If you’re unsure of whether your country of residence (or company headquarters) has a double tax agreement with Germany and which percentage of tax deduction needs to be applied, you can look it up in this list.

Name and address data

Stating your correct name and address are legal prerequisites for receiving payments.

Verify name and address here

TIN

You also need to state your valid TIN. If you do not state the correct TIN, we will keep 15% of your design price earnings (withholding tax) plus an additional 5.5% solidarity supplement on the withholding tax (obligatory in Germany). Spreadshirt will declare and transfer the amount to the Federal Central Tax Office of Germany.
If your monthly design price earnings don’t exceed €5,500 and/or the annual design price earnings are below €40,000, a permissive recording procedure with the Federal Central Tax Office is possible. In Germany, this recording procedure is called KMV.
If the TIN has been stated correctly and KMV can be applied, your design price earnings can be paid out in full since the double tax agreement reduces taxation to 0%.

Enter TIN here

Earnings of more than €5,500 per month / €40,000 per year

If your design price earnings exceeds one or both of these amounts, the application of KMV is no longer possible once once a payment that fell in this bracket has been carried out. From the date of its coming into force, the payments will exclude deductions of 15% of your design price earnings (withholding tax) plus an additional 5.5% solidarity supplement on the withholding tax (obligatory in Germany). All other earnings (Affiliate Commission and Volume Commission) will still be paid out in full.

You can ask for a written release of a notice of non-liability for tax (Freistellungsbescheinigung) at the Federal Central Tax Office of Germany. The procedure is subject to §50d sect. 2 Income Tax Act (EStG). If you hold a notice of non-liability for tax at the time of payout, no tax deduction will be performed.

If you not have a notice of non-liability while exceeding the statutory limits, or if you have indicated a wrong TIN and tax deduction couldn’t performed properly, you can apply for a reimbursement of the money paid to the tax office (based on §50d sect. 2 EStG) at the Federal Central Tax Office of Germany. The period enforceable is, in principle, four years upon expiry of of the calendar year in which the earnings were paid out.

The Partner receives a PDF-certificate for tax purposes with regard to the tax deduction that was carried out. Upon submission of this certificate, an allowance of the withheld tax for the purpose of the Partner’s tax assessment may be possible.

What always applies in all cases:

We would like to point out that the German tax authorities may inform the local tax office of your place of residence (or company headquarters) about your earnings.

The information provided on this site by no means serves as fiscal advice or tax consultancy, and is not designed to come to base taxation assessments on either. Please refer these matters to a professional tax consultant.