Riester & Rürup
Article 18 (Pensions) and Article 18A (Pension Plans, added by the 2006 Protocol) frame the treaty position; Form 8833 follows the position taken, not a contribution amount.
Convention 1989 · IRS × BZSt
The US–Germany tax treaty, for Americans in Germany.
You already pay Abgeltungsteuer at home.
We build your 1040 on top of that — no double taxation.
Germany-US Convention 1989 covers Abgeltungsteuer, Soli, Kirchensteuer and pension income. German and US rules do not always tax the same investment income in the same year; Atamatax computes the US side only.
Free PFIC scan · Pay to generate the draft package · Mapped Forms 8621 / 8938 / FBAR / 1116 / 8833
This desk covers the treaty only. For German accounts, investments and pensions, see the Germany country desk.
What we handle for German residents
The three things that bite US citizens in Germany.
Abgeltungsteuer credit
26.375% (incl. Soli) flows into Form 1116 as creditable foreign tax — we keep the wrapper-by-wrapper detail your IRS examiner expects.
Kapitalerträge timing
The two systems time investment income differently, so the same income can fall in different years on each side — which changes how much German tax Form 1116 can credit in a given year. Atamatax computes the US figures; it does not compare them with your German assessment.
Direct answer
Does the US–Germany treaty mean I do not file a US return?
No. Every US income-tax convention carries a saving clause that lets the United States tax its own citizens and green-card holders as if the treaty had not entered into force, with a short list of exceptions. The 1989 convention with Germany decides which country taxes an item first and how double taxation is relieved — usually as a credit on the return you still have to file. Three things it does not do:
It does not remove the filing requirement
The saving clause keeps a US citizen in Germany inside the US system. Relief for German tax arrives on Form 1116 (or, for earned income, Form 2555) — on a return, not instead of one.
It does not decide PFIC status
Whether a German fund or ETF is a passive foreign investment company is a question of US domestic law (IRC §1297), and a treaty does not displace it. A fund inside a local wrapper still reaches Form 8621.
It does not replace the FBAR or Form 8938
The FBAR is a Bank Secrecy Act report to FinCEN and Form 8938 is a return attachment under IRC §6038D; neither is a treaty matter, and Germany's own foreign-asset filings do not satisfy either.
Filing from Germany
What the treaty leaves on a return filed from Germany.
The convention changes how items are taxed; it does not shorten the list of what is reported. A US citizen resident in Germany typically files:
- Form 1040 on worldwide income, with Schedule B's foreign-account questions answered.
- Form 1116 for the credit on German income tax — or Form 2555 for earned income, where the exclusion is the better fit.
- The FBAR when non-US accounts together exceeded the threshold at any point in the year, and Form 8938 at its own, higher thresholds.
- Form 8621 for each non-US fund, and Form 8833 only where a treaty position overrides the default.
Missed years change the order: the catch-up route comes first, then the current return.
Other treaty desks
Same workflow, different bilateral convention.
SwitzerlandConvention 1996DenmarkConvention 1999ItalyConvention 1999United KingdomConvention 2001FranceConvention 1994CanadaConvention 1980AustraliaConvention 1982
Not sure which desk applies? Every country desk in one place.
Germany treaty · FAQ
What US citizens in Germany ask us most.
- Can I credit German Abgeltungsteuer against my US tax?#
- Yes. The 26.375% Abgeltungsteuer (including Soli) flows into Form 1116 as creditable foreign tax under the Germany-US Convention (1989). We keep the detail wrapper by wrapper, the way an IRS examiner expects to see it.
- How are Riester and Rürup pensions treated?#
- Article 18 (Pensions) and Article 18A (Pension Plans, added by the 2006 Protocol) frame the treaty position, subject to the saving clause in Article 1. Form 8833 is required when a return takes a treaty-based position that §6114 requires to be disclosed — there is no contribution threshold that triggers it. A Riester contract is commonly reported on Form 8938 and the FBAR; a Rürup contract, which cannot be surrendered for cash, needs its own valuation analysis; and the statutory Deutsche Rentenversicherung entitlement is a foreign social-security benefit excluded from Form 8938.
- Why does my German capital-gain timing differ from the US?#
- Germany and the United States have their own rules for when investment income is taxed, so the same income can land in different tax years on each side, and Form 1116 credits German tax against the US tax on the same income category in the US year. Atamatax computes the US figures only; it does not import or reconcile your Steuerbescheid, which remains the evidence of the German tax you paid.
Authorities cited
- US–Germany Income Tax Treaty — Convention between the United States and Germany (signed 1989) and the 2006 Protocol, which added Article 18A (Pension Plans)
- U.S.–Germany Totalization Agreement — U.S.–Germany Social Security (Totalization) Agreement
- IRS Form 1116 — About Form 1116 — Foreign Tax Credit (Individual, Estate, or Trust)
- IRS Form 8833 — About Form 8833 — Treaty-Based Return Position Disclosure Under Section 6114 or 7701(b)
- IRS Form 8938 — About Form 8938 — Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets
Primary sources (Cornell Legal Information Institute for the US Code and CFR; IRS.gov for forms, procedures, and treaty documents). This page is general information, not individualized tax or legal advice.
Germany guides that go deeper
- FBAR for Americans living in GermanyGirokonto, Tagesgeld, Depot, Bausparvertrag — which German accounts count toward FinCEN 114, and why the Freistellungsauftrag has nothing to do with it.Read guide →
- PFICs for Americans in Germany: UCITS ETFs, Vorabpauschale and Form 8621Your Trade Republic ETF savings plan is the standard German way to invest and a standard U.S. tax problem — two systems taxing the same fund on different bases in different years.Read guide →
- German pensions and US tax: Rente, Riester, Rürup and betriebliche AltersvorsorgeGermany's three-pillar system meets a U.S. return that recognises none of the German labels — plus Article 18A, the one genuinely useful cross-border pension rule in the treaty.Read guide →
- Streamlined filing from Germany: catching up on US taxesFor Americans in Germany who never filed: the route back, penalty-free if you qualify, and why an ETF-Sparplan makes it bigger than the tax bill suggests.Read guide →
- U.S. Tax Filing for Americans in BerlinFixed-fee support for U.S. citizens and Green Card holders in Berlin — German salary, Riester/Rürup pensions, Abgeltungsteuer, FBAR and FATCA reporting.Read guide →
- Form 1116 for U.S. ExpatsWhat to collect, how income categories and the foreign-tax-credit limitation fit together, and where Atamatax can prepare supported Form 1116 inputs without guessing sourcing questions.Read guide →
Atamatax · run your Germany return
Free on-screen draft. Pay to generate the PDF package.
Scan your brokerage, see your PFIC count, review the forms with the right Germany treaty positions attached. You pay when you generate the draft PDF package. It maps supported figures to IRS forms and identifies items you or your CPA still need to complete.
What you walk out with
- · Form 1040 + schedules B, D, 1, 2, 3
- · One Form 8621 per PFIC (up to 25 per return)
- · Form 8938 (FATCA) when thresholds hit
- · FinCEN 114 (FBAR) threshold check and separate-filing guidance
- · Form 1116 with Germany tax credit allocated
- · Form 8833 when you take a treaty position