Jean Genie

  I see, thank you so much for your help!

One thing I haven't understood is this, if I found a job before my ALG-1 period of 6 months ends, I worked for some time and then I quit the job myself (without being fired or being made redundant) would I lose my entitlement for the outstanding ALG 1 payments? Thanks!

Thank you @sumguy and @JungleJim :)

Many thanks @PandaMunich!!! 

Sorry if I up this thread but I think it fits     Does anyone know (perhaps @PandaMunich as he seems to be an expert!) how is the income calculated, by invoice date or by the date when I actually receive the money on my account? For example, if I send an article in December but then it gets published in May and I get paid in June, how does it fit in my tax declaration? In the UK one can choose between invoice date and payment date and stick to one or the other system, but I don't know if this applies to Germany as well. Thanks!

Hi, I'm very sorry for the post invasion but I just want to make sure that I understood right – while doing the tax declaration, is it possible to add expenses for university and/or courses that one attended abroad, and therefore be able to deduct them? Obviously I'm talking about work-related fees, such as courses to improve or expand one's skills. Thanks! :)

Does anybody know if the Soforthilfe can be combined with a part time job that will end soon? My brother lost his job because of corona and his contract will end in a few weeks. In the meantime he works as a travel blogger on a freelance basis for travel-related posts, but zero travel = zero blog posts, so the corona crisis will definitely cause a lack of earnings in the following months. Can he still apply for the Soforthilfe? Thanks!

Hi all,   I will be officially unemployed in a few weeks after 12 months of employment, therefore I'll be eligible for ALG 1. On top of my job as an employee, I was also earning a little money as a freelancer but my work stream and income were/are quite irregular: I write articles for a magazine and they get published whenever the editors decide to, so technically the work that I sent in December 2019 could be published at any time – 3, 6, 10 months later, sometimes even more... Also, I don't get notified about the publications in advance.   So my questions are: 1) when my employment ends and I start receiving ALG 1, can I still earn money from freelancing? I understood there's an hourly and earning limit (no more than 15 hours/week, and 165ish Euros per month, am I right?) but what if this income is not monthly? I can earn 600 Euros in one month and nothing for four months, and then some more... how would I calculate that, knowing that I cannot know how many articles will be published in my ALG 1 period?   2) How and when should I calculate my freelance earnings for tax/insurance reasons? For example, if I wrote (and sent) an article in January and that article gets published in May and I get paid for that in June, would the payment for the article be included in my January earnings (when I was still employed and paying my own health insurance) or in June (while unemployed and on ALG 1)?   3) Would I need to pay health insurance if I earned money from freelancing? I am married, so while unemployed I could technically go back to being covered by my husband's insurance but I guess that if I have earnings from freelance jobs I can no longer do that.   So, to summarise, would you say it's better that I asked the magazine to "freeze" my articles for a while and start publishing them again when I am no longer on ALG 1 and I will have decided if I want to maximise my freelance business or just look for another job?   Thanks so much for your help! 

Hi all,   I will be officially unemployed in a few weeks after 12 months of employment, therefore I'll be eligible for ALG 1. On top of my job as an employee, I was also earning a little money as a freelancer but my work stream and income were/are quite irregular: I write articles for a magazine and they get published whenever the editors decide to, so technically the work that I sent in December 2019 could be published at any time – 3, 6, 10 months later, sometimes even more... Also, I don't get notified about the publications in advance.   So my questions are: 1) when my employment ends and I start receiving ALG 1, can I still earn money from freelancing? I understood there's an hourly and earning limit (no more than 15 hours/week, and 165ish Euros per month, am I right?) but what if this income is not monthly? I can earn 600 Euros in one month and nothing for four months, and then some more... how would I calculate that, knowing that I cannot know how many articles will be published in my ALG 1 period?   2) How and when should I calculate my freelance earnings for tax/insurance reasons? For example, if I wrote (and sent) an article in January and that article gets published in May and I get paid for that in June, would the payment for the article be included in my January earnings (when I was still employed and paying my own health insurance) or in June (while unemployed and on ALG 1)?   3) Would I need to pay health insurance if I earned money from freelancing? I am married, so while unemployed I could technically go back to being covered by my husband's insurance but I guess that if I have earnings from freelance jobs I can no longer do that.   So, to summarise, would you say it's better that I asked the magazine to "freeze" my articles for a while and start publishing them again when I am no longer on ALG 1 and I will have decided if I want to maximise my freelance business or just look for another job?   Thanks so much for your help! 

Is it so? I am in the process of buying (if all goes well) a piece of land, and the seller had a contract redacted by a Notar. *His* Notar (seller has a construction company, so I would assume he knows this Notar well as he's worked with him quite a few times). Am I crazy in thinking that this is dodgy? I know the Notar should be super partes, but I still think the seller could have just asked us if it was ok to use this particular one, at the end of the day we'll be the ones who pay him... 

Thanks so much PandaMunich, so the Finanzamt gave me false information, but at least things are clearer to me now... thank you from the deep of my heart!!!! 

Thank you PandaMunich! I am still confused but getting there... does this apply to Kleinunternehmer as well? I mean, if I am not supposed to charge VAT because I am "small", do I still have to do the reverse charge?   Also, what happens with Switzerland? I am sorry to fire so many questions at you, but you seem so well informed and I got even more confused by talking to the Finanzamt people...  In 2019 I registered as a small business (articles, photos and translations) and I mostly work with a Swiss client with the occasional EU client. They told me that I need to submit my earnings from EU clients every quarter, while for my Swiss work Finanzamt have nothing to do with it, because it falls under Zoll and I need to get in touch with them. But I am not selling any merchandise, my work is purely "intellectual"... what has Zoll got to do with this?! Also, I didn't know about this rule about submitting every quarter. My head is exploding 

  Sorry for my invasion of this post, but I found it interesting as I have similar issues/doubts. PandaMunich, what do you mean by reverse-charge?  

Hello, can anybody help me? Thank you :)

Hi everyone, I have a(another) dilemma. I am employed part-time (a job I would like to eventually leave) and I am also registered as self-employed as a writer/translator and photographer, for this second activity I have a very small income (well, even for the first one...    I would like to apply to obtain an MA in a discipline I am very interested in, and I have read it is possible to deduct the costs of further studies from the freelance income. My doubts regard the entity of these deductions, I have researched online but, due to my limited German, I am not 100% confident I understood what I read.   1) Is it possible to deduct said costs even if the "Weiterbildung" is in another country, or does the institution have to be in Germany? Is there a limit to the taxes I can deduct? And can I deduct the costs of tuition as well as books, materials and even the cost of travelling to the institution's country to attend my exams?   2) Am I still allowed to deduct these costs if the studies already (to a point) are already linked to my freelance activity, but I believe I would benefit from them as they would give me a greater insight in the subject?   3) What happens if I end up finding a job that has nothing or little to do with these studies? Will the Finanzamt claim this money back? I am asking this because the areas of the studies I want to undertake is not a very lucrative area, I am just very interested and passionate about the subject...   4) One last question: I am married and my husband has a higher income than me. When we do our combined tax declaration later this year (it is the first time for us) will we apply for a deduction of these University costs from our overall income, or do we need to keep our declarations separate?   Many thanks for your help! Have a good day!