Paperwork for Renting an Apartment: the Mietschuldenfreiheitsbescheinigung

One of the documents you need to rent an apartment is the mietschuldenfreiheitsbescheinigung from your last landlord, proving that you paid your rent on time.

Instead of buying a standard form from a stationery store (as shown above), ask your landlord to copy my example below and fill in the blanks as they apply to your case:

Landlord's name
Landlord's address



City, date



Betreff: Bescheinigung zur Mietschuldenfreiheit


Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,


hiermit bestätige ich, dass your name ab dem day. month year an der o.g. Adresse gewohnt hat und regelmäßig pünktlich den Mietzins vollständig entrichtet hat.



Mit freundlichen Grüßen,


Landlord's signature


Landlord's name

Comdirect Changed their Mind!

Someone called me from Comdirect on Monday and told me that they will open my account as soon as I send them the W-9 from the IRS, the Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification. Because I have the possibility of opening a securities account with Comdirect, they may have to report my earnings to the IRS.

Yes, German bureaucracy, I will fill it out!

They will open my account immediately, and I should receive my cards and passwords in the mail in a week. So opening an online checking account with Comdirect has taken me approximately a month and a half. Of course, it took me a while to gather all my documents to fax them. But still, it was not as easy as applying for an America-based online checking account, which takes all of 20 minutes.

Hopefully, everything goes well, and I still get my sign-up bonus!

More Findings on American Taxes

Even if I qualified for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, my investment income would not be excluded. I have to report income, earned or through investment, made anywhere in the world. If my investment income is greater than $1500, then I need to file Schedule B.

If the German tax I pay is more than the American tax I should have paid, then that excess could be credited back against my American tax payment (for example, when I move back to the States).
If I were single and had gross income of less than $8200, then I am not required to file, no matter where I lived.

Unfortunately, I make a bit more than that. So I should file the 1040, then claim a credit / deduction for my German income tax paid via the foreign tax credit form. I think.

To get more clarity, I ordered Publication 54, Tax Guide for US Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad, from the IRS. Free delivery to Germany!

German Taxes

Now that I am organizing my American tax papers, I briefly researched German taxes.

Once an employee has worked or lived in Germany for more than six months, they are considered a resident for tax purposes. But I wonder if this means for the tax year or year-to-date. For example, I moved to Germany in August, so for tax year 2008, I was not a resident in Germany. But in a matter of days is my six-month anniversary of living in Germany.

One can get tax forms from the Finanzamt or get them sent to your work (!?). The easiest way would be to file online via Elster, which has information in English, videos, and a hotline. Unfortunately, the hotline is ,14 centimes a minute.

If you have deductions, you file also an Anlage N. Apparently, if you contribute to social security in your home country, you can deduct this so that you are not paying twice the amount of 'social' taxes.

After you file, you will receive a notification whether you owe more taxes or get a refund. In German, this is a Bescheid über Einkommensteuer.

The deadline for filing the 2008 German tax return is May 31, 2009.

Speaking about taxes, if one leaves Germany permanently before living here for five years, you may get your contribution to the German pension system back. You must wait until you have lived two years away from the EU to claim reimbursement.

Paying American Taxes from Germany

It is almost tax filing time for 2008.

Unfortunately, I cannot file IRS Form 2555 for Foreign Earned Income Exclusion because I did not spend 330 days in Germany last year. If I were able to file this, only anything above $80,000 will be taxable. This will be taxed as ordinary income.

I may get to deduct all the costs necessary to maintain a residence abroad for work purposes. Not sure if I can do this even if I cannot file Form 2555.

No matter what, I get to file Foreign Tax Credit From 1116 for taxes already paid in Germany.

If I had any bank accounts with more than $10,000 at any time outside of the US, I have to file the Treasury Department From TDF 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.

Since I moved this year, I should file Form 3903 for Moving Expenses. I have to use a separate form for each move to report transportation, storage, travel, lodgings, and more. I cannot deduct moving expenses reimbursed by an employer.

Since the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion only apply to federal taxes, this month I will register to vote in Texas, renew my driver's license in Texas, and open a checking and savings account in Texas so that my legal domicile is Texas, where there are no state taxes.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), I did not convert my 401k rollover into my Roth IRA in 2008. Otherwise, I would have had to file IRS Form 8606 to pay taxes for my Roth IRA conversion. I would have been taxed on my contribution and earnings as ordinary income.

I will do it in 2009, because this will be a low tax year for me. And I will try to max out at the 15% tax bracket.

Should I get an accountant? Or go TurboTax?

Comdirect Changed Their Mind about my Checking Account!

After getting my rejection letter from Comdirect, I emailed them asking if I could provide more information, such as my American credit report and payslips, to prove my suitability for the checking account.

Surprisingly, a human tried to call me, emailed back and said yes! What great customer service! A super plus in my book.

He explained that they work with standardized procedures to open accounts. These procedures enable them to achieve savings, which they pass on to their customers. But this process does not fully take into account the individuality of the applicant.

I took a while to email him my TransUnion credit report and my last few pay slips, because I could not access my free credit reports online. They would not allow me to access the site from Germany. I assume this is to discourage identity thieves, but for Americans abroad, this poses a huge problem. First, I tried to request a credit report by phone. I had to leave a message, but they garbled my first and last name. Machine ineffiency! Next, I asked my sister to pretend to me to access the information in the US. During this process, she discovered that I had a TransUnion account from the last time I requested a credit report. This allowed me to access my TransUnion credit report from Germany, but otherwise, my sister would have had to print, scan, then email my 6-page credit report. A lot of unnecessary work...