At the beginning of 2011 I wrote about how the Lohnsteuerkarte was going to be replaced by an electronic system, the ELStAM, and for the past 12 months anyone arriving in Germany has no longer received their Lohnsteuerkarte on arrival when they register at the Einwohnermeldeamt, but instead has had to apply for written confirmation of their tax status at the tax office (Finanzamt).

But during the course of the year the starting date for the new system has been pushed back a number of times, and now it may even not come into force until the beginning of 2013! (more…)

One of the first places for anyone arriving in Germany to live has to go to is the Einwohnermeldeamt.  Having registered an address and applied for the relevant permits to stay in the country, new residents used to receive their Lohnsteuerkarte – a card that shows the details that an employer needs to calculate income tax deductions, such as the tax class (Steuerklasse), religion and the number of children in the family.

The Lohnsteuerkarte was valid for one year, and the new card for the coming year used to be sent out around the end of September.

But all that has now changed – or at least it should have done if a new system had come in at the beginning of this year.  Instead, there are special rules that apply only in 2011! (more…)

Dear podcast listeners,

it is now almost three years since we started the German Words Explained podcasts, and there are now 160 episodes! If you’ve heard the episode from New Year’s Eve, then you will know that this is going to be our last one – for the moment, at least.

As we announced some weeks ago, we are going to producing transcripts of the podcasts, which we will be releasing over the coming months. If you signed up for the mailing list, then you should have already received the sample transcript of the “Käseigel”, and to open our store we have gone back to the very first episode: Das Einwohnermeldeamt.

We intend to sell the transcripts in small groups, sorted by subject. But the first one is an exception and is available as a separate item.

To buy the transcript, visit the new AllThingsGerman Store. You can pay for the transcript using PayPal, and will then receive an e-mail with the download link in it. If you think that we should offer other methods of paying, then please let us know.

Please help us to make this new store a success. If you’d like us to let you know by e-mail when new transcripts become available, then please enter your e-mail in the box below: