[thiago_fm]

It's a hell to be a freelancer software dev in Germany.

People can make much more money by doing that in London, which has proper/more flexible laws.

I think you could hire a consultant. There are some great consultancies in Germany that might be able to have the professional you need.

[sam_lowry_]

As tax resident, it's a hell, but someone living and having existing business in Greece or nearby Belgium could actually work in Munich legally for up to half a year and do some nice tricks like paying the rent via the company.

[badpun]

Not exactly... From what I've heard, as long as you're staying in Germany (i.e. it is your primary residence) and you work there, they believe you should pay taxes there. The 183 days rule is more for cases when you have two comparable residences at the time (and you travel back and forth between them).

Of course, people try their luck and contract using their non-German companies, but I've read on some forum that at least one guy was prosecuted (as in criminal charges, not to mention the taxes owed + fines) by Germans for that.

A thing some people I know do is to fly into Germany every week for 3 or 4 days, stay in a hotel/airbnb, and then come back to home country (BTW, talk about carbon footprint of the tax laws...). This way, you have no residence in Germany at all, and also you're there for less than 183 days per year, so they really have no claim to your taxes. Of course, this "bedouin" lifestyle is not for the weak, and the company needs to be open to it (the partially remote work aspect) as well.

[rahimnathwani]

"This way, you have no residence in Germany at all, and also you're there for less than 183 days per year, so they really have no claim to your taxes."

Be careful with this. I don't know about Germany in particular, but in many countries tax residency isn't as simple as whether you were present for >=183 days.

Take the UK as an example. The relevant legislation (Finance Act 2013) defines a 'Statutory Residence Test'. It's complicated enough that HMRC (UK equivalent of IRS) created a booklet to help you understand how it applies in your own situation.

That booklet is 105 pages long: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rdr3-statutory-re...

Even if you spend only 3 days/week in the UK, it's possible to become tax resident there, and is more likely if you do it for 2 years in a row.

[badpun]

Thanks. The possibility of being „caught” is quite low in this scenario I think, as HMRC has little chance of even finding out about your existence - you don’t have an UK address or a bank account. You ARE frequently crossing the border, but I don’t know if they have access to this information.

[thiago_fm]

Why do this if you can just move to a country like London?

I personally live in Germany and chosen to work as a normal employee, but I'm aware that the German government doesn't want people to be freelancers/entrepreneurs.

I think almost every other EU country is better than Germany in that regard. Estonia being #1(in legislation) and possibly UK being the best market.

[badpun]

If you ignore taxes, I find that the German market is paying slightly better than the UK. Also, if Brexit does happen, the pound will go down even further, tipping the scales in favor of Germany even more. UK was amazing for contracting before the 20% GBP dip right after Brexit referendum.

[thiago_fm]

If you ignore taxes, you go to jail.