Social insurance deductions and Taxes
Taxes
Postdocs with funding contracts are considered to be employees and therefore, their remuneration is subject to taxes. In these cases, the institute will automatically deduct your taxes from your salary and transfer it to the state. How much tax you need to pay depends on your income and family status. At the end of the year, you have the opportunity to file a tax return, which you can do electronically or via a tax advisor.
It may be that if you work for two years as a visiting scientist, you can pay your taxes in your own country. This is due to agreements with some countries that allow higher education teachers and researchers who spend a maximum of two years doing research at a public research institution abroad to pay their taxes in their own country. You can check this on the Federal Ministry of Finance website.
Fellowship holders who are considered to be guest scientists are usually exempt from taxes under German income tax law. Your tax status as a fellow will be determined by the authorities in your host country. We recommend that you discuss taxation matters with the organization that awarded the fellowship.
Social insurance deductions
The social security system in Germany includes health insurance, pension schemes, unemployment benefit, accident and long-term care insurance.
Postdocs on a contract will have to contribute to the social security system in Germany. The institute will pay the employer’s part of health care, unemployment insurance and pensions; the employee’s contribution to be paid by the postdoc is deducted automatically from the salary. In addition, the postdoc is insured by the institute against work-related accidents and occupational illnesses.
Postdocs on a fellowship are usually exempt from social security contributions. However, fellowship holders must be covered by health insurance.
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Pension plan
If you are joining the MPIPZ as a postdoc with a contract, you will contribute to the statutory pension. The same as for every employee in Germany, the contribution is shared equally between employee and employer. Because you are employed under the Collective Wage Agreement for Government Service Workers (TVöD), an occupational pension is compulsory. After your arrival, you will be offered different types of occupational pension schemes from which to choose.
For information on pension plan, you can check: https://www.findyourpension.eu/en/pension_systems/germany/
For more information about social security contributions, please refer to https://www.euraxess.de/germany/information-assistance/social-security
It often occurs that the pension plan and unemployment benefits information is only checked at the end of a postdoc stay. However, it is important to understand the choices from the beginning, because subsequent benefits and other variables depend on your decisions at the beginning of your postdoc.