Skip to content
Your New Country

Moving to Germany · Taxes · Reviewed September 4, 2026

Taxes in Germany for US citizens

Two systems will have a claim on you: Germany's, because you live there, and the American one, because you are a citizen. This page sets out how they fit together, what Germany's agreements with the US do and do not cover, and the order things happen in during your move year.

Top personal rate47.5%US federal top rate 37%
VAT / consumption tax19%US sales tax averages 7.5%
US income tax treatyIn forceTie-breaker available
Totalization agreementIn forceOne social security system

This is not tax advice. Cross-border outcomes turn on facts this page cannot know: your visa category, your income mix, where your employer is incorporated, what you own and when you bought it. Use this to ask a qualified cross-border accountant better questions, and verify every figure against Germany's tax authority and, for the US side, the IRS guidance for citizens abroad.

Your position in Germany

When you become tax residentYou are taxed in Germany on worldwide income once you are resident. Residence is triggered either by keeping a dwelling you intend to use (Section 8 of the Fiscal Code) or by a habitual abode, which Section 9 deems to exist from the beginning of any unbroken stay of at least six months. There is no 183-day safe harbour if you have signed a lease and registered an address.
US income tax treatyIn force
Totalization agreementIn force
Top personal income tax rate47.5% · US federal 37%
VAT / consumption tax19% · US sales tax averages 7.5%
Official sourceGermany tax authority →
NotesThe 1989 US-Germany income tax treaty, amended by the 2006 protocol, prevents most double taxation, and a social security totalization agreement means you pay into one country's system rather than both. As a US citizen you still file a Form 1040 every year. For 2026 the foreign earned income exclusion is 132,900 US dollars, but German rates on employment income are usually high enough that the foreign tax credit is worth more than the exclusion. Germany's top statutory rate on wage income, including the 5.5 percent solidarity surcharge on the tax itself, is 47.475 percent, and the OECD puts the threshold at about 4.4 times the average wage. Church tax of 8 to 9 percent of your income tax applies only if you register as a member of a taxed religious body.

German tax residence starts sooner than most Americans expect. Under Section 8 of the Fiscal Code you are resident once you keep a dwelling you intend to use, and Section 9 treats any unbroken stay of at least six months as a habitual abode from its first day. Germany then taxes your worldwide income. There is no non-domiciled regime and no remittance basis.

Rates are progressive to 45 percent, and the 5.5 percent solidarity surcharge on the tax itself lifts the top marginal rate on wage income to 47.475 percent. The OECD puts that bracket at roughly 4.4 times the average wage, so most professionals never reach it. What does bite is social insurance. The OECD measures a single worker on the German average wage as paying 38.7 percent of gross in income tax plus employee social contributions in 2025, against 24.3 percent for the equivalent US worker.

You keep filing US returns. The 1989 treaty and its 2006 protocol prevent most double taxation, and the totalization agreement means you pay German social contributions rather than both German and US ones. For 2026 the foreign earned income exclusion is 132,900 dollars, but because German effective rates on salary usually exceed US rates, the foreign tax credit normally produces a better result. Get advice before selling US property, exercising options or touching a Roth account.

The United States does not stop taxing you

The US taxes citizens on worldwide income regardless of where they live. Moving to Germany adds a second tax system; it does not remove the first one. Most Americans abroad end up owing little or nothing to the IRS, but that outcome is produced by filing correctly, not by leaving.

Two mechanisms produce that result. The foreign earned income exclusion removes foreign wages and self-employment profit up to an annually indexed cap, but reaches earned income only and does nothing about self-employment tax. The foreign tax credit offsets US tax dollar-for-dollar with income tax actually paid to Germany, reaches passive income the exclusion cannot, and can leave credits to carry forward. You cannot apply both to the same dollar. Separately, FBAR and FATCA reporting is triggered by account balances rather than by tax owed, and carries penalties out of all proportion to the tax at stake.

