Working while you study - General regulations

There are several basic regulations that apply to all students independent of their country of origin (for the Germans also). They will be explained on this page.

Aside from that there are no further restrictions for foreign students from countries that belonged to the European Union before 2004. This also applies to students from countries in the European Free Trade Association EFTA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), as well as Malta and Cyprus.

The same employment regulations that apply to students from non-EU-countries apply initially to students from the countries that joined the EU in 2004 (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary). After a transition period of a few years they should receive the same rights as all other EU-citizens.

Social insurance

Social insurance in Germany is divided into separate branches (unemployment insurance, health insurance, pension insurance, accident insurance and nursing care insurance). If and how much dues you have to pay for this insurance depends on the one hand on working hours and on the other on your income.

• An overview of the boundaries of social insurance can be found at:
  http://www.unilife.de/bund/rd/29095.htm#Beschäftigung (german)

Working hours and health insurance

Students are allowed to work no more than 20 hours a week or they lose their status as a student for their health insurance and are required to pay higher fees.
These 20 hours are an average over a longer period of time. You can for example work full-time for a couple of weeks in the semester break, as long as you stay under the 20 hour limit for that year.

Income and social insurance

Employees who earn up to 400,- € a month do not have to pay for pension insurance. Employers also pay only a small fee for health and pension insurance for employees who earn up to 400,- € a month. For this reason there a lot of these 400-Euro-Jobs.

If you earn over 400,- € but less than 800,- € a month you must pay reduced fees for pension insurance. From 800,- € up you must pay the full fee (just under 20%).

Taxes

On principle every student who is employed in the Federal Republic of Germany must pay taxes to the tax office starting at a certain income. If you must pay taxes the amount is adapted to your tax bracket, your marital status, children and other factors (e.g. special expenses). The tax free earnings limit in Income Tax Bracket 1 is approximately 8600,- € a year (7664,- € tax exempt plus a lump-sum for advertising costs, special expenses, etc.)

• Tax brackets and tax exemptions: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohnsteuerklasse (german)

If you earn a lot of money in a few months (e.g. in the semester break) you will have to pay taxes at first. At the end of the year you can file a tax return and get the surplus taxes back. If you earned under the income tax limit for the whole year you get all your taxes back.

Income tax card

For many side jobs you will need an income tax card which your employer uses to calculate how much tax to deduct from your pay – you will still need a card even if you earn so little that you don't have to pay taxes.
You can get an income tax card at the registration office (Bürgerbüro in the town hall). It is best to apply for an income tax card directly after you register in Bochum. You can receive a new income tax card every year in the mail upon request.

Normally everyone has only one income tax card. If you have more than one side-job at the same time, you can get more than one income tax card. All cards after the first one (normally tax bracket I) will have tax bracket VI.

In income tax bracket VI you are required to pay taxes starting with the first Euro – you get the money back at the beginning of the following year after you file your tax return. So always turn in your tax card with the lower tax bracket at the job where you earn the most!

Further information

• Information for employed students from the Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund:
  http://www.students-at-work.de (german)
• Tax lexicon:
  http://www.steuerlexikon-online.de (german)