German tax system

Hello guys I need some information on german tax system,

I have an offer to do PhD through a german company in germany. I am currently working and residing in sweden. My question is that how much tax will be charged for a phd guy in germany, married, no kids, no church tax.
As I went through the forum here I got some idea about the tax system like BAT or TL-13 etcc.

But here is my main question:
what is the tax if I live, work in germany and my wife lives in sweden (she is studying in sweden)

The reason for this doubt is that my german company supervisor told me that i will have ~45% tax on my phd salary.

I hope what my supervisor told is wrong and I hope I will be charged ~32%.

Any info on this is welcome as I will decide on accepting the offer based on this.

Depends on your wage. But ultimately I'd trust your supervisor's experience more than your hopes.

I think thats a fair assesment. It also depends on what the OP includes as "tax" (for instance mandatory health insurance is not a tax but many people like to consider it as such). Same goes for social security contributions. IMHO if you are resident in Germany & your wife is resident ouside of Germany then she does not exist for the purposes of taxation in Germany - you are considered to be single.

** Unless you (OP) are a convinced member of "the club" make sure you state "no religeon" when you first register your residence in Germany.

thnks for the info guys, it seems i will get Euro 3200 per month gross. I thought sweden itself is having bad tax systems, good to hear that germany too has weird tax system.
I need to give even more thought on this phd now.

This online calculator suggests a monthly net salary of €1888 after deduction of all taxes, pension and social security contributions, and health insurance.
Taking a private health insurance may improve on this somewhat. You will certainly have other taxable advantages, such as your dual home which can be offset against the tax you pay to decrease your tax load. These are unlikely to be reflected in your actual salary, but will be refunded at the end of the tax year when you submit your annual return. Look upon these as a savings plan...

There are lots of reasons for choosing to move to a foreign country: a new culture, new experiences, a new way of life, new friends, a good academic or career opportunity, etc., etc. That the precise level of tax you would be paying appears to be the primary, or even sole, decisive factor for you comes across as a bit sad, in my opinion. I assume you're studying business management.

Germany has a weird tax system?

I heard the other day that 80% (just repeat that number again in a higher tone - 80%) of all documents relating to tax in the whole world is written in German.

Maybe you could write your PhD on the subject of the German Tax System!

Hello all, thank you for the valuable comments and suggestions.

'YorkshireLad6' ur inputs are really helpful to me. I appreciate your effort.

Also I thank 'small town boy' for his own opinion on me, however money is not priority for me but still it matters. If I would have thought too much on money then I wont go for phd at all.
Will be much happier with current job, which pays more than phd. And no I am not into management studies.

Thanks all for the suggestions/comments again

Cheers,
Ivar

+1@Small Town Boy

a monthly net salary of €1888 after deduction of all taxes etc, ain't that bad.

I'm sure that money isn't your only consideration, but knowing your net wage doesn't help unless you also know the cost of living.

Where do you get this 3200 EUR number from? I'm a postdoc (science) in germany on TV-L 13 (I think). PhD students are usually TV-L 13/2, which means you get 50% of the gross salary of TV-L 13. In some cases you might get 75%, especially if there's an industrial sponsor. I have seen PhD positions advertised as 100% but AFAIK this is very rare so you may want to check with your supervisor. I even know other postdocs on 50-75%, so it can vary quite a bit.

There are also different sublevels for TV-L 13 depending on your experience (and the whim of your employer?), and I think the numbers vary a bit between the east and west. I'm in the first six months of my first postdoc in Leipzig and I'm getting around 2800 EUR plus change gross or just under 1700 EUR net (around 39% tax incl. krankenkasse, don't pay church tax, no wife/kids so highest tax class) so your 45% tax figure seems a bit high (though like I said, it may depend on the subject/location and you might be on a different sublevel to me...bstd!). Your supervisor's 32% figure likewise seems a bit low, and may suggest you're on a 50-75% contract or that krankenkasse isn't included in this number. That said, living here is cheap and I'm doing alright.

Seriously though, if the money's important to you, don't do a PhD! It'll take you forever to get rich!

Yep, Small Town Boy is entirely correct. €1888 can go a long way in Berlin or out in the sticks somewhere. Munich or Frankfurt? Not so much.

'Small town boy' as you said net does'nt help unless i know the living expenses. I will be living near stuttgart and I did a very rough calculations on living costs, which comes to around 800Euros for single person, a normal living style. You can help me if i am totally wrong on my calculations or web search.

'andyandy': yes 3200 is the gross along with some benefits included like mobility. Its an industrial phd so it might be in that 50-75%cap.

As i said in my prior posts, MONEY is not important, but getting a decent pay will give less headache and I can conc. on my studies.
1880 euro is decent I guess and also i got a similar figure from my supervisor. So I will go for this.

Thnks one and all for their valuable inputs.

Cheers,
Ivar

Just to be clear, if you are getting 3200 EUR gross, then it'll be 100% of TV-L 13 that you're receiving. i.e. 3200 is the maximum on this payscale, 50-75% would be proportionally less than that...