The full mechanics are the same wherever you move, so they live in one place: US taxes when you live abroad covers the exclusion tests, the credit, treaties and the saving clause, FBAR and FATCA thresholds, self-employment tax and state residency. The rest of this page is what Germany specifically changes.

Which mechanism fits Germany

Germany's top rate of 47.5% sits at or above the US federal top rate of 37%. Local tax is doing the heavy lifting, so the foreign tax credit is the mechanism worth modelling first: it usually eliminates the US liability outright and leaves excess credits to carry forward.

Self-employment in Germany

A totalization agreement covers Germany, so a self-employed American here can normally be assigned to one social security system and exempted from the other, evidenced by a certificate of coverage. Arrange it at the start of the engagement, not at filing time.

US-side official references: FEIE ·Foreign tax credit ·FBAR ·FATCA reporting ·Totalization agreements

Which relief mechanism reaches which income

The most common planning error is assuming the exclusion covers everything. It covers one category. This table maps each kind of income against the mechanisms available to you, with the last column set to Germany's recorded agreement status.

General map of relief by income type, with the treaty column reflecting Germany's recorded status. A starting point for a conversation with an accountant, not a determination.
Income typeForeign earned income exclusionForeign tax creditTreaty position for Germany
Wages earned while living in GermanyYes, up to the annual cap, if you pass the residence or presence testYes, on anything above the cap or not excludedThe employment income article assigns the primary taxing right
Self-employment profitIncome tax only. Self-employment tax survives the exclusionYes, against income tax on the same profitTotalization decides which social security system you pay into
Dividends and interestNo. It reaches earned income onlyYes, for foreign tax actually paid on itDividend and interest articles usually cap withholding
Capital gains on investmentsNoYes, where a foreign tax is paid on the same gainA gains article assigns the taxing right by asset type
Rental income from propertyNoYes, for foreign tax charged on foreign propertyImmovable property is normally taxed where it sits
Pensions and retirement account withdrawalsNoYes, where foreign tax is charged on the withdrawalThe pension article decides. Read it before you draw
US Social Security benefitsNoDepends which country is entitled to tax themMany treaties assign them to one country only

Read the rows against your own income mix. Someone on a local salary and nothing else uses one row of this table. Someone with a brokerage account, a rental at home and vesting equity uses five, and each one can land in a different country.

What Germany's agreements with the US actually change

The general mechanics above apply to every American abroad. What differs country by country is which of them Germany has an agreement to soften. Of the 15 countries covered on this site, 15 have a US income tax treaty, 12 have a totalization agreement and 12 have both. Germany is the case below.

Treaty and totalization status for Germany, and the mechanism each one affects
IssueStatus for GermanyWhat that means for you
Double tax on employment incomeTreaty in forceA US–Germany income tax treaty exists, so each type of income has an assigned taxing country and there is a defined route to relief rather than an argument. You still file both returns; the treaty decides who taxes what first.
Being treated as resident by both countriesTie-breaker availableTreaties carry a residence tie-breaker: permanent home, then centre of vital interests, then habitual abode, then nationality. It gives you a defensible answer in the year you move, when both countries can plausibly claim you.
Social security and payroll contributionsTotalization in forceA totalization agreement covers the US and Germany, so the same earnings are not charged to both social security systems. It also lets contribution periods in each country count toward qualifying for a benefit in the other.
Self-employment and freelancingCertificate of coverage routeWhere an agreement applies, a certificate of coverage from the system you do pay into is what you show the other one. Get it before the first invoice, not after the first assessment.
Pensions, retirement accounts and investment incomeTreaty articles applyTreaty articles usually address pensions, dividends, interest and capital gains separately from wages. Read the specific articles: a treaty that solves your salary can leave your brokerage account taxed in a way you did not expect.

Treaty and totalization status is recorded from the sources listed at the foot of this page. Agreements are amended and protocols enter force on their own timetable, so check the current text before taking a position on a return.

