German paperwork for Australians: Anmeldung, tax ID and health insurance

Germany's bureaucracy has a reputation, and it's earned. The good news: once you understand which document leads to the next, it's a chain, not a maze.

The short version

• Everything starts with the Anmeldung, your address registration. It's free, due within 14 days of moving in, and needs your landlord's move-in confirmation [1].
• Your tax ID (Steuer-ID) is then posted to you automatically. If it hasn't arrived within three months, you can request it [2].
• Health insurance is compulsory for residents. Most employees are in the public system, which costs 14.6% of wages plus an extra contribution averaging 2.9% in 2026, shared with your employer [4][5].
• If you didn't arrive on a visa, Berlin's immigration office says to expect at least two to three months before your appointment [8].
• Every household pays a monthly broadcasting fee of €18.36 from the date you register [9].

The paperwork chain at a glance

Each document tends to depend on the one before it. Here's the usual sequence for an Australian moving to Berlin.

1. The Anmeldung: the key to everything

Banks, phone companies, employers and the immigration office will all ask for your registration certificate. Here's what Service Berlin says you need [1]:

• Deadline. Within 14 days of moving into your flat.
• Appointment. In-person registration at a Bürgeramt requires a booked appointment through the city's service portal.
• Documents. The completed registration form, a valid passport and the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung, your landlord's signed move-in confirmation. A rental contract doesn't replace it, and your landlord must issue it within two weeks.
• Civil status papers. On your first Berlin registration, you may be asked for documents such as a marriage or birth certificate. Bring originals and, ideally, certified translations.
• Cost. Nothing.

Berlin does offer online registration, but only for German or EU citizens with an eID-enabled ID card, and the electronic residence permit can't be used [1]. As an Australian, plan on going in person. If you can't make the appointment, someone else can attend for you with a signed power of attorney, but you must sign the form yourself [1].

Short-term visitors living abroad who stay in Berlin for up to three months don't need to register [1]. Once you're actually living here, you do.

2. The tax ID: watch your letterbox

You don't apply for your tax ID. After you register, the Bürgeramt passes your details to the Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern, BZSt), which sends the number by post to your registered address [2]. Your name must be on the letterbox, or that letter may never reach you.

If nothing has turned up within three months of your first registration in Germany, send your details to the BZSt through its online form or in writing and it will chase it up [2]. In urgent cases, for example a new employer who needs it for payroll, you can ask your local tax office (Finanzamt) in person with ID [2]. The tax ID stays with you for life, even if you leave and come back.

What the tax ID is for

Your employer uses it to deduct wage tax each month. Germany's income tax is progressive. For 2026, the basic tax-free allowance is €12,348 for a single person; rates then rise from 14%, reach 42% from about €69,879 of taxable income, and a 45% rate applies above €277,826 [3]. Church tax can also apply if you register as a member of certain religious communities, so think carefully about what you write in the religion field at the Bürgeramt.

Don't forget the Australian side. Moving to Germany may change your Australian tax residency, which affects how any Australian income is taxed. Our guide on Australian tax residency explains the basics.

3. Health insurance: public, private or travel cover

Health insurance is mandatory for everyone living in Germany [4]. Which type you have depends on your situation.

Public insurance (GKV)

Most employees are covered by statutory health insurance, with well-known insurers including TK, AOK, Barmer and DAK [4]. Contributions come straight out of your pay:

• The general rate is 14.6% of gross wages, split between you and your employer [5].
• On top of that, each insurer charges an extra contribution (Zusatzbeitrag). The official average for 2026 is 2.9% [5]. Shop around; insurers differ.
• Contributions are only charged up to an income ceiling, which is €69,750 a year in 2026 [6].

Private insurance (PKV)

Employees earning above the compulsory insurance threshold, €77,400 a year in 2026 [6], can opt out of the public system and take private cover [4]. Premiums depend on age and health rather than income, and getting back into the public system later can be difficult. Many freelancers and self-employed people also go private. Get independent advice before you sign up.

Working holiday visa holders

For the working holiday visa, the German Embassy requires proof of health insurance valid in Germany for your whole stay, with at least €30,000 in cover, including repatriation and pandemic-related treatment [10]. That usually means a private policy bought before you leave Australia. If you then take a job subject to social insurance in Germany, your employer will normally enrol you in the public system.

Medicare doesn't follow you to Germany. Our guide on Medicare when you live abroad explains what happens to it.

4. The social insurance number

When you start your first job that's subject to social insurance, your registration with a statutory health insurer sets off the allocation of your social insurance number, and the German pension insurance (DRV) sends you proof by letter [7]. You'll need it for every future employer. Pension contributions you make in Germany don't vanish if you go home: Australia and Germany have a social security agreement covering pensions, which our super guide touches on.

5. Your residence permit at the LEA

If you came on a working holiday visa, you may not need to visit the immigration office during your first year. If you entered visa-free and are applying after arrival, or you're switching to a work permit, you'll deal with Berlin's State Office for Immigration (Landesamt für Einwanderung, LEA).

How the process works, according to Berlin's welcome centre [8]:

1. Check the online list. If your reason for staying is listed, apply online and upload complete, legible documents as single PDFs. Fees are usually paid by credit card or PayPal.
2. Otherwise use the contact form. Choose the specialist team if one fits, or select your nationality and the first letter of your surname.
3. Save the confirmation as a PDF, not a screenshot.
4. Wait for an invitation. Expect at least two to three months.
5. Ask about a Fiktionsbescheinigung. If you entered without a visa and applied within your first three months, you may receive this certificate, which covers you while your application is processed [8].

Remember: you can't start working until you hold a permit that allows it.

6. The broadcasting fee

Shortly after you register, a letter arrives from the Beitragsservice asking you to sign up for the Rundfunkbeitrag. It's €18.36 a month and is owed from the day you register your residence [9]. It's charged per flat, not per person: in a share house, one person registers and pays, and the others register using that person's contribution number [9]. It's due whether or not you own a TV, so answer the letter rather than ignoring it.

A few habits that save pain

• Keep a paperwork folder. Passport copies, registration certificate, contract, payslips, insurance letters. Germans keep paper; so should you.
• Put your name on the letterbox and the doorbell. Official post won't reach you otherwise.
• De-register when you leave. Leaving Germany means an Abmeldung at the Bürgeramt, which also stops the broadcasting fee and helps with tax.
• Ask other Aussies. Cooee Germany, our Facebook group for Australians in Germany, is full of people who've just done the same appointments.

Sources

1. Anmeldung einer Wohnung – Service Berlin (State of Berlin)
2. Steueridentifikationsnummer – Vergabe – Service Berlin (State of Berlin)
3. Steuertarif 2026 – Steuerberater Schürmann, Berlin
4. Health insurance – Berlin University Alliance
5. Average extra contribution rises in 2026 – zm online
6. Bundeskabinett beschließt Sozialversicherungsrechengrößen 2026 – Deutsche Rentenversicherung
7. Die Versicherungsnummer – Deutsche Rentenversicherung
8. Appointments at LEA (State Office for Immigration) – Willkommenszentrum Berlin
9. Rundfunkbeitrag – University of Mannheim Welcome Centre
10. Working holiday visa for Australians – German Embassy Canberra (Auswärtiges Amt)

Keep reading

• Moving to Berlin from Australia: the complete guide
• Renting in Berlin as an Australian
• Medicare when you live abroad
• Are you still an Australian tax resident once you move?