German Pension Refund FAQs

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If it's been a few years since you worked in Germany, now is the time to apply for your German pension refund and get a few extra hundred euro in your pocket.

In Germany, pension insurance contributions are usually 9.75% of your salary - half paid in by you and half paid in by your employer.

Taxback.com can get back up to three years worth of what you paid into the fund once you've been out of Germany for two years. Our average German pension insurance refund is €1520.

Download the German Pension Refund TaxPack and apply for yours today.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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I paid pension contributions (Rentenversicherung) in Germany – can I get that money back?

If you're a resident of a non-EU country and have worked in Germany, you may have paid into a pension fund and we can get that tax back for you. Our average German pension insurance refund is €1520! Pension Insurance Contributions (Rentenversicherung) are usually about 9.75% of your salary so it's worth checking out if we can get that back for you.

To get a refund, you must be a non-EU citizen. The other requirements are that you paid pension insurance for less than five years in Germany and you've been out of the country for more than two years. We can apply for unclaimed pension refunds as far back as 15 years and to do it we'll need your payslips for all the years you worked in Germany. Download the German Pension Refund Pack today or register online.

When can I get my pension refund?

Refunds for 1995 – 2008: If you worked in Germany between 1995 and 2007, and have been out of the country for more than two years, we can claim your refund straight away so apply for your German Pension Refund today.

Worked in Germany in 2008 - 2010? To claim your German pension insurance refund you must have been out of the country for more than two years so if you've worked there since 2008 download the German Pension Refund Pack now and send us your documents once your two years is up.

How much money will I get back?

Taxback.com will get you back up to three years' worth of what you paid into your German pension fund so download the German Pension Refund Pack today to claim yours.

The average pension refund we get for our German clients is €1520!

How long will it take to receive my German pension refund? Where's my refund?

As soon as we have it, you'll have it, because we contact you immediately when we receive your refund to organise the easiest way to get it to you.

You can watch the step-by-step progress of your application on your online account.. It'll go something like this:

Once we get your documents, it takes us just one day to prepare your German Pension Insurance Contributions refunds. This involves:

Receiving and checking the documents
Estimating your refund
Completing your forms
Sending them to the pension fund office

Once at the pension fund office, your application takes about six months to process, depending on how busy they are. But don't worry - our team will keep chasing the office to see how your application is progressing.

As soon as we receive your refund, we'll contact you to sort out the best way to get your cash straight to you.

The total estimated time for your German pension rebate is six months.

How does taxback.com work?

Here's how our easy three-step service works:

Send us your documents and signed forms. We'll estimate your refund and give you an online tracking account. If you're missing any documents we can get replacements for you.

Chill out while we file your applications and get you the maximum possible legal refund.

How do I know what's happening with my pension refund?

You can follow the progress of your Germany pension insurance refund on your online tracking account. It allows you to see every step of your application. As soon as we have your refund we'll contact you to sort out the best way to get your money straight to you.

Rather talk to a human being? We have staff available to talk to you in 26 taxback.com offices in 19 different countries. Click here to find your local office number or use our Live Chat.

What are the advantages of using taxback.com?

Thousands of people choose our service because:

We get you the maximum legal refund
Every customer gets a Personal Online Tracking Account – you can follow your tax return every step of the way
All our German tax returns are legal and compliant with German tax law.
Document retrieval service
24-hour customer support and tax refund help
Free phone, free fax, free post, free online tax help with our live chat!
No language barriers - our services are available in: Bulgarian, Chinese, Chinese-Taiwanese, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, and Ukrainian.
Money sent worldwide and in your local currency. You can get your refund in: Australian Dollars, Brazilian Reals, Bulgarian Lev, Canadian Dollars, Czech Koruna, Euro, Hong Kong Dollar, Indonesian Rupiah, Japanese Yen, Latvian Lat, Lithuanian Litas, Moldovan Lei, New Zealand Dollars, Norwegian Krona, Pakistan Rupee, Peruvian Nuevo Soles, Philippine Peso, Polish Zloty, Romanian Lei, Russian Rubles, Singaporean Dollar, Slovak Koruna, South African Rands, South Korean Won, Swedish Krona, Thai Baht, Turkish Lira, UK Pounds, Ukrainian Hryvna, US Dollars.

How much will it cost?

First of all, our FREE Refund Estimation costs you nothing. If you've got your final payslips we can estimate your pension refund for you.

When you send us your documents and signed forms, we'll evaluate your refund and what additional services you need such as document retrieval. Then we'll let you know how much it will cost to apply for your refund for you.

For pension refunds from Germany, we charge 16.5% of the refund received, subject to a minimum fee of €50.

Why the minimum fee?

Our fee covers all the things that make filing your German pension insurance refund with us so easy such as:

Customer support 24/7 by phone and Live Chat
Online tracking service in seven languages
Free phone and free fax
Local staff to meet you and guide you through the process in 18 offices worldwide

Oops - I lost my documents/Help - I never got my documents – what do I do?

We know it's easy to lose documents in the move back home or to not even receive them in the first place. That's why we have a document retrieval service to organise replacements for you. If you're missing documents, just contact us at germany@taxback.com and we'll sort it out for you.

What is a final payslip?

To claim your German pension refund we'll need your final payslip. A final payslip is the payslip attached to your last pay cheque. To outlines your earnings and the amount of tax you paid.

If you're missing your final payslip contact us on german@taxback.com and we can sort it out for you.

I worked abroad in other countries - can you help me to claim refunds from these countries?

Absolutely! We've been organising tax refunds for people working all over the world since 1996. If you've worked in any of the following countries click on them to apply for your refund!

Australia tax refund	Austria tax refund	Belgium tax refund
Canada tax refund	Denmark tax refund	Gibraltar tax refund
Guernsey tax refund	Holland tax refund	Ireland tax refund
Japan tax refund	Luxembourg tax refund	New Zealand tax refund
Norway tax refund	UK tax refund	US tax refund

Our research team is constantly developing tax return services for new markets so if you've worked in a country not mentioned above, email our team on newtaxes@taxback.com to see what we can do for you.

Can you guarantee that I'll receive the refund amount you estimated for me?

No, but we do guarantee to get you the most money back that we legally can.

Our estimate is based on your documents and our experience in filing thousands of refund applications every week since 1996. Naturally, the German pension fund authority has the final decision in your pension insurance refund based on their systems and codes.

When our technicians prepare and file your application they make sure we apply for the maximum refund possible for you.