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I'm a British citizen living in Germany, working as a freelancer and I'm trying to work out tax here and it's made me very confused.

I also want to study here, which makes matters more difficult. As an EU citizen (for the time being) I can work according to the sames rules as German students, but I'm not sure how that affects my taxes.

As far as I understand, and please correct me if I'm wrong, as a regular freelancer I normally pay both the employee's and employer's parts of the health insurance/pension contributions and so on.

If I become a student, what happens then? As a student freelancer I would be on the student health insurance, pay income tax and pay 9.45% pension contributions (as I'm pretty sure I'll be earning more than 850€)

My question for you all is, as a freelancer would I also have to pay the employer's contribution to pension insurance? If I work more than 20 hours a week I would have to pay normal health insurance, however would I again have to pay the employer's contribution?

Thanks in advance.

Alex Holmes
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1 Answers1

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Yes you will need to pay the employer pension contribution yourself. Keep in mind, that is if you are a freelancer: you could also set up your own company (e.g. GmbH). Also I believe you get a 50% reduction for the pension payments in your first 3 years as freelancer.

And finally, don't take my word for it. Find the relevant government entity and give them a call or send an email. They'll speak/write English. You DO NOT want to rely solely on a website with free advice for this type of stuff.

user3244085
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