Moving to Germany

No special regime

Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and many other countries tax newcomers less for a few years. Germany doesn't. From the day you live in Germany you are taxed on your worldwide income at the normal rates, up to 42% and 45% on very high incomes, plus the solidarity surcharge and, if you belong to a church that levies it, church tax.

In 2024 the government at the time proposed making 30%, 20% and 10% of a newcomer's salary tax-free in their first three years. It was criticised as unfair to people already working in Germany, was never put into a bill, and the coalition that proposed it ended in November 2024. The 2025 coalition agreement makes immigration easier with a digital "Work-and-Stay" agency and faster recognition of qualifications, but adds no tax break for newcomers.

Your moving costs

If you move for a job, the costs are work expenses (Werbungskosten) and lower your taxable income. This includes a move from abroad to take a job in Germany, and Germans moving home for a new job.

• Removal company or van, packing and transport of your belongings
• Travel to your new home for you and your family
• Rent for your old home for up to 6 months, if you have to pay it while you already pay rent in Germany
• Agent fees for finding a rented home
• A flat rate for everything else, with no receipts needed. From abroad: €1,286 for you, €1,221 for a partner and €643 for each child (§ 18 AUV; a little more from outside the EU). Within Germany: €964 for you and €643 for each other person
• Costs of buying a home, such as estate agent fees for a purchase
• Anything your employer has already paid back to you tax-free

Every employee already gets a €1,230 allowance for work expenses without showing anything. Moving costs only lower your tax by the part above that. What that is worth in the year you move, single, no church tax:

If your employer pays

Your employer can pay your moving costs back tax-free, up to the amounts you could deduct yourself (§ 3 Nr. 16 EStG). Anything above that is taxed as salary. You can't deduct what was paid back tax-free, so ask your employer first: a tax-free payment is worth more to you than a deduction.

Get it in your pay, not next year

You don't have to wait for your tax return. If your work expenses are more than €600 above the €1,230 allowance, you can ask your tax office (Finanzamt) to put a tax-free amount (Freibetrag) on your payroll record. Your employer then takes less tax each month.

1. 1Fill in the Antrag auf Lohnsteuer-Ermäßigung, online through ELSTER or on paper, by 30 November of the year.
2. 2Add your moving costs and other work expenses, with receipts.
3. 3Once a Freibetrag is on your record, you usually have to file a tax return for that year.

A second home

If your main home stays elsewhere, for example your partner and children stay abroad while you start the job, you can deduct a second home near your work (doppelte Haushaltsführung):

A family home abroad counts. Your employer can pay these costs back tax-free too.

Church tax

When you register your address (Anmeldung), you are asked your religion. If you say you belong to a church that levies church tax, such as the Catholic or a Protestant church, your employer takes 8% of your income tax in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, 9% elsewhere. Church tax paid can be deducted in your tax return. A year, single:

If you are not a member of such a church, you pay nothing.

Your first year

You are taxed in Germany from the day you move there. Income from earlier in the year, earned abroad, isn't taxed in Germany, but it is counted to set your tax rate (Progressionsvorbehalt), so a part year doesn't simply get the low rates of a small income. Our calculator assumes a full year in Germany; in the year you move, file a tax return to get the deductions above and settle the rate.

Working past retirement age

Since 1 January 2026, employees who have reached the German statutory retirement age can earn up to €2,000 a month tax-free, €24,000 a year, from the month after they reach it (the Aktivrente). It applies whatever your nationality, if you are employed in Germany in a job that pays into German pension insurance. The self-employed, civil servants and mini-jobs are excluded. Health and care insurance are still paid.

Visiting teachers and researchers

A few tax treaties exempt teachers and researchers who come to Germany for a short stay. The best known is the treaty with the United States: pay for teaching or research at a university, school or research institute is exempt in Germany for up to 2 years. Check your own country's treaty with Germany before you count on it.

Sources and limits

• Einkommensteuergesetz (EStG), § 9 (work expenses, second home), § 3 Nr. 16 (employer refunds), § 3 Nr. 21 (Aktivrente), § 32b (Progressionsvorbehalt), § 39a (Freibetrag) · gesetze-im-internet.de
• Lohnsteuer-Richtlinien R 9.9 and Lohnsteuer-Hinweise H 9.9 (moving costs)
• BMF letter of 28 December 2023, IV C 5 – S 2353/20/10004 :003 (flat rates from 1 March 2024)
• Bundesumzugskostengesetz § 10 and Auslandsumzugskostenverordnung § 18: the flat rates are shares of the federal A 13 step 8 salary, €6,427.89 from 1 March 2024 · gesetze-im-internet.de
• Aktivrentengesetz of 22 December 2025, BGBl. 2025 I Nr. 361
• Convention between Germany and the United States on income taxes, art. 20

Information, not tax advice. The salary figures come from our Germany calculation for 2026, tax class I, tested against research case D3 (computed, not yet checked against the BMF payroll calculator). The flat moving rates are the ones in force since 1 March 2024, still unchanged for 2026.