Yes — you still have to file US taxes
The US is one of the only countries on earth that taxes its citizens on their worldwide income no matter where they live. So if you are a US citizen or green-card holder living in Germany, you must still file a US federal tax return (Form 1040) every year, reporting your German salary in US dollars — on top of your German return.
The good news: filing is not the same as paying. Between the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, the Foreign Tax Credit, and the US–Germany tax treaty, the large majority of Americans in Germany end up owing little or no US tax. The obligation is mostly paperwork, not a second tax bill. The real risk is not filing — penalties for missed information returns (below) are steep.
How you avoid double taxation: FEIE, the Foreign Tax Credit and the treaty
You have two main tools, and you generally pick the one that serves you best:
- Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE), Form 2555 — lets you exclude up to $130,000 of foreign earned income for tax year 2025 (the figure is inflation-adjusted; it rises to $132,900 for 2026). If both spouses work and qualify, you can exclude up to $260,000 between you. You qualify via the bona-fide-residence or physical-presence test.
- Foreign Tax Credit (FTC), Form 1116 — credits the German income tax you already paid against your US tax, dollar for dollar. Because German income-tax rates are generally higher than US rates, the FTC often wipes out your US tax entirely on a German salary — and can be more valuable than the FEIE, especially if you want to keep "earned income" on the books to contribute to a US IRA or claim the Child Tax Credit.
The US–Germany income tax treaty backs this up, assigning taxing rights between the two countries and providing relief from double taxation. Many people combine the FTC with the treaty rather than the FEIE. This is the one area where professional advice usually pays for itself.
Reporting your German accounts: FBAR and FATCA
Two information returns trip up more expats than the tax return itself, because they are about disclosure, not tax owed:
- FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) — if the combined balance of all your foreign financial accounts (German checking, savings, brokerage, even some pension and Sperrkonto-type accounts) exceeds $10,000 at any point in the year, you must report them. The FBAR is filed electronically with FinCEN, not the IRS, through the BSA E-Filing system.
- Form 8938 (FATCA) — filed with your Form 1040 if your specified foreign assets exceed the living-abroad thresholds: $200,000 on the last day of the year or $300,000 at any time (single), or $400,000 / $600,000 (married filing jointly).
German banks report US-person accounts to the US under FATCA, so these are cross-checked. File them even in years you owe nothing.
Deadlines, Social Security and getting help
US citizens abroad get an automatic extension to June 15 to file (instead of April 15). You can push the filing deadline to October 15 with Form 4868 — but any tax you actually owe is still due April 15, with interest accruing after that. The FBAR is due April 15 with an automatic extension to October 15, no request needed.
On Social Security, a US–Germany Totalization Agreement means you generally pay into only one country's system rather than both, and your contributions can count toward benefits in either.
A quick sequence: get your German tax ID and understand your German tax class for the German side, read moving to Germany from the USA for the bigger picture, and verify current figures on the IRS international taxpayers pages. This is general information, not tax advice — cross-border returns are genuinely complex, so for anything beyond a simple salary it is worth using a preparer who specialises in US expat taxes. You can also build your Germany setup checklist so the German admin around all of this is sequenced for you.