Two numbers worth running before you move

Consumption tax, which nobody models

Income tax gets the attention. Consumption tax takes its slice every month without appearing on any return. A US household spending the national average net salary of $4,230 a month would need roughly $3,024 a month in Germany for the same basket, at Germany's overall price level. Of that, the VAT embedded in the prices is up to about $483 a month, against roughly $295 in embedded sales tax at home.

Indicative consumption tax inside an equivalent monthly basket
MeasureUnited StatesGermany
Headline consumption tax rate7.5%19%
Equivalent monthly basket$4,230$3,024
Tax inside that basket, per month$295$483
Per year$3,540$5,796

A ceiling, not a bill. It assumes the whole net salary is spent, and in practice rent sits outside VAT in most systems while food, medicine, books and transport often carry reduced or zero rates, so real exposure lands below this line. The direction of the gap is the useful part: about $188 more per month than at home, before any reduced rate applies.

Marginal rate, read honestly

Germany's top personal rate is 47.5% against a US federal top rate of 37%, a gap of +10.5 points. That comparison is weaker than it looks in both directions. The US figure excludes state income tax, which can add several points on top. The German figure bites at its own threshold, which may be far lower or far higher in income terms than the US bracket it is being compared to. Top rates tell you the shape of a system, not your bill. Model your actual income against the brackets on the official site before you decide anything.

Check what your salary is worth in Germany →

How Germany compares on tax across our dataset

Germany ranks 9 of 15 on headline top personal rate, lowest first, with 6 countries charging a higher top rate. Every row links to that country's own tax page.

Top personal rate, VAT and US agreement status, lowest top rate first
CountryTop rateVATUS treatyTotalization
United States (baseline)37%7.5%Not applicableNot applicable
Mexico35%16%YesNo
Thailand35%7%YesNo
New Zealand39%15%YesNo
Italy43%22%YesYes
Australia45%10%YesYes
United Kingdom45%20%YesYes
Spain47%21%YesYes
Norway47.4%25%YesYes
Germany · this page47.5%19%YesYes
Portugal48%23%YesYes
Netherlands49.5%21%YesYes
Ireland52%23%YesYes
Sweden52.4%25%YesYes
Canada53.5%5%YesYes
Japan55.9%10%YesYes

Headline rates only. They ignore social contributions, local surtaxes, wealth and inheritance taxes, and the very different incomes at which each top rate starts. A country with a high top rate that begins at a high threshold can cost a middle earner less than one with a lower rate that begins early.

The sequence of tax events in your move year

The move year is the messy one: part-year residence in two systems, two calendars, and deadlines that do not line up. This is the order things generally happen in.

  1. Before you leaveFix the date you stop being a US state resident and the date you land, because almost every later question is answered by those two dates. Take a snapshot of account balances, unrealised gains and any equity vesting schedule. Selling before you become Germany tax resident is a different transaction from selling after.
  2. The day you arriveRecord the arrival date against something durable, such as a boarding pass, a lease or a registration receipt, because you may have to evidence it years later. It is the day the clock starts on the rule that decides your German tax residency: You are taxed in Germany on worldwide income once you are resident. Residence is triggered either by keeping a dwelling you intend to use (Section 8 of the Fiscal Code) or by a habitual abode, which Section 9 deems to exist from the beginning of any unbroken stay of at least six months. There is no 183-day safe harbour if you have signed a lease and registered an address.
  3. Weeks 1 to 8: register locallyA local tax number is usually a precondition for a bank account, a lease and a payroll run, so it happens early whether or not you feel like a taxpayer yet. Registering does not by itself make you resident; the residency rule above does.
  4. First local filingYour first German return covers only the part of the year you were resident, in most systems, and it is the return where split-year treatment is claimed if the country offers it. Deadlines rarely match the US calendar.
  5. First US filing from abroadTaxpayers whose tax home is abroad get an automatic extension beyond the April deadline, and a further extension on request. The extension is for filing, not for paying: interest runs from the original date.
  6. The same season: information returnsThe FBAR and, above higher thresholds, Form 8938 are filed on their own schedules and carry their own penalties. They report balances, not income, so people who owe nothing still miss them and still get penalised.
  7. Month 12 onwardThe bona fide residence test needs an uninterrupted tax year abroad, so the first full calendar year is often the first year you can use it. Until then the physical presence test, 330 full days abroad in a 12-month window, is usually the only route to the exclusion.

