Taxes When Moving from Germany to Turkey (2026):
The German Expat's Complete Tax Guide

Once you formally deregister (Abmeldung beim Einwohnermeldeamt) and are no longer a German tax resident, Germany can no longer tax your worldwide income — only German-source income (German rental property, German-source pension, German dividends) remains taxable as a limited taxpayer. The exception is the "erweiterte beschränkte Steuerpflicht" (extended limited tax liability) under §2 AStG: if you are a German citizen, were unlimited-taxable in Germany for at least 5 of the last 10 years, move to a country the law treats as "low-tax," and still keep substantial economic interests in Germany (a business, a large shareholding, significant rental income), Germany can keep taxing your non-German income too — for up to 10 years after you leave. This rarely bites ordinary retirees but can catch business owners and high earners.

The current DTA was signed on 19 September 2011, entered into force on 1 August 2012, and applies retroactively from 1 January 2011 — replacing a 1985 treaty Germany terminated in 2009 over disputes about pension taxation. It covers income tax, corporation tax, trade tax, and net wealth tax, but does not cover inheritance or gift tax — there is no separate estate-tax treaty between Germany and Turkey either, so cross-border inheritances are not fully protected from double taxation (see below). Relief works two ways depending on the income type: some income (like German civil-service pensions) is taxable exclusively in one country, while other income (statutory pensions, dividends) can be taxed by both, with your country of residence required to credit tax already withheld at source. For the full breakdown of which income falls under which article, see our dedicated double taxation treaty guide.

Both, with a credit to prevent double taxation — but Germany's taxing right only kicks in above a threshold. Under Article 18 of the DTA, the first roughly €10,000 of gross pension per year is taxable only in Turkey, your country of residence — Germany has no source-taxing right on that portion at all. Above that threshold, Germany (the source state) may withhold tax at source, capped at 10% of the gross pension; Turkey still taxes the pension under Turkish law but must credit the German tax already withheld. This is different from a German civil-service pension (Beamtenpension), which falls under Article 19 and stays exclusively taxable in Germany regardless of where you live — Turkey has no taxing right over it at all. There is a separate, unrelated German domestic rule that also matters: only part of your gross statutory pension is taxable in Germany's own system in the first place. For someone starting their pension in 2026, 84% of the gross amount is taxable and 16% is tax-free for life; that taxable share is legislated to rise 0.5 percentage points a year until it reaches 100% for retirees starting in 2058.

For 2026, Germany taxes income from 0% (below the Grundfreibetrag of €12,348 for singles / €24,696 for married couples) rising to 14% just above that threshold, reaching 42% at €69,879, and 45% ("Reichensteuer") above roughly €277,826. Turkey's 2026 brackets are 15% up to ₺158,000, 20% up to ₺330,000, 27% up to ₺800,000, 35% up to ₺4,300,000, and 40% above that. Turkish lira brackets are re-indexed for inflation every year, so check gib.gov.tr for the current figures. Turkey also has no church tax, no solidarity surcharge, and — for shares held over a year — no capital gains tax, all of which meaningfully lower the effective rate compared to Germany for most retirees.

Five steps: (1) Deregister your residence (Abmeldung) at your local Einwohnermeldeamt before or shortly after leaving — this creates the official departure date the Finanzamt relies on. (2) Notify your Finanzamt of the move and your new Turkish address; you will still receive a final German tax assessment for the departure year. (3) If you keep German-source income (pension, rental property, dividends), you remain a limited taxpayer (beschränkt steuerpflichtig) on those specific items only. (4) File your final Einkommensteuererklärung for the year you left, even if you leave partway through the year. (5) Cancel German statutory health insurance (Krankenversicherung) and Kindergeld/Familienkasse registrations if applicable, and update your address with your bank, pension provider, and any German insurers.

No. Kirchensteuer (an 8–9% surcharge on income tax) is only collected from registered church members who remain German income tax residents. Once you deregister and stop being a German tax resident, Kirchensteuer stops applying — even if you never formally leave the church. If you keep German-source income taxed via Lohnsteuer withholding as a limited taxpayer, confirm with your payroll office or Finanzamt that the church tax flag has been removed; formally leaving the church (Kirchenaustritt) before departure removes any ambiguity.

The Wegzugsteuer under §6 AStG is separate from ordinary income tax and targets people who hold at least a 1% stake in a corporation (a GmbH or AG, German or foreign) and have been a German tax resident for at least 7 of the last 12 years before leaving. It treats the move as if you had sold those shares at market value on the day you leave, taxing the unrealised capital gain even though nothing was actually sold. Since 1 January 2025, the rules were extended to also cover investment funds and ETFs, once your holding is at least 1% of the fund's units or your acquisition cost exceeds €500,000 — a change that catches far more ordinary investors with large ETF portfolios than the old rule did. Since Turkey is outside the EU/EEA, the interest-free deferral available to EU/EEA movers does not apply, but since a 2022 reform you can request payment in up to seven annual instalments, generally against security. If you hold significant company shares or a large ETF/fund portfolio, get exit tax modelling done before you deregister — this is not something to discover after the fact.

