Non-German income in Germany

If you have your residency or habitual stay in Germany, you are subject to unlimited tax liability in Germany. If you are subject to unlimited tax liability, the so-called world income principle applies. This means that all your income is taxable in Germany. In this case, this also includes your foreign, non-German income, such as salary from an employer abroad or rental income from a property outside Germany. 

If you had your residency or habitual stay in Germany for only part of the year and lived abroad for the other part, you are temporarily subject to unlimited tax liability in Germany. In this case, you may have earned income while abroad and may also have had non-German income while living in Germany. Both can be relevant for tax purposes in Germany.

💡 Further information on the taxation of non-German income in Germany can be found here.

When are capital gains earned abroad?

Capital gains are earned abroad if they are paid into a foreign securities account or bank account. 

What is relevant for your tax return is therefore not the domicile of the company in which you hold shares or the domicile of a fund, but rather when the capital gains were credited to your account. 

If, for example, you have invested in an ETF at a bank in Germany, with the ETF having its domicile abroad, the capital gains from this ETF are subject to German tax, and they are automatically taxed by the bank in Germany. It is therefore not foreign investment income just because the share or the fund domicile is abroad.

If your investment income flows into a foreign bank account, this is also foreign income. 

💡 Here we explain in detail how non-German capital gains are treated for tax purposes in Germany.

Which non-German income does Taxfix support?

Prerequisite: Your living situation

In general, Taxfix can only support you with your tax return if you lived in Germany for the whole year or part of the year and were (temporarily) subject to unlimited tax liability here. If you lived abroad for the whole year, we cannot map your tax case. 

If you moved from abroad to Germany or vice versa during the year, we can only support you if your original residence was no longer available to you after the move. We can therefore only help you with your taxes if you did not have a residence abroad and in Germany at the same time.

Requirements in the case of non-German income

Certain conditions apply to your non-German income so that you can use Taxfix:

Did you have foreign income during your time abroad?

In this case, the Taxfix app can help you in principle with all types of non-German income.

You had non-German income while living in Germany?

In this case, we only support certain types of non-German income. You can find a detailed list here.

💡 Tip

Unsure if Taxfix can handle your tax case? Don't worry - our app will check it for you! Simply register without obligation and answer a few questions. This will tell you if we can help you with your taxes.