Starshollow

@PJP - short info and advice: definitely do not switch to private health insurance. It would be a far worse deal for you and the family combined. Stay with TK and inform them right away when your employment-status and income changes about this. It would mean you change to being a voluntary member then. If you have no-to-little income only during that time (living off your savings, I presume?) the entire family will be covered with a premium of around 180 EUR per month only in public health insurance (min. monthly contribution). As self-employed you would have to pay a min. of 350+ EUR per month instead, hence you'd be better off not to declare yourself as self-employed unless you'll actually be working self-employed with income higher than around 2.000 EUR.   Cheerio  

So, it is SEPTEMBER again. Time for a quick reminder that most insurances in Germany, which run on a yearly contract, allow you to give notice only with three months time before the end of the calendar year. This is particularly true for private health insurance, but often also for 3rd party liability insurance, content insurance, legal liability insurance and so and so forth.   Therefore it is a good time to have your insurance(s) checked by an independent expert before the end of September so that you can cancel and switch if you'd be better off with another insurance. !!!!!   Several independent advisors/broker advertise here on Toytown, many of which have a transparent track record here on Toytown from their contributions to the community and the comments under their advertisements. take your pick... it doesn't hurt to get your insurances checked every now and then.   Cheerio

So, it is SEPTEMBER again. Time for a quick reminder that most insurances in Germany, which run on a yearly contract, allow you to give notice only with three months time before the end of the calendar year. This is particularly true for private health insurance, but often also for 3rd party liability insurance, content insurance, legal liability insurance and so and so forth.   Therefore it is a good time to have your insurance(s) checked by an independent expert before the end of September so that you can cancel and switch if you'd be better off with another insurance. !!!!!   Cheerio  

Funny how things pop again after ten years...and somehow a good feeling to have been around here on Toytown for so long and have been helping Expats all these years :-) Cheerio

just a couple of info more:   - First: no private insurance, international or German, will cover a serious existing condition. That is not how private insurances work, I am afraid. - Secondly: ALC does use the "moratorium clause" as mentioned above. That means no illness/ailment that you have had during the past 5 years is going to be covered in the first two years of contract.  If you use meds or continue to have treatment in any way or form, this means the coverage continues to be excluded for this until at one point or another you stayed 2 years without treatment/medication or anything related. - Third: at one point or another in the future the immigration office /Ausländerbehörde will expect you to have a "real" health insurance instead of ALC. Usually they mean for you to have a private German health insurance for a number of legal reasons I am not going into details right now. But no German private insurance company is going to accept you with ongoing or recent treatment and medication for depression. Not at all. Except in a so-called Basis-Tarif, which mirrors the German public health insurance coverage. Only problem: gonna cost you around 750-800 EUR in premiums per month. But it will cover your existing medical condition(s)   So, your best bet and strategy is, to get an employment with a gross salary of >451 EUR soon, because that makes you a compulsory member of the public health insurance in Germany (which covers all existing conditions because it is a social welfare system and not a private insurance). after only a month or so with such an employment you can continue to be publicly insured as a voluntary member when working self-employed. This is going to cost you around 350+ EUR per month in contribution as a self-employed, but obviously far cheaper than the alternatve in German private insurance as mentioned above. And it would cover your costs for treatment, too (in as much as public insurance pays for your meds in general, which I do not know).   Cheerio

hope you got that in writing...otherwise what someone said to you is not worth a dime in the future, I am afraid.   Cheerio  

worst case scenario - the initial decision will be overthrown on legal grounds and the health insurance canceled backward due to lacking legal ground to have been established in the first place.    Cheerio  

you were/are lucky in this case. Usually, it does not work that way...    Cheerio  

all of these social welfare contributions, insurances and taxes are set by law and non-negotiable, neither for you nor your employer. If you'd be working for a Canadian company in Germany, you could try for secondment, which would keep you out of the German system. But if you are employed in Germany by a local company, it is what it is and you can't skip or bail out from any of those.   Cheerio  