Riester: because Turkey is outside the EU/EEA, moving there means you must, in principle, repay all state allowances and tax benefits received on your Riester contract up to that point. In practice you have options: request deferral of the repayment until the payout phase begins (interest accrues at 0.5% during deferral), let the contract sit dormant without further state support, or terminate it and accept the subsidies being deducted from the payout. If you never trigger repayment and later start drawing the pension while still resident outside the EU/EEA, the law claws back the subsidies at 15% of each pension payment until settled. Rürup (Basisrente): there is no comparable subsidy-clawback rule — payouts are simply taxable in Germany under the same rising-percentage schedule as statutory pensions, and moving to Turkey does not change that.

Germany and Turkey have had a bilateral social security agreement since 1964, most recently updated, which coordinates pension entitlements between the two countries' systems (Deutsche Rentenversicherung and Turkey's SGK). For a German national who paid into the German statutory system, the pension amount itself is unaffected by moving to Turkey — Deutsche Rentenversicherung continues to pay the same pension regardless of your country of residence, and it can be paid directly to a Turkish bank account. The agreement matters most for people with contribution periods split between Germany, Turkey, and sometimes a third country: if you also have insurance periods in a country like Austria or France in addition to Germany and Turkey, ask Deutsche Rentenversicherung's Turkey liaison office (Verbindungsstelle für die Türkei) to confirm exactly how your entitlement is calculated before you rely on a specific pension figure.

This is a gap, not a treaty. Germany and Turkey do not have a double taxation agreement covering inheritance or gift tax — the 2011 income-tax DTA explicitly excludes it, and there is no separate estate-tax treaty between the two countries. In practice this means both countries can potentially tax the same estate: German Erbschaftsteuer applies to German real estate and, depending on residence/domicile, can reach worldwide assets, while Turkish veraset ve intikal vergisi applies to Turkish-situated property and, for Turkish-domiciled deceased or heirs, can reach worldwide assets too. Relief is not automatic — Germany's own domestic law (§21 ErbStG) allows a unilateral credit for comparable foreign inheritance tax already paid on foreign-situs assets in some circumstances, but it is narrower and less certain than treaty-based relief. Because there is no bilateral mechanism guaranteeing you will not be taxed twice, and because exemption thresholds and rates for spouses versus children versus other heirs differ sharply between the two systems, get dedicated cross-border estate planning advice well before it is needed — this is a separate exercise from income tax planning and easy to overlook when the focus is on annual tax returns.

Under Turkish Income Tax Law (Mükerrer Madde 20/D), qualifying new Turkish tax residents can have their foreign-source income — foreign dividends, foreign business income, foreign investment income, and certain capital gains — fully exempt from Turkish income tax for 20 years. To qualify, you generally must not have been a Turkish tax resident or held a registered domicile (ikametgah) in Turkey during the three calendar years before establishing residency, so it mainly benefits people (including returning Turkish citizens) who have genuinely lived abroad for years, not existing long-term residents. The exemption is not automatic — it requires a formal exemption certificate and does not cover Turkish-source income. Because eligibility depends on your specific residency and income history, use the eligibility checker linked above before assuming it applies to your situation, and confirm with a Turkish tax adviser before filing on that basis.

Turkey generally treats you as a full (unlimited) taxpayer if you have your legal domicile (ikametgah) in Turkey or you are physically present in Turkey for more than six months (continuously or in aggregate) within a calendar year — which typically aligns with holding a Turkish residence permit and living there most of the year. As a full taxpayer you are taxed on worldwide income, subject to whatever relief the DTA or the 20-year exemption provides. If you spend under six months a year in Turkey and keep your main residence and permit elsewhere, you are usually treated as a limited taxpayer, taxed only on Turkish-source income.

Yes — private (or, after your first year, optional public SGK) health insurance is a mandatory document for every Turkish residence permit application, and it is separate from your tax filing obligations in either country. Basic private policies that satisfy the residence permit requirement typically start in the low thousands of Turkish lira per year for younger applicants, rising with age and coverage level; voluntary SGK enrolment after one year of residence is priced as a percentage of the Turkish minimum wage. Deregistering from German statutory health insurance (Krankenversicherung) is a separate step from your Finanzamt deregistration and should be done at the same time to avoid continuing German contributions you no longer need.

Yes. Deutsche Rentenversicherung and most German pension and investment providers can pay directly to a foreign bank account, including a Turkish account (IBAN beginning TR). Many German expats instead use Wise, which provides a euro-denominated account with a real IBAN that can receive German payments and convert to Turkish lira at the mid-market rate when needed, avoiding weaker conversion rates some Turkish banks apply. A common setup is a German or Wise account to receive German-source income, paired with a Turkish account for day-to-day local spending.