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Additional Taxable Wages for Lawyers in Germany

By Stanley Kolodziejczak and Nancy Regan
January 28, 2011

Due to the issuance of a recent decree by the German Tax Authorities, lawyers employed in Germany will likely have their taxable wages increased by the imputation of the firm's payment of certain insurance contracts. However, with the right planning, the amount imputed to these attorneys can be limited to a nominal amount.

In its decree of July 22, 2010, (the “decree”) the Berlin Finance Ministry instructed taxpayers to treat professional indemnity insurance premiums (hereinafter “premiums”) paid by a law firm for an employed lawyer as a part of the employee's taxable wages. Moreover, according to the nationwide standardized approach of the German state tax authorities, if a law firm has only one insurance policy in place, amounts paid to the insurer cannot be divided between the statutory minimum insurance amount paid to cover an attorney's professional indemnity insurance and the excess paid for other insurance coverage. Thus, lawyers at German firms may face having even more additional compensation imputed to them.

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