5 ms·

And Rundfunkbeitrag, Krankenversicherung, Pflegeversicherung, Kapitalertragssteuer, Kirchensteuer, Gewerbesteuer (if you have a LLC (UG, GmbH)...

by rmoriz 9y ago

dualogy 9y ago
I concur with parent. Health insurance: if you're freelance, your health insurance is preferably private (cheaper) and you're free to cancel it if you please. Capital gains: is for speculations, can choose to "be a saver not a gambler". Church tax: is for church members, don't join. Gewerbesteuer: is for LLC/Ltd/GmbH/UG etc --- not for freelancers/Freiberufler Pflege: never joined that in my whole life. Seems to be optional then. Rundfunk: this becomes an issue when you register as a resident or fail to deregister as a resident. Now, not being registered as a resident while residing qualifies as "offense"/"misdemeanor" (Ordnungswidrigkeit), not as a crime, last I checked =) (I registered though, when I moved back here after years abroad. Though in retrospect, I have no idea why I did --- for someone who never makes it to the voting booth, all it gives you is GEZ hassles.)
- rmoriz 9y ago
  You should talk to a tax laywer
- skrause 9y ago
  > Health insurance: if you're freelance, your health insurance is preferably private (cheaper) and you're free to cancel it if you please. No, having health insurance has been mandatory in Germany since 2007. You're free to switch providers, or go from private to public insurance, but you can't just cancel it and go without insurance.
  - dualogy 9y ago
    I stand corrected.
dx034 9y ago
The first one is a fee for TV and I haven't heard of anyone who needed an accountant for this. The second and third are health insurance which you should have in every country. The German system of paying for that is not more complicated than some single payer systems such as the UK (NI contributions). Church tax is automatically deducted with the other taxes. It's collected alongside other taxes and you don't have to file separately for this. The corporate tax code is certainly not the easiest but common for most countries of the world. I'd totally agree that German taxes are complicated but the number of taxes to pay says nothing about the complexity. Neither does it say anything about digitisation.
k__ 9y ago
I don't have to pay Gewerbesteuer, Kirchensteuer or Kapitalertragsteuer. Also, Rundfunkbeitrag, Krankenversicherung and Pflegeveraicherung aren't taxes.

And Rundfunkbeitrag, Krankenversicherung, Pflegeversicherung, Kapitalertragssteuer, Kirchensteuer, Gewerbesteuer (if you have a LLC (UG, GmbH)...

by rmoriz 9y ago

And Rundfunkbeitrag, Krankenversicherung, Pflegeversicherung, Kapitalertragssteuer, Kirchensteuer, Gewerbesteuer (if you have a LLC (UG, GmbH)...

dualogy 9y ago

I concur with parent. Health insurance: if you're freelance, your health insurance is preferably private (cheaper) and you're free to cancel it if you please. Capital gains: is for speculations, can choose to "be a saver not a gambler". Church tax: is for church members, don't join. Gewerbesteuer: is for LLC/Ltd/GmbH/UG etc --- not for freelancers/Freiberufler Pflege: never joined that in my whole life. Seems to be optional then. Rundfunk: this becomes an issue when you register as a resident or fail to deregister as a resident. Now, not being registered as a resident while residing qualifies as "offense"/"misdemeanor" (Ordnungswidrigkeit), not as a crime, last I checked =) (I registered though, when I moved back here after years abroad. Though in retrospect, I have no idea why I did --- for someone who never makes it to the voting booth, all it gives you is GEZ hassles.)

rmoriz 9y ago
You should talk to a tax laywer
skrause 9y ago
> Health insurance: if you're freelance, your health insurance is preferably private (cheaper) and you're free to cancel it if you please. No, having health insurance has been mandatory in Germany since 2007. You're free to switch providers, or go from private to public insurance, but you can't just cancel it and go without insurance.
- dualogy 9y ago
  I stand corrected.

dx034 9y ago

The first one is a fee for TV and I haven't heard of anyone who needed an accountant for this. The second and third are health insurance which you should have in every country. The German system of paying for that is not more complicated than some single payer systems such as the UK (NI contributions). Church tax is automatically deducted with the other taxes. It's collected alongside other taxes and you don't have to file separately for this. The corporate tax code is certainly not the easiest but common for most countries of the world. I'd totally agree that German taxes are complicated but the number of taxes to pay says nothing about the complexity. Neither does it say anything about digitisation.

k__ 9y ago

I don't have to pay Gewerbesteuer, Kirchensteuer or Kapitalertragsteuer. Also, Rundfunkbeitrag, Krankenversicherung and Pflegeveraicherung aren't taxes.