Tax Treaties Between the U.S. and Germany

Tax Treaties Between the U.S. and Germany

The United States has income tax treaties with many foreign countries. Under these treaties, residents (not necessarily citizens) of foreign countries are taxed at a reduced rate or are exempt from U.S. income taxes on certain items of income they receive from sources within the United States. These reduced rates and exemptions vary among countries and spe­cific items of income.

If there is no treaty between your country and the United States, you must pay tax on the income in the same way and at the same rates shown in the instructions for Form 1040NR.  Also, see Publication 519.

Many of the individual states in the United States have a tax in addition to the federal taxes. There­fore, you should consult the tax authorities of the state in which you live to find out if that state taxes the income of individuals.  Once you have determined the state’s general taxation, you should decide if the tax applies to any of your income.

Tax treaties reduce the U.S. taxes of resi­dents of foreign countries. With certain excep­tions, they do not reduce the U.S. taxes of U.S. citizens or residents. U.S. citizens and residents are subject to U.S. income tax on their world­wide income.

Treaty provisions generally are reciprocal (apply to both treaty countries); therefore, a U.S. citizen or resident who receives income from a treaty country may refer to the tables in this publication to see if a tax treaty might affect the tax to be paid to that foreign country. For­eign taxing authorities sometimes require certifi­cation from the U.S. Government that an appli­cant filed an income tax return as a U.S. citizen or resident as part of the proof of entitlement to the treaty benefits. See Form 8802, Application for United States Residency Certification, to re­quest a certification.

Disclosure of a treaty-based position that reduces your tax. If you take the position that any U.S. tax is overruled or otherwise reduced by a U.S. treaty (a treaty­ based position), you generally must disclose that position on Form 8833 and attach it to your return. If you are not required to file a return because of your
treaty-­based position, you must file a return anyway to report your status. The filing of Form 8833 does not apply to a reduced rate of withholding tax on non-effectively connected in­come, such as dividends, interest, rents or roy­alties, or to a reduced rate of tax on pay re­ceived for services performed as an employee, including pensions, annuities, and social secur­ity. For more information, see Publication 519 and the Form 8833 instructions.

If you fail to file Form 8833, you may have to pay a $1,000 penalty. Corporations are subject to a $10,000 fine for each failure.

Tax Exemptions Provided by Treaties

This publication contains discussions of the ex­emptions from tax and specific other effects of the tax treaties on the following types of in­come.

• Pay for certain personal services per­ formed in the United States.
• Pay a professor, teacher, or researcher who teaches or performs research in the United States for a limited time.
• Amounts received for maintenance and studies by an international student or apprentice here for study or experience.
• A foreign government pays Wages, salaries, and pensions.
  
  

Personal Services Income

Pay for certain personal services performed in the United States is exempt from U.S. income tax if you are a resident of one of the countries discussed below if you are in the United States for a limited number of days and meet certain other conditions. For this purpose, the word “day” means a day during any part of which you are physically present in the United States.

Terms defined. Several terms appear in many of the discussions that follow. The particu­lar tax treaty determines the exact mean­ings of the terms under discussion; thus, the mean­ings vary among treaties. Therefore, the following definitions are general definitions that may not give the precise meaning intended by a particular treaty.

The terms fixed base and permanent estab­lishment generally means a fixed place of busi­ness, such as a place of management, a branch, an office, a factory, a warehouse, or a mining site, through which an enterprise carries on its business.

The term borne generally means having ultimate financial accounting responsibility for, or providing the monetary resources for, an ex­penditure or payment, even if another entity in another location made the expenditure or payment.

Professors, Teachers, and Researchers

Pay of professors and teachers who are resi­dents of the following countries is generally ex­empt from U.S. income tax for 2 or 3 years if they temporarily visit the United States to teach or do research. The exemption applies to pay earned by the visiting professor or teacher dur­ing the applicable period. For most of the following countries, the relevant period begins on the date of arrival in the United States to teach or engage in research.  Furthermore, this applies to the exemption for most countries even if they stay in the United States extends beyond the applicable period.

The exemption generally applies to pay re­ceived during a second teaching assignment if both are completed within the specified time, even if the second assignment was not arranged until after arrival in the United States on the first assignment. Below, the conditions are stated under which the payment of a professor or teacher from that country is exempt from U.S. income tax.

If you do not meet the requirements for ex­emption as a teacher or if you are a resident of a treaty country that does not have a special provision for teachers, you may qualify under a personal services income provision discussed earlier.

Students and Apprentices

Residents of specific countries who are in the United States to study or acquire technical experience are exempt from U.S. income tax, under certain conditions, on amounts received from abroad for their maintenance and studies.

This exemption does not apply to the salary paid by a foreign corporation to one of its exec­utives, a citizen and resident of a foreign coun­try who is temporarily in the United States to study a particular industry for an employer. That amount is a continuation of salary and is not re­ceived to learn or acquire experience.

There is a statement of the conditions under which the exemption applies to students and apprentices from that country for each country listed.