State residency: the bill people do not expect

Federal filing is the obligation everyone knows about. The one that catches people is the state they left. States set their own residency rules, and several test domicile, meaning your permanent home in intent, rather than where you physically are. Under a domicile test you can spend a full year in Germany and still be assessed as a resident of your old state, on your worldwide income, with none of the federal relief above available against it. The FEIE and the foreign tax credit are federal mechanisms, and a state is not required to follow them.

What severing residency usually rests on, and what to be able to evidence:

  • Ending the lease or selling the home, rather than keeping it available to you.
  • Surrendering the state driver's licence and voter registration.
  • Moving vehicle registration, professional licences and mailing address out of state.
  • Where dependants live and where school-age children are enrolled.
  • Day counts, kept contemporaneously. A calendar reconstructed three years later convinces nobody.
  • Filing a final part-year return for the state, which is what formally closes the file.

Check your specific state's rule before you leave, not after. It is easier to establish that you left cleanly on the way out than to argue it from Berlin two years later.

What to keep, from day one

  • A day-count log with arrival and departure dates for every trip, including trips back to the US. Both the physical presence test and Germany's own residency rule are decided on days.
  • Local payslips and the annual German tax assessment, which is the evidence of foreign tax paid that a credit claim rests on.
  • Year-end statements for every non-US account, plus the maximum balance during the year, which is what the FBAR asks for and what banks rarely show by default.
  • Cost basis and acquisition dates for anything you owned before you moved, in USD at the time.
  • Your certificate of coverage, if a totalization agreement applies to you.
  • The exchange rates you used, and the source of them, applied consistently across the year.

Tax questions about Germany

Do I still pay US taxes if I live in Germany?

Yes. US citizens file a federal return regardless of where they live. The 1989 treaty and 2006 protocol prevent most double taxation, and for 2026 you can exclude up to 132,900 dollars of foreign earned income. In practice most people in Germany use the foreign tax credit instead, because German effective rates on salary usually exceed US rates. You will also likely need to file FBAR and FATCA reports.

Sources and review

The Germany-specific figures on this page, meaning the residency rule, treaty and totalization status, rates and notes, come from the sources below. The general US mechanics are described from published IRS, FinCEN and SSA guidance, linked inline above.

What these numbers are. The headline figures were re-derived from primary sources during review. Some category indices could not be matched to a published statistic and are reasoned estimates, marked as such in the list below. Where a source entry says a value is derived, estimated or crowd-sourced, that is exactly what it is: no international body publishes a like-for-like index for every category, and private insurance premiums are not published at all in most countries. Rent figures are national market averages, so a capital city will run above them. How the dataset is built.

