91–100 of 124 posts
Of course the tax office did their "Steuerprüfung", but compared to my Steuerprüfung in Austria it was very simple, and needed just one day in their office.
No Gewerbe tax, 100% (independent, systems) work for big US companies.
I never spoke to a lawyer or tax assistant, I did remote work most of my life.
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Yes, if you have an incorporation (UG/GmbH/...) where you are the only managing partner (Ein-Personen-GmbH) and you only have one client, you’re handled as if you were a freelancer with only one client. It was an easy way to circumvent several obligations until they “closed” that “loophole”.
Could you be more specific what loophole? I am in a similar situation, I am full time employed (as a developer) by 1 person GmbH. I work with a tax agency that has not said anything about this. Thanks.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, if you have an incorporation (UG/GmbH/...) where you are the only managing partner (Ein-Personen-GmbH) and you only have one client, you’re handled as if you were a freelancer with only one client. It was an easy way to circumvent several obligations until they “closed” that “loophole”.
When did they close that loophole?
„Ist der Auftragnehmer eine rechtsfähige Personengesellschaft (z. B. OHG, KG, GmbH & Co. KG, Partnerschaftsgesellschaft, GbR), schließt dies ein abhängiges Beschäftigungsverhältnis zum Auftraggeber im Regelfall ebenfalls aus. Dies gilt jedoch nicht, wenn im Einzelfall die Merkmale einer abhängigen Beschäftigung mit entsprechender Weisungsgebundenheit gegenüber den Merkmalen einer selbständigen Tätigkeit überwiegen. Nach Auffassung der Spitzenverbände der Sozialversicherung [>>](ISRV:NI:SVBEIEC 2/2004 1) soll dies grundsätzlich auch dann gelten, sofern es sich bei dem Auftragnehmer um eine Ein-Personen-Gesellschaft (z. B. Ein-Personen-GmbH bzw. Ein-Personen-Limited) handelt. Insbesondere bei typischen Beschäftigungsverhältnissen – wie beispielsweise bei den nicht programmgestaltenden Mitarbeitern in der Film- und Fernsehproduktion – kann die Gründung einer Ein-Personen-GmbH oder Ein-Personen-Limited nicht zur Umgehung eines sozialversicherungspflichtigen Beschäftigungsverhältnisses führen. Beurteilt nach den maßgebenden tatsächlichen Verhältnissen sind diese Personen vielmehr weisungsgebunden in die Arbeitsorganisation der Unternehmen eingegliedert. Arbeitnehmer kann – anders als ein Arbeitgeber – ausschließlich eine natürliche Person sein, so dass die Gründung einer Ein-Personen-GmbH oder Ein-Personen-Limited in diesen Fällen sozialversicherungsrechtlich ins Leere geht.“
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, if you have an incorporation (UG/GmbH/...) where you are the only managing partner (Ein-Personen-GmbH) and you only have one client, you’re handled as if you were a freelancer with only one client. It was an easy way to circumvent several obligations until they “closed” that “loophole”.
Could you be more specific what loophole? I am in a similar situation, I am full time employed (as a developer) by 1 person GmbH. I work with a tax agency that has not said anything about this. Thanks.
The following article (German) is a good read on that: http://www.schwerd.info/sozialversicherungsrecht/scheinselbs...
I'm in a similar situation, except I'm a British citizen looking to move to Germany. I already have a sole director, UK limited company set up for contracting / freelancing. I've head rumours of German contractors using UK limited companies instead of the local GmbH/UG entities. How does that work generally? Are people setting themselves up as German employees of the UK entity and collecting a salary? Or is there som…
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Employment by US company: Did that for five years working remotely from Germany for a US Incorporated. I'm German, had a German contract with all the standard provisions for Germany (mandatory vacation, termination protections etc, employer contributions to health-care etc). Worked without a hitch, like being employed by a DE entity. The only gotcha is that my monthly pay would have social contributions and health-ca…
Which are the "popular services" you are referring to? Can you elaborate? In my current specific situation there are no coworkers from Germany. I didn't even know that a US-based company can give me a German contract. Do you know the specifics how the stuff got deducted automatically (except the taxes)?
I don't know any of the details of how the company made the employment work. If you PM me I will give you the name of our German accounting firm which handled everything.
You can join any "IT-Genossenschaft" like [0] or [1], which legally saves you from falling into the "Scheinselbstständigkeit" category. One-time cost is about 100-200€. [0] https://www.4freelance.de/ [1] https://www.it-projekt-eg.de/
https://www.it-projekt-eg.de/freiberufler/service/haeufige_f...
Reicht zum Schutz gegen Scheinselbständigkeit der einfache Eintritt in die Genossenschaft?
Nein. Unser Modell schützt Sie dann vor Scheinselbständigkeit, wenn die IT-Projektgenossenschaft eG der Auftragnehmer ist und den Auftrag an Sie übergibt. Die Mitgliedschaft alleine reicht nicht aus.
That basically translates to "A membership does not protect you from Scheinselbstständigkeit. It will only protect you if the Genossenschaft is the contractor and transfers the job to you."
This might not be possible for all cases.
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Just a small clarification: You are still "selbständig" (self-employed) if you do a "Gewerbe". The thing you don't get easily is a so called "Freiberuf", particularly if you don't have an engineering degree (though I managed to get it). Tax wise it is actually almost easier to do non-EU business than doing business in Europe, because there are no VAT issues involved (and there are no tariffs on those things). You jus…
Can you go more into detail regarding the tax stuff? Who pays the VAT then?
So that's what I do, and on my "Umsatzsteuererklärung" form, there is a field for income that is VAT-free, where I put basically everything.
I did this for a few years. Here are your options: Employment by the US company: They're allowed to employ you and have you "stationed" in Germany. You pay no US tax, and DE tax on 100% of this income. For Sozialversicherung, Rentenversicherung etc it's just as if you were selbständig. Since you're allowed to give up all sorts of rights in DE conteact Law, the US based contract is probably fine. Contractor for the US…
> since I dont have a degree in CS, I can't be selbständig in that field Wtf? Is there a rationale for this rule or is it just German's super weird "degrees are everything" culture turned to law? (I'm Dutch, were basically Germans who talk funny, but I'm very happy we don't have rules like these)
So, if I understand you correctly you'll be working on a contractual basis for a single client, full-time for a prolonged period of time. This kind of arrangement indeed is quite likely to be classified as "bogus self-employment" by the German state pension system, no matter your legal setup. I wouldn't bother setting up a GmbH (private limited company) because it most likely won't help you anyway. Unfortunately, the…
I don't think that my employer would do so only for me (given that I don't even have an employer right now, I'm just speaking generally here). But I agree this would indeed be the best option. Is there a way that I can pay the social security fees from day one on my own to completely avoid all hassle and possible back-payments after a Prüfung (audit)?
I didn't do that, regretted it later and wanted to return to it, but learned that the continuity is lost, that is, my income from the previous 12 months (when I was still employed in Germany) would not count for my unemployment payments.