For Seconded National Experts (SNE) and people in public office

Seconded to a European institution?
We prepare your German tax return.

Pay from your home administration, the daily allowance of the institution, a flat at your place of secondment, family in Germany: we know this return from previous cases and bring it to the tax office with the evidence attached.

Send an enquiry How it works
Secondments are our field
The variants of this return are familiar to us from our own practice
A draft you can check
You see every figure and every assumption before anything goes to the tax office
Everything possible remotely
Documents via DATEV, appointments by video, in English or German
Objection and fiscal court
If the assessment differs, we represent you up to the fiscal court after assessing prospects and cost
Why this return is a matter of its own

Two sources of income, two countries, one return

As a Seconded National Expert you continue to receive pay from your German home administration and, in addition, the daily allowance of the European institution. Then there is the flat at your place of secondment, often a home in Germany, perhaps a spouse with income of their own. Each of these items is treated differently in the German return.

Whether the daily allowance remains tax-free depends on the certificate from your home administration and on the amount. A wrong classification costs money or leads to queries from the tax office later. We examine both sides separately, work out the split of the costs of your flat between work and private use, and document each item so that the tax office can follow it.

This is our field. We advise people in public service and at international institutions who receive pay from several sources and live in more than one country, from Oppenau in the Black Forest and for clients in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and other states.

What you receive

A return you understand and the tax office can follow

Complete return

Pay, daily allowance, flat, further income, family: we record the items that belong to your secondment and declare them in the correct schedule.

Figures with evidence

We read the legal sources in their official wording. We recalculate the figures and trace each one back to its source. Whatever remains open is stated in the draft.

Answers to your situation

A spouse with a different status in Brussels, parental leave, a change of home administration, a move to the state of your secondment: we examine what this changes in your return and tell you before we file.

Representation before the tax office

We answer queries with evidence. If the assessment differs, we examine whether an objection has prospects and what it costs, and raise it in agreement with you against the assessment and the linked administrative acts. If the tax office does not allow the objection, we represent you before the fiscal court in agreement with you.

People in public office and elected mandates

Discretion is a professional duty

People who hold public office or an elected mandate, and those close to them, bring returns that combine remuneration for the office, allowances, pay from an employer, pension entitlements and sometimes income from abroad. We examine how each of these sources is treated and document each item with its source.

Banks and other advisers ask people in public office more questions than other clients, under their own due diligence rules. We know these questions from our work. Where your tax position is concerned, the documents from your own return answer most of them.

Confidentiality is a statutory professional duty of Wirtschaftsprüfer and Steuerberater (German public auditors and tax advisers). It covers the fact of the engagement as well as its content.

You deal with one contact person, and you upload your documents to your DATEV access rather than sending them as e-mail attachments.

Procedure

Five steps, all possible from a distance

How it works
1. Enquiry
You write us a few sentences about your secondment. This does not yet create an engagement.
2. Document list & offer
You receive the list of documents we need and our offer stating scope and fee. We begin only once you agree.
3. Upload
You upload pay statements, certificates and previous assessments to your DATEV access, without e-mail attachments.
4. Draft & approval
You check the draft with all assumptions and approve it in the access. Questions are settled by e-mail or video.
5. Filing & assessment
We file the return and compare the assessment with the return as soon as it arrives.
Appointments by video on request; the postal route remains open.

What to bring

Helpful at the start:

  • Your secondment papers and the pay statements of your German home administration
  • Evidence of payments by the institution, such as the daily allowance
  • Proof of residence for your place of secondment and Germany, and the assessments of previous years
Frequently asked

Short answers

I have been seconded for some time and have not filed for several years.

Then we first establish which years are open and whether a late filing or a voluntary disclosure comes into consideration. You learn this before we begin.

My spouse also works in Brussels.

Where spouses work in Brussels under different statuses, we examine the consequences for a joint or separate return.

Can we work in German as well?

Yes. We advise in English and German, and also in Russian, Ukrainian and Spanish. The German version of this page is here.

What does it cost?

Scope and fee are stated in our offer before we begin. We tell you the cost of a first consultation before the appointment.

You concentrate on your secondment. We take care of the German tax return.

Write to office@eu-treuhand.de; your personal contact will get back to you.

Enquiry

Write to us at office@eu-treuhand.de and tell us since when you have been seconded and which years are open. For an appointment we need your name and a number to call you back. You upload your documents later to the appropriate DATEV access (page in German).

Send an enquiry