  1. OECD, Purchasing Power Parities and price level indices, Germany with the United States as base, 2024. Category A01 actual individual consumption 71.5 (used for col_index_vs_us); A0101 food and non-alcoholic beverages 88.7; A0107 transport 114; A010701 purchase of vehicles 94.4; A0111 restaurants and accommodation 91.1; A0106 health 50.7; A0110 education services 50.9; A0104 housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels 64.1. — accessed September 4, 2026
  2. OECD Tax Database, top statutory personal income tax rate: Germany 47.475 percent in 2024 and 2025, including the solidarity surcharge, with the top bracket starting at 4.42 times the average wage in 2025. Germany's average wage for 2025 is 66,700 euros. — accessed September 4, 2026
  3. OECD Tax Database, average income tax plus employee social security contribution rate for a single worker with no children at 100 percent of the average wage, 2025: Germany 38.68 percent, United States 24.31 percent. — accessed September 4, 2026
  4. Destatis (Federal Statistical Office), average gross monthly earnings of full-time employees in Germany: 4,784 euros, April 2025. avg_net_salary_usd_month derived as 4,784 EUR less the OECD 38.68 percent average tax and contribution rate, giving 2,934 EUR, converted at 1 EUR = 1.1593 USD. — accessed September 4, 2026
  5. European Central Bank, euro foreign exchange reference rates against the US dollar. August 2026 monthly average 1.15931 USD per EUR, used for every currency conversion on this page. — accessed September 4, 2026
  6. Eurostat, electricity prices for household consumers (nrg_pc_204), Germany, second half of 2025, all taxes and levies included: 0.3869 EUR/kWh in the 2,500 to 4,999 kWh consumption band. That is the second highest in the EU on the same band and period, behind Ireland at 0.4042 and ahead of Belgium at 0.3499. Retrieved from the Eurostat dissemination API; the Bundesnetzagentur's own price pages were not reachable, and Eurostat compiles this series from the same national reporting. — accessed September 4, 2026
  7. Eurostat, gas prices for household consumers (nrg_pc_202), Germany, second half of 2025, all taxes and levies included: 0.1223 EUR/kWh in the 20 to 199 GJ consumption band, the band that covers a normal heated dwelling. — accessed September 4, 2026
  8. US Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly Table 5.3: US average residential electricity price 18.34 cents per kWh, June 2026. Germany's 0.3869 EUR/kWh converts to 44.85 US cents, a ratio of 2.4. — accessed September 4, 2026
  9. US Energy Information Administration, US average residential natural gas price 24.09 US dollars per thousand cubic feet, June 2026, used alongside the Eurostat gas price to bound the German-to-US household energy price ratio. — accessed September 4, 2026
  10. Destatis, microcensus 2022, main tenant households by net cold rent, gross cold rent, rent burden and year of moving in: average net cold rent 7.40 EUR per square metre overall and 8.40 EUR for households that moved in from 2019 onward; gross cold rent 8.60 and 9.70 EUR, so cold operating costs run about 1.20 to 1.30 EUR per square metre on top of the net rent. Rent burden 27.9 percent of net household income overall and 29.6 percent for recent movers. — accessed September 4, 2026
  11. Destatis, microcensus 2022, main tenant households by rent and municipality type: large cities 8.10 EUR per square metre net cold rent overall and 9.50 EUR for households that moved in from 2019 onward; medium towns 6.90 and 7.90 EUR; small towns and rural municipalities 6.40 and 7.20 EUR. rent_1bed_center_usd is derived from the large-city recent-mover figure of 9.50 EUR per square metre, uprated to 2025 with the HICP rent index (117.9 divided by 110.8) to 10.11 EUR, applied to a 55 square metre two-room flat, the German equivalent of a US one-bedroom: 555.99 EUR or 645 USD a month. rent_1bed_outside_usd uses the all-Germany recent-mover figure of 8.40 EUR per square metre on the same basis: 491.61 EUR or 570 USD. Both are net cold rents and exclude the Nebenkosten counted in utilities_index_vs_us. The 55 square metre assumption is ours; the per-square-metre rents are Destatis. These are microcensus averages across every contract signed since 2019, so asking rents on new lettings in Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg run materially above them. — accessed September 4, 2026
