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Yes. Under an agreed review engagement, our team reviews your residency file and supporting package, provides a written advisory opinion and recommends revisions. That is our opinion — not a Finanzamt determination or a verbindliche Auskunft.

No. Germany has no departure form and no residency-opinion request. Your unlimited liability ends as a matter of fact when you give up your last Wohnsitz and gewöhnlicher Aufenthalt, and you report the dates in Anlage WA-ESt of your return. If you want binding certainty on a planned set of facts you can apply for a verbindliche Auskunft under § 89 AO, for a fee. § 89 AO ↗

Yes, for shareholders. If you were subject to unlimited liability for at least seven of the last twelve years and own at least 1 per cent of a corporation, § 6 AStG treats your departure as a sale of those shares at market value. On application, and usually against security, you can pay in seven equal annual interest-free instalments; the balance falls due early if you sell, miss a payment or take distributions above a quarter of the value. Since 1 January 2025 the same applies to investment-fund units where you hold at least 1 per cent of the fund or units that cost at least 500 000 euro. Departures before 1 January 2022 remain under the old rules. § 6 AStG ↗ · § 19 InvStG ↗

Not entirely, if you are a German citizen. § 2 AStG keeps you on an extended limited basis for ten years after the year you leave if you were unlimited-liable for five of the last ten years, your new country taxes you at a low level (or you are resident nowhere), and you keep substantial economic interests in Germany — a § 17 shareholding, more than 30 per cent or 62 000 euro of German-source income, or more than 30 per cent or 154 000 euro of assets in Germany. It only bites in years where the income caught exceeds 16 500 euro, but it is the trap most people moving to the UAE, Panama or Paraguay miss. § 2 AStG ↗

You can, but it is the biggest risk to your position. A Wohnsitz under § 8 AO is any dwelling you hold under circumstances suggesting you will keep and use it — ownership is not required and neither is regular use. A flat let to a third party on a proper lease is generally no longer 'available' to you; a flat kept furnished for your visits usually is. If you keep a home, the file needs to explain why it does not remain at your disposal. § 8 AO ↗

No blanket rule requires it. Bank and brokerage accounts are facts, not tests: they matter for § 2 AStG's 'substantial interests' thresholds and for withholding on German dividends, not for whether you have a Wohnsitz. Move them to non-resident status, review any Freistellungsauftrag, keep what you need, and be able to explain it.

Your entitlement in the gesetzliche Rentenversicherung stays where it is and the Deutsche Rentenversicherung pays the pension abroad once it is due — give them your new address and bank details. German statutory pensions remain German-source income under § 49 EStG for non-residents; pensioners abroad with only pension income from Germany deal with Finanzamt Neubrandenburg (RiA). Statutory or private health cover does not travel with you automatically: notify your Krankenkasse and arrange cover in your new country before you leave. Finanzamt Neubrandenburg (RiA) ↗

Re-establishing a Wohnsitz or gewöhnlicher Aufenthalt makes you unlimited-liable again from that day. If you paid or owe § 6 AStG exit tax, a return within seven years of leaving — extendable by up to five years on application if your intention to return is unchanged — cancels the tax claim, provided you did not sell or transfer the shares, took no distributions above a quarter of their value, and Germany's taxing right is restored. If you claimed the temporary-absence route, tell the Finanzamt promptly if your intention to return changes. § 6 (3) AStG ↗