Amounts received from the National Insti­tutes of Health (N.I.H.) under provisions of the Visiting Fellows Program are generally treated as a grant, allowance, or award for purposes of whether the treaty provides an exemption.  Amounts received from N.I.H. under the Visiting Associate Program and Visiting Scientist Pro­gram are not exempt from U.S. tax as a grant, allowance, or award.

Wages and Pensions Paid by a Foreign Government

Wages, salaries, pensions, and annuities paid by the governments of the following countries to their residents who are present in the United States as nonresident aliens generally are ex­empt from U.S. income tax. The conditions un­der which the income is exempt are stated for each of the countries listed.

Exemption under U.S. tax law. Employees of foreign countries who do not qualify under a tax treaty provision and employees of international organizations should see if they can qualify for exemption under U.S. tax law.

Suppose you work for a foreign government in the United States. In that case, your foreign government salary is exempt from U.S. tax if you perform services similar to those performed by U.S. government employees in that foreign country and that for­eign government grants an equivalent exemp­tion. If you work for an international organization in the United States, your salary from that source is exempt from U.S. tax. See Chapter 10 of Publication 519 for more information.

Overview of the Treaties Between the U.S. and Germany

Income that residents of Germany receive for personal services as independent contractors or self­-employed individuals are subject to the provisions of Article 7 (Business Profits) of the treaty. Under that provision, business profits are exempt from U.S. income tax unless the individ­ual has a permanent establishment in the Uni­ted States. If they have a permanent establish­ment in the United States, they are taxed on the profit attributable to the permanent establish­ment.

Income that residents of Germany receive for labor or personal services performed in the United States as employees (dependent per­sonal services) is exempt from U.S. tax if the residents meet three requirements.

• They are in the United States for no more than 183 days during the calendar year.
• The income is paid by, or on behalf of, an employer who is not a resident of the Uni­ted States.
• A permanent establishment does not bear the income that the employer has in the United States.
  
  

Pay received by a resident of Germany for services performed as an employee and mem­ber of the regular complement of a ship or air­craft operated in international traffic is exempt from U.S. tax.

The exemption does not apply to directors’ fees and other similar payments received by a resident of Germany for services performed in the United States as a member of the board of directors of a company resident in the United States.

Income residents of Germany receive as public entertainers (such as theater, motion pic­ture, radio, or television artists, or musicians) or athletes is subject to U.S. tax if their gross re­ceipts, including reimbursed expenses, from their entertainment activities in the United States, are more than $20,000 during the calendar year. The income of German entertainers or ath­letes is exempt from U.S. tax if their visit to the United States is substantially supported by pub­lic funds of Germany, its political subdivisions, or local authorities.

Professors, Teachers, and Researchers

A professor or teacher who is a resident of Ger­many and who is temporarily in the United States to engage in advanced study or research or teaching at an accredited educational institu­tion or institution engaged in research for the public benefit is exempt from U.S. tax on in­come received for such study, research, or teaching for a maximum of 2 years from the date of arrival in the United States.

The exemption does not apply to income from research carried on mainly for the private benefit of any person rather than in the public interest. The exemption does not apply if, dur­ing the preceding period, the benefit described in paragraph (2), (3), or (4) of Article 20 of the treaty, pertaining to students, was claimed.

Students and Apprentices

A student or business apprentice (including Vo­lontaere and Praktikanten) who is or was imme­diately before visiting the United States a resi­dent of Germany and who is present in the United States for full­time education or training is exempt from U.S. income tax on amounts from sources outside the United States for maintenance, education, or training.

An individual who is or was immediately be­fore visiting the United States a resident of Ger­many is exempt from U.S. tax on amounts re­ceived as a grant, allowance, or award from a nonprofit religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational organization.

Individuals described in the previous two paragraphs are also exempt from U.S. tax on compensation for dependent personal services of up to $9,000 per year if:

• They have been present in the United States for not more than four years, and
• The services are performed for the pur­pose of supplementing funds available oth­erwise for maintenance, education, or training.
  
  

If the individual’s visit exceeds four years, the exemption is lost for the entire visit unless the competent authorities of Germany and the Uni­ted States agree otherwise.

An individual who is a resident of Germany and who is employed by a German enterprise or by a nonprofit religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational organization is exempt from U.S. tax on compensation paid by the em­ployer from outside the United States if:

• The individual is temporarily in the United States for not more than one year to acquire technical, professional, or business experience from any person other than their employer, and
• The compensation is not more than $10,000.
  
  

If the compensation is more than $10,000, none of the income is exempt.

Wages and Pensions Paid by a Foreign Government

Wages, salaries, and similar income, other than a pension, paid by Germany, its political subdi­visions, local authorities, or instrumentalities to an individual for services performed for the pay­ing governmental body is exempt from U.S. income tax. However, the exemption does not apply if the services are performed in the United States by a resident of the United States who either:

• Is a U.S. national, or
• Did not become a U.S. resident only to perform the services.
  
  

Pensions paid by, or out of funds created by, Germany, its political subdivisions, local au­thorities, or instrumentalities for services per­formed for the paying governmental body are exempt from U.S. income tax unless the recipi­ent is both a resident and a national of the Uni­ted States.