  12. Eurostat, household final consumption expenditure by purpose (nama_10_co3_p3), Germany, current prices, 2022, the latest year Eurostat publishes for Germany at this level of detail: CP045 electricity, gas and other fuels 91,487 million EUR; CP044 water supply and miscellaneous services relating to the dwelling 46,267 million EUR. This is the basis for utilities_index_vs_us, which is built on actual national household consumption valued at local prices rather than on a unit price per kilowatt-hour or a crowd-sourced apartment basket. CP045 divided by Germany's 41.1 million private households is 185.50 EUR a month, uprated to 2025 price levels with the HICP energy index (154.5 divided by 146.5) to 195.63 EUR. Water adds 24.52 EUR and sewage 31.19 EUR a month for a two-person household on the Destatis tariffs below, and refuse adds an estimated 12 EUR. The total is 263 EUR, or 305 USD at 1 EUR = 1.15931 USD, for electricity, heating, water and refuse; indexed against a US monthly equivalent of about 210 USD for the same basket that gives 145. German leases are quoted cold, with heating, water and refuse billed on top as Nebenkosten, so this is the like-for-like full bill whether or not a particular lease bundles it, and none of it is included in rent_1bed_center_usd or rent_1bed_outside_usd. The 12 EUR refuse figure is our own estimate: no German federal body publishes a national average household refuse charge. It is bounded by Eurostat's CP044 aggregate, which is 93.83 EUR a month per household and additionally covers sewage, water and other dwelling services such as caretaking, so water plus sewage plus refuse at 67.71 EUR sits comfortably inside it. — accessed September 4, 2026
  13. Eurostat, harmonised index of consumer prices, annual average (prc_hicp_aind, 2015 = 100), Germany: actual rentals for housing (CP041) 110.8 in 2022 and 117.9 in 2025; water supply and miscellaneous services relating to the dwelling (CP044) 100.8 in 2016, 109.8 in 2022 and 124.1 in 2025; electricity, gas and other fuels (CP045) 146.5 in 2022 and 154.5 in 2025. Used to uprate the 2022 national accounts energy spending, the 2022 water tariffs, the 2016 waste water costs and the 2022 microcensus rents to 2025 price levels. 2025 is the latest annual average published. — accessed September 4, 2026
  14. Destatis, charges for drinking water supplied to tariff areas by tariff type, Germany 2022, VAT included: under the most common tariff structure, 1.83 EUR per cubic metre plus a basic charge of 91.97 EUR a year. At the national average of 126 litres per person per day, a two-person household uses about 92 cubic metres a year, giving 260.29 EUR a year or 21.69 EUR a month at 2022 prices, and 24.52 EUR once uprated to 2025. — accessed September 4, 2026
  15. Destatis, common household costs by tariff type for waste water disposal: for a reference household of 2.02 persons using 121 litres per person per day, the waste water charge plus basic charge came to 304.01 EUR a year in 2016, the latest year in this table. That is 25.33 EUR a month, or 31.19 EUR once uprated to 2025 with the HICP index for water supply and dwelling services. — accessed September 4, 2026
  16. Destatis, public water supply in Germany 1991 to 2022: daily water use per inhabitant 126 litres in 2022, 128 in 2019 and 121 in 2013. This is the consumption assumption behind the water line of utilities_index_vs_us. — accessed September 4, 2026
  17. Destatis, households and families: 41.1 million private households in Germany. Used as the denominator that turns Eurostat's national household energy spending into a per-household monthly bill. — accessed September 4, 2026
  18. rent_index_vs_us of 55 is our own estimate, not a figure derived from a published source. No permitted source publishes a like-for-like Germany-versus-United States market rent: the OECD price level survey stops at the combined heading housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which it puts at 64.1 for Germany against 100 for the United States in 2024, and US Census Bureau rent tables could not be retrieved. Because German household utilities sit above US levels (utilities_index_vs_us 145) and are part of that heading, the rent component must fall below 64.1; 55 is retained as the best defensible estimate until a like-for-like official comparison is available. The German side of the calculation, in rent_1bed_center_usd and rent_1bed_outside_usd, is derived from Destatis microcensus rents and is not an estimate. — accessed September 4, 2026
  19. German Residence Act (Aufenthaltsgesetz), official English translation, used for the overall structure of residence titles. — accessed September 4, 2026
