Living in Germany, Telecommute to U.S.?

[emroslansky]

Our family has relocated to Munich for my wife's job, all relocation bureaucracy/wife's work visa/health insurance has been covered by my wife's company. I, however, would like to telecommute for my old company back in the U.S. My company does not have any local office and I would be working from home here in Munich, getting paid out of the U.S. to a U.S. bank account.

What do I need to do to be "proper" here in Germany? Must I apply for my own work visa and does that force me to get my own health insurance, etc.?

Thanks!

[James3214]

As I see it yes. Officially, as you are living and 'working' in Germany you need to get a work permit and register with the 'Finanzamt' and pay all the taxes and health insurance as a normal resident.
There should be no problems getting the working permit as you are already in the country on a spouse visa.

[Bevdeforges]

In essence, you'll be self-employed and have to settle the local social insurances yourself.

Be very careful, because your "employer" back in the US may have in mind to just keep you on the company payroll and that really will mess you up. You're considered to be "working" where you are physically located while doing the work, not where the work ends up or where you're being paid.

Because you're working in Germany, you should be paying taxes in Germany - and you'll be eligible for the overseas earned income exclusion on your salary while living there. You should make sure that whatever your employer is paying you while you are telecommuting includes allowances for any expenses you incur because you're working from home - over and above your normal "salary." (The employer will be saving on all the "employer paid" benefits and taxes while you're overseas, so ultimately it's a good deal for the employer, too.)
Cheers,
Bev

[Nononymous]

How long will you be there, and are you maintaining a residence in the US? You might find it much simpler to stay under the radar, as you'd have an Aufenhaltserlaubnis (residence permit) and presumably also health insurance due to your wife's job.

I've done this for up to six months without having any issues because my wife's job (rather, her university sabbatical) gave all of us the Aufenhaltserlaubnis so I could simply continue working and getting paid into the bank account at home. I even managed to work find work with a local company, through a weird but perfectly legal arrangement whereby my German employers were technically clients of my Canadian employers.

I have no idea how that all would play out if you tried to get a work permit (I didn't need to bother) but I think they are fairly fussy about self-employment. Knowing the Beamter, I suspect that if you went to the Arbeitsamt or Finanzamt and said I'm here for a few years and have a residence permit thanks to my wife and plan to continue working for a US company but want to pay German taxes, they'd probably say "too confusing, too much hassle, we don't know the procedure" and refuse to take your money.

[emroslansky]

@sr. expat. We'll likely be here 3-4 years and are maintaining a residence in the US and we have just received our residence permit here, health insurance from wife's job, ... I'm not sure how to be "under the radar" when it comes to tax time though with the accountant asking questions.

I've had advice from others that I should get a "freelance visa" since I'm essentially working on my own for my company. I need to dig into this further.

Thanks for all the thoughts, I'll get to the bottom of this at some point...

Cheers,
Eric

[twostep]

Originally Posted by emroslansky

@sr. expat. We'll likely be here 3-4 years and are maintaining a residence in the US and we have just received our residence permit here, health insurance from wife's job, ... I'm not sure how to be "under the radar" when it comes to tax time though with the accountant asking questions.

I've had advice from others that I should get a "freelance visa" since I'm essentially working on my own for my company. I need to dig into this further.

Thanks for all the thoughts, I'll get to the bottom of this at some point...

Cheers,
Eric

Would you mind to keep us posted? Thank you.

[emroslansky]

After consulting a tax advisor, a relocation specialist and my wife's local HR department, the verdict is I do not need to obtain any kind of work visa. My situation is maybe not that typical however. I'm now working for a U.S. based contract agency that contracts me to my previous employer(I had been an exempt, salaried employee of this company). My pay gets taxed in the U.S. and stays in the U.S. and I'm not taking a job away from the local German economy. So, in effect I'm still working in the U.S., albeit virtually.

My lesson through all of the searching I've done online, the forums I've poured through for hours, is that you need to get your answers from local specialists outside of the local government. The forums have been helpful, but can in no way provide the correct answer for any one individual in any one situation. There are people online who will give you all kinds of advice, but much of it is off-base for your situation. My opinion anyway. And as for the local government, their input is just plain confusing for a foreigner.

Cheers,
Eric