My German Exit Tax: 13 Tax Advisors, 1.5 Years, 18.7k€ to leave the country
olieidel
31 points
25 comments
September 23, 2026
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Discussion Highlights (7 comments)
pu_pe
> The German exit tax is very.. expensive. In simplified terms, I'd have to simulate a sale of all my companies at a high valuation (13.75 * earnings), and pay 30% tax on that. This is an outrageous valuation and taxation scheme. I think German politicians either don't understand the magnitude of the issue, or they have been coopted by lobbying somehow. It's such a tough environment for innovation.
cc62cf4a4f20
These types of taxes are common and logic is simple, you have capital gains that accrued during the time you were tax resident in Germany. By rights the taxes on those gains are due to the German state. So you need to do a deemed disposition and pay the relevant taxes. I had to do the same when moving country and it’s right.
mamonster
>Other costs (total: 2.6k€): Notary: Changing company address and CEO: 1.5k€ Notary: Changing company suffix from UG to GmbH: 1.1k€ This is absolutely crazy. For comparison, below are the costs in Switzerland (and you can do all the things yourself by writing a letter signed by the authorized persons, so add whatever your time costs): https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2020/180/de
slwvx
Seems like the guy is wondering why they can't avoid taxes more easily. I'm not sympathetic
4ndrewl
"I wanted to move to Thailand to live with my girlfriend. I own a few companies" seems like tiny violin territory...
toomuchtodo
Very reasonable. US Exit Tax for comparison: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/expa... https://americansoverseas.org/en/knowledge-centre/exit-tax-u...
dgellow
> GmbH & Co. KG holding: The only solution which is generally accepted by the tax office, involves minimum payments to the STANIC and allows you to keep your companies I’m confused by that article. So, it seems there is a clear option that doesn’t require you to pay a large exit tax or to sell your shares. I don’t understand all the complaining. Germany’s tax system has a lot of issues and deserves to be criticized, but for that specific situation it seems there is a clear option that is pretty reasonable?