German Tax Vocabulary Glossary

Verdienstabrechnung = salary statement

Bruttogehalt = gross salary

Gesamtbrutto = gross total
Steuerbrutto, laufende Bezuege = gross tax / regular pay
Lohnsteuer aus monatlichen Bezuegen = monthly salary tax
Solidaritaetszuschlag = solidarity charges for rebuilding East Germany
Rentenversicherungsbrutto = gross pension insurance; amount of your salary that is used for the rest of the calculations related to your insurance
Rentenversicherung = pension insurance fund
Arbeitslosenversicherung = unemployment insurance

Freiwillige Krankenversicherung = health insurance
Freiwillige Pflegeversicherung = longterm care insurance

Auszahlungsbetrag = what you put in your pocket

Anlage AUS = tax form for foreign income declaration

Anlage N = salary income in Germany

German Tax Help

People have told me to go to the Finanzamt in my district and ask for help filling out all the forms. I only wish that ELSTER, the German e-filing site, was available in English.

But in case they don't help me, I plan to ask for help at two local tax help groups: the Lohnsteuer-Beratung Berlin or the Lohnsteuerhilfe Berlin-Brandenburg.

The Lohnsteuer-Beratung Berlin has online information in English and, according to Toytown's boards, has English-speaking tax preparers. The flat cost is 92.33 € a year and 12.67 € entrance fee for the first year, so the total for this year's tax return would be 105 €.

The Lohnsteuerhilfe Berlin-Brandenburg only has information in German on its website, but the cost seems to be on an attractively-priced sliding scale. Since I only worked in Germany since August, my 2008 taxable income is quite low, and the cost for me would be 56 euros + 8 euros for the entrance fee, so the total would be 64 euros...unless they include the money I made in the US for 2008...

After my visit to the Finanzamt, I will first try ELSTER with an online translation tool before asking for professional help.

American Taxes Filed!

Hooray!

Today I finally filed my taxes after two weeks of research and playing around with Turbo Tax. After this, I feel like I could be a tax preparer!

In my personal case, filing the the foreign tax credit, Form 1116, would have given me a tax liablity, whereas filing the foreign income exclusion, Form 2555, I got a small refund. So try it both ways! Even though the general wisdom I have seen is that the foreign income exclusion usually lessens your tax liability than the foreign tax credit.

I found a great great article from a professional tax expert about the Foreign Tax Credit. He explains the form in simple terms, using an example to fill it out. The site on which I found it is ACA, American Citizens Abroad, and they have a host of practical articles on taxes and other bureaucracy.

Now I just have to prepare my German taxes!