  20. Section 18g Residence Act: the EU Blue Card salary threshold is 50 percent of the annual contribution assessment ceiling in the general pension insurance, and 45.3 percent for listed ISCO-08 occupation groups (132, 133, 134, 21, 221, 222, 225, 226, 23, 25) and for recent graduates. — accessed September 4, 2026
  21. Sections 18a and 18b Residence Act: residence permits for skilled workers with vocational training (18a) and with academic qualifications (18b), each requiring a concrete job offer in a skilled occupation. Section 18b is the legal basis used as the official_url for the skilled worker route on this page; Section 18c, cited separately below, governs only the later settlement permit. — accessed September 4, 2026
  22. Section 18(2) number 5 Residence Act: a skilled worker who has turned 45 and is applying for a residence title for the first time must earn at least 55 percent of the annual pension contribution assessment ceiling, unless adequate old-age provision is proved. With the 2026 ceiling of 101,400 EUR that is 55,770 EUR. — accessed September 4, 2026
  23. Bundeszentralamt fuer Steuern (Federal Central Tax Office), the German federal tax authority, private individuals section: tax identification number, tax returns, withholding tax on capital income and mutual agreement procedures for double taxation. Used as taxes.official_url. Income tax assessment itself is carried out by the Laender Finanzaemter; the BZSt is the federal-level authority. — accessed September 4, 2026
  24. Section 18c Residence Act: settlement permit for skilled workers after three years of a residence permit and 36 months of pension contributions, reduced to two years and 24 months for those who qualified in Germany; EU Blue Card holders after 27 months with basic German. — accessed September 4, 2026
  25. Section 20 Residence Act: an 18-month residence permit to look for work after successfully completing studies or qualified vocational training in Germany. — accessed September 4, 2026
  26. Section 20a Residence Act (Chancenkarte): one-year search card for skilled workers or points-scale applicants, extendable by up to two years, with German at A1 or English at B2 and a recognised qualification. — accessed September 4, 2026
  27. Section 2(3) Residence Act: for student and training permits, subsistence is secured by monthly funds equal to the requirement under Sections 13 and 13a(1) BAfoeG; job-seeker categories require that amount plus 10 percent. The Federal Ministry of the Interior publishes the minimum amounts each year by 31 August in the Bundesanzeiger. — accessed September 4, 2026
  28. Sections 13 and 13a BAfoeG: monthly requirement of 475 EUR basic need plus 380 EUR housing need for students living away from home, plus 102 EUR health and 35 EUR long-term care insurance supplements, totalling 992 EUR a month or 11,904 EUR a year; the job-seeker figure of 1,091 EUR a month, 13,092 EUR a year, is that amount plus 10 percent. — accessed September 4, 2026
  29. Section 28 Residence Act: family reunification with German citizens; a settlement permit may be granted after three years of holding a residence permit with sufficient German. — accessed September 4, 2026
  30. German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, social insurance thresholds for 2026: pension contribution ceiling 101,400 EUR a year (8,450 EUR a month), health and long-term care ceiling 69,750 EUR a year (5,812.50 EUR a month), compulsory insurance threshold 77,400 EUR a year. The Blue Card floors of 50,700 and 45,934.20 EUR are 50 and 45.3 percent of the pension ceiling. — accessed September 4, 2026
  31. Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), the EU Blue Card: issued for four years as a matter of principle, or contract length plus three months; settlement permit after 27 months, or 21 months with B1 German. — accessed September 4, 2026
  32. German Missions in the United States (Federal Foreign Office), residence visa page: confirms that US passport holders may apply for a residence permit at the local immigration office after visa-free entry, must register their residence within two weeks and must apply within 90 days of arrival. The page carries document checklists but no salary or funds thresholds. — accessed September 4, 2026
  33. German Residence Ordinance (Aufenthaltsverordnung) Section 46: national category D visa fee 75 EUR. — accessed September 4, 2026
