurance, the insurer won't pay for your car damage. The reasoning is that only the listed drivers are insured.
Thus, ensure that your list of drivers is always up to date. You can also add a driver temporarily to your policy.
Many insurers offer the service to add drivers online.
Self-employed and farmers must always file a tax return.
Employees and civil servants must file an income tax return in the following situations (According to Section 46 of the Income Tax Act (EStG)).
You have income on which you didnโt pay income tax, such as rental income.
You received wage replacement benefits, such as unemployment, short-time work, sickness benefits, maternity, insolvency, or parental allowance of more than 410โฌ. This also applies to top-up contributions for partial retirement.
You work multiple jobs or receive multiple wages at the same time.
You have the tax class combination 3/5 or 4/4 with a factor.
You have claimed allowances for income tax deductions from the tax office, and you received more than 12,096โฌ as a single person in 2025 and 24,192โฌ as a married couple filing jointly.
Your income tax certificate (Lohnsteuerbescheinigung) is marked with the letter โS.โ This may happen in the following situation: You changed jobs within a year and received special payments such as a Christmas bonus. In this case, itโs possible that your new employer didnโt consider your previous employerโs contributions when calculating your income tax. This is rare, but you should check your Lohnsteuerbescheinigung to confirm.
You have received a severance payment, and the favorable fifths rule (Fรผnftelregelung) was applied when calculating the income tax.
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The SPD proposed a social media ban for children under 14 and a restricted "youth versions" for ages 14-16. The app must be available via EU Digital Identity Wallet verification. [1]
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New here? Check out GermanPediaDid someone forward you this? Subscribe to this newsletter. Your unfair advantage in Germany Essentials Finance : The government plans to pay 10 โฌ per month toward your child's retirement. It is part of the proposal "Frรผhstart-Rente". The law is expected to pass in 2026. The state will pay โฌ10 per month into a personal pension investment account for each child aged 6โ18 attending school in Germany. Read more -> Finance : Investing in German new builds. We had a...
New here? Check out GermanPediaDid someone forward you this? Subscribe to this newsletter. Your unfair advantage in Germany Essentials Belated happy International Women's Day to every woman who shows up, leads with strength, and lifts others along the way. ๐ธ Finance : Your statutory pensions will increase by 4.24% on July 1, 2026. [1] Health : You can file a complaint against a doctor or a hospital if you believe the treatment they provided was incorrect. It's always recommended to first...
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