Leaving Germany: The Money You Can Get Back

You have signed for a job in another country, the boxes are half-packed, and somewhere between the movers and the flight you have a nagging feeling you are leaving money behind and forgetting to cancel something that will keep billing you. Both instincts are right. Leaving Germany is not just Abmeldung and a forwarding address — for many internationals it is the one moment when years of pension contributions become reclaimable, when an overpaid tax year can be refunded, and when closing the wrong account first quietly strands the very money you are owed. The order you do things in matters more than the paperwork itself.

TL;DR

Non-EU citizens can often reclaim their pension contributions — but only their own share, and only 24 calendar months after their last contribution, per § 210 SGB VI.
A final German tax return is frequently a refund, because leaving mid-year usually means you overpaid Lohnsteuer — though it is not guaranteed.
Your rental deposit, utility credit balances and insurance overpayments are all reclaimable, but can take months to settle after you have gone.
Abmeldung (deregistration) comes first — the Abmeldebescheinigung is what lets you cancel health insurance and stop the Rundfunkbeitrag.
Do not close your German bank account early. Keep it — and a forwarding address — open until the pension refund and tax refund actually arrive, which can be years.

First, the one that pays the most: your pension contributions

KEY-STAT: 24 months — The waiting period after your last contribution before you can be refunded German pension contributions — "seit dem Ausscheiden aus der Versicherungspflicht 24 Kalendermonate," per § 210 Abs. 2 SGB VI

Every payslip in Germany