  34. German Residence Ordinance (Aufenthaltsverordnung) Section 45: issuing a residence permit, EU Blue Card or ICT card costs 100 EUR; extension 93 to 96 EUR; change of purpose 98 EUR. — accessed September 4, 2026
  35. German Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung), official English translation. Section 8 residence and Section 9 habitual abode, which provides that an unbroken stay of not less than six months is regarded as a habitual abode from the beginning of that stay. — accessed September 4, 2026
  36. IRS, Germany tax treaty documents: 1989 income tax treaty, 1989 technical explanation, 2006 protocol and 2007 technical explanation. — accessed September 4, 2026
  37. IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, section 3.39: the foreign earned income exclusion under section 911(b)(2)(D)(i) for tax years beginning in 2026 is 132,900 US dollars. — accessed September 4, 2026
  38. IRS, totalization agreements: explains that these agreements stop dual social security taxation and how certificates of coverage work, and directs readers to the Social Security Administration for the country list. The page itself does not name individual countries. — accessed September 4, 2026
  39. German Social Code Book V, Section 241: the general statutory health insurance contribution rate is 14.6 percent of contributory income. — accessed September 4, 2026
  40. German Social Code Book V, Section 242: each sickness fund sets its own supplementary contribution rate. The 2.5 to 3 percent range quoted here is an approximation of recent fund-level rates, not an official published average; the statutory average is set annually and published in the Bundesanzeiger. — accessed September 4, 2026
  41. GKV-Spitzenverband, financing of statutory health insurance: the 14.6 percent general rate and the fund-specific supplementary contribution, both split equally between employer and employee since 2019. — accessed September 4, 2026
  42. PKV-Verband (Association of Private Health Insurers), how private premiums are calculated: premiums are individually underwritten on entry age and health and are not published as a national average. typical_private_insurance_usd_month of 465 USD (about 400 EUR) is our own estimate for a healthy applicant in their thirties on comprehensive cover, not a figure from this page; older or higher-benefit policies cost substantially more. — accessed September 4, 2026
  43. German Value Added Tax Act (Umsatzsteuergesetz) Section 12: standard VAT rate 19 percent, reduced rate 7 percent. — accessed September 4, 2026
  44. German Civil Code (BGB) Section 551: a rental security deposit may not exceed three months' rent excluding operating cost flat rates or advances, and the tenant may pay it in three equal monthly instalments. — accessed September 4, 2026
  45. German Nationality Act (Staatsangehoerigkeitsgesetz) Section 10: naturalisation after five years of lawful habitual residence, with no requirement to renounce a previous citizenship. — accessed September 4, 2026
  46. Destatis, current population of Germany: 83.5 million. — accessed September 4, 2026

Nathan Brooks · Editor, Your New Country

Nathan builds and maintains the Your New Country dataset, reconciling figures from the OECD, Eurostat, the World Bank and national statistics offices, and reading each country’s immigration and tax guidance at the source before it is published.

  • Reads each country’s immigration, tax and health guidance in the original official source rather than in secondary coverage
  • Reconciles every published figure against OECD, Eurostat, World Bank and national statistics releases on a quarterly cycle
  • Publishes the derivation and the access date beside each number, and marks estimates as estimates

Data reviewed September 4, 2026 · source confidence: medium ·methodology

Your New Country publishes reference information, not tax advice. Tax positions are fact-specific and the penalties for getting a cross-border position wrong are heavier than the fees for getting it checked. Before you file, take advice from an accountant who works both systems, and confirm everything against Germany's tax authority and the IRS, which administers the US rules described here.

Keep going on Germany

Cost of livingCategory-by-category price levels, rent and a worked monthly budget.Visas & residencyEvery route a US citizen can actually use, with costs and official links.HealthcareHow the system works, what foreigners can access, what cover costs.US vs GermanyEvery figure on this site, side by side against the US baseline.

← Back to the full Germany guide