it is certainly illegal to withhold your salary in order to pressure you to sign something like that. Definitely get a lawyer on board, because you might be entitled to much more than what you believe even.    Cheerio  

have you tried FIVERR yet ?   Cheerio  

if you are an artist, you actually HAVE to go with the KSK (Künstlersozialkasse) which then involves enrollment in public health insurance as a "Pflichtversicherter".  But in order to get there, you'll have to start the application process with the KSK. Other than that, you cannot get into public health insurance from your current private Expat insurance by just wanting to do so. That info is still correct. Unless you take an employment with a gross salary of >451 EUR p.m. at least for a short while, that is. Because then, too, you'll become compulsorily insurance as an employee and can continue your public health insurance afterward on a voluntary basis (Freiwillige Mitgliedschaft). However, outside the KSK you will then have to pay around 350 EUR per month min. for public health insurance as a normal self-employed/freelance. hence you'll be much better off joining the KSK to which you belong, legally, anyway as an artist.    Cheerio  

IKK won't let you cancel for MAWISTA, as MAWISTA is not a real health insurance under German laws (i.e. it is limited for Visa-stays of up to five years max from first-time taking residence in Germany AND it is not computed like a life insurance, to mention just the two most important legal issues). And yes, unfortunately, your grant/stipend will fully count as income in the calculation of any German public health insurance. Bad surprise for many post-grad and post-doc students in Germany.   Theoretically, you might be able to switch to a a private German health insurance...but most will not want you as a client unless your stipend is really, really high. Not sure why the IKK has an issue with your income being lower than 50k EUR p-a-, unless you are really employed where the university also pays social welfare contributions etc for you?   Cheerio  

sorry for entering the fray so late in the game (just came back from two weeks holiday with the family):   As PandaMunich said correctly, the only tax deductible pension plan you would be eligible for in Germany as a freelance/self-employed is a RÜRUP pension plan. (also often called Basis-Rente). While that plan offers quite attractive tax benefits, it comes with a number of caveats that do not comply with the parameters/requirements set by you above. Plus, many of those plans in Germany are overly expensive, because Germany is still a strongly commission-payments-driven market where upfront commissions are the daily bread for the majority of financial "advisors".  Though there are some real financial advisors who will offer you plans free of commission costs on a fee-based advice, too. But the RÜRUP plans had been created to offer something similar to a public pension to self-employed and therefore cannot be cashed in at any time (only option when reaching retirement is to draw a monthly pension for the rest of your natural life). And inheritance is only in some form possible of you kick the proverbial bucket before you reach pension age. After that the capital is lost to your family, though most plans allow for some form of ongoing pension payments for some years for them (however, this creates extra costs and reduces your estimated pension).   Currently, I am not (yet) aware of any foreign/international pension plan that fully complies with the German tax requirements. While you can transfer, for instance, some UK pension pots into ROPS-approved German plans (usually company pension schemes or RÜRUP plans), there is no reciprocity I have noticed yet.   Question also is, why you would want a pension plan in the first place? MIght it not be better to simply set up an investment plan in passive investment funds to accumulate capital for later in life? Sure, you need to trust yourself to keep your fingers off that nest-egg for good. If you don't, a pension plan that you can't touch (nor anyone else, for that matter, if you ever get into financial hard times) might be a good idea.   Perhaps what you really need is a decent and honest financial advisor who is experienced in catering to Expats and can work out an overall strategy for you that fits your personal needs and plans for the future? Such a strategy should start with risk assessment (i.e. are your main risks in life properly covered? ) and then develop an investment strategy in line with your personality (risk affine or adverse person? ) and your mid- to long-term goals.   Cheerio    

in Germany there is a strong dividing line, legally, between tax advice and financial advice. Hence you'll probably need to deal with two different people or companies. For taxation in Berlin my recommendation is this:   and for financial advice, I may be forgiven for recommending our very own Keith Tanner in Berlin just use our add or contact form on our website: https://www.crcie.com/independentadvice/advisors/keith-tanner/   Cheerio