Tax residency rule, Germany

Germany Tax Residence

Summary

Germany treats you as a tax resident when you have a home there that you keep and use, or when you stay in Germany for more than six months in a row. Short breaks, such as a holiday or a trip home, do not interrupt the stay, and the six months can run across two calendar years. Once the stay passes six months you are resident from its first day, and Germany then taxes your income from the whole world. Your local tax office (Finanzamt) decides, looking at the facts of your case.

Limit
A stay of more than 6 months in a row
Period
One connected stay, it can cross from one calendar year into the next
Short breaks
Do not interrupt the stay, for example holidays and trips home
Other way in
A home in Germany that you keep and use, with no day count at all
Law
Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung) sections 8 and 9, Income Tax Act section 1
Run by
Your local tax office (Finanzamt)

Who it applies to

The rule

Section 1 of the Income Tax Act (Einkommensteuergesetz) says that a person with a home or a habitual abode in Germany has unlimited tax liability. Unlimited tax liability means Germany taxes your income from every country, not only your German income. The two terms are defined in the Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung, AO).

Section 8 AO is the home test. You have a home where you hold a dwelling in circumstances that show you will keep it and use it. There is no day count. A flat that you rent or own, that is furnished and that you can use at any time can be enough. The official guidance says the use does not need to be regular or long, but it must be more than visits and short holiday stays.

Section 9 AO is the stay test. Your habitual abode is where you stay in circumstances that show the stay is not only temporary. The second sentence gives a fixed rule: a connected stay in Germany of more than six months is always a habitual abode, and from the beginning of the stay. Short interruptions are not taken into account. The official guidance of the tax administration names family trips home, annual leave, longer home leave, health cures and business trips as short interruptions.

The third sentence of section 9 has one exception. The six-month rule does not apply when the stay is only for a visit, recreation, a health cure or a similar private purpose and does not last longer than one year.

If another country also treats you as resident, the tax treaty between Germany and that country decides which one counts as your home country for the treaty. Treaties normally look first at where you have a permanent home, then at where your personal and economic ties are closest.

Why it exists

Germany wants to tax people who really live in the country on all their income, in the same way as everyone else who lives there. A home test alone would miss people who stay for a long time in hotels or with friends. A plain yearly day count would be easy to avoid by leaving for a weekend or by splitting a stay over New Year. For that reason the law looks at one continuous stay and ignores short breaks.

Counting the days

You do not add up separate days. You measure one connected stay in Germany from its first day to its last day. Short breaks stay inside the stay.

  1. Write down the first day of your stay in Germany.
  2. List every time you left Germany and how long you were away.
  3. Mark the breaks that were short and after which you came back to continue the same stay, such as a holiday or a trip home. These do not interrupt the stay.
  4. Check whether the time from the first day to the last day is more than six months. The calendar year does not matter.
  5. If it is, you are resident from the first day of the stay.
  6. Separately, ask whether you have a home in Germany that you keep and use. If you do, you are resident without any count.
Countr and this rule. Countr lists Germany Tax Residence, but it does not count it yet. The app adds up the days it sees you in a country. German law does something different: it measures the length of one stay and ignores short breaks. A simple total of days would take away the break days that the law does not take away, so the number would be too low and a warning would come too late. Countr will count this rule when it can measure one stay from start to end. The app also cannot know whether you keep a home in Germany, which makes you resident with no day count.

Track your days with Countr.

Countr finds your past trips in your photos and keeps counting from there.

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Examples

A project in Munich with a holiday in the middle

You arrive on 10 January 2026 for a project and live in a serviced flat. In April you fly home for two weeks, then come back and continue. You leave Germany on 31 August 2026. The two weeks at home are a short interruption, so this is one stay. It passed six months on 10 July 2026. You are a German tax resident from 10 January 2026.

Five and a half months, no home

You arrive on 1 March 2026, stay in hotels and leave for good on 20 August 2026. The stay is shorter than six months and you do not plan to stay on, so the six-month rule does not make you resident. Germany can still tax income you earn from German sources. The result changes if you rent a flat that you keep and use: then the home test applies and you are resident without a count.

A stay across New Year

You arrive on 1 October 2025 and leave on 15 April 2026. You were in Germany for 92 days in 2025 and 105 days in 2026, so fewer than 183 days in each calendar year. The stay is still longer than six months in a row. You are resident from 1 October 2025 and have unlimited tax liability in both years for the months of the stay.

Exceptions

Common misconceptions

“Germany has a rule of 183 days in the calendar year.”
German law does not count 183 days in a year. It asks for a connected stay of more than six months, and that stay can cross from one year into the next. The 183 days that people know come from tax treaties and decide where a salary is taxed, not whether you are resident.
“A weekend outside Germany starts the six months again.”
Section 9 AO says short interruptions are not taken into account. After a weekend away, a holiday or a business trip, the same stay continues.
“I am only resident from the day the stay passes six months.”
The law says the stay counts as a habitual abode from its beginning. You are resident from the first day, also for the months before you passed the limit.
“I am not registered at the town hall, so I am not a tax resident.”
Registration is only one sign. The tax office looks at the real facts: whether you have a dwelling you keep and use, and how long you stay.

Questions and answers

Do the days I spend outside Germany on holiday count as part of the stay?

Yes, when the break is short and you come back to continue the same stay. The law does not take short interruptions out of the six months. A long break after which you start something new is a different matter and can end the stay.

How long may a break be before it ends my stay in Germany?

The law gives no number of days. The tax administration looks at whether the stay was meant to continue and whether the break was short. Its guidance names family trips home, annual leave, longer home leave, cures and business trips as short interruptions.

Can I be a tax resident of Germany and another country in the same year?

Yes. Each country uses its own law, so two countries can both treat you as resident. The tax treaty between them then decides which country is your home country for the treaty, and which country may tax each kind of income.

I keep a flat in Germany but I work abroad all year. Am I a German tax resident?

You can be. Under section 8 AO a dwelling that you keep and can use at any time is a home, and a home makes you resident without a day count. The tax office looks at how the flat is kept and used.

What changes when I become a German tax resident?

You have unlimited tax liability. Germany taxes your income from all countries and you file a German tax return for it. Treaties and credits for foreign tax can reduce double taxation.

When does German tax residence end?

It ends when you give up your home in Germany and your stay there ends. If you leave but keep a dwelling that you can still use, the tax office can continue to treat you as resident.

Sources

Read more: The 183-day rule: what it means and what it does not.

Other rules for Germany

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This page explains the rule and how the days are counted. It is not legal or tax advice. The authority decides each case on its own facts.