Pay Subject to Social Security Contributions in Germany

In stan­dard cases, the ans­wer to the ques­tion is easy: emp­loyees of an emp­loyer resi­dent in Ger­many who work in Ger­many are sub­ject to the social secu­rity obli­ga­tion here. Howe­ver, if an emp­loyee is emp­loyed abroad for a limi­ted period of time by an emp­loyer resi­dent in Ger­many, it must be cla­ri­fied whe­ther the obli­ga­tion to pay social secu­rity in Ger­many con­ti­nues to exist, or whe­ther the emp­loyee will be cove­red by social secu­rity in the coun­try of emp­loy­ment and thus con­tri­bu­ti­ons are to be made in that coun­try. And even in the reverse case of tem­porary emp­loy­ment of an emp­loyee in Ger­many whose emp­loyer is resi­dent abroad, the social secu­rity regu­la­ti­ons of the other coun­try may still apply, or it may be necessary for the emp­loyee to switch to social secu­rity in Ger­many.

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Key Data on Man­datory Social Secu­rity Con­tri­bu­ti­ons in Ger­many in 2018

Con­tri­bu­ti­ons to health and nur­sing care insurance are levied on a monthly salary of up to 4,425 euros. Monthly pay of up to 6,500 euros (in the West Ger­man sta­tes) and 5,800 euros (in the East Ger­man sta­tes) is sub­ject to pen­sion and unem­p­loy­ment insurance.

This issue of insurance pro­tec­tion, which is of vital import­ance to the emp­loyee and can also cause con­s­i­de­ra­ble addi­tio­nal costs for emp­loy­ers who get it wrong, can only be deci­ded on a case-by-case basis. In addi­tion to the time frame of the pos­ting, the issue also turns on the ques­tion of who is to be regar­ded as the emp­loyer of the pos­ted emp­loyee, and this ques­tion in turn inter­acts with the dura­tion and struc­ture of the pos­ting.

In order to save time and costs in deter­mi­ning the social secu­rity obli­ga­tion of pos­ted emp­loyees, it is a good idea to set up stan­dard pro­ce­du­res in your com­pany (a com­p­li­ance sys­tem). This will allow you to apply results already obtai­ned from audits to the same or simi­lar cases and thus to make the legal deter­mi­na­tion more quickly. Sour­ces of error are eli­mi­na­ted.

We would be happy to assist you in cla­ri­fying the social secu­rity issues that arise in your spe­ci­fic case. In order to ensure com­p­li­ance with the legal requi­re­ments at home and abroad when you have pos­ted a num­ber of emp­loyees over­seas, we can also help you deve­lop and imp­le­ment a com­p­li­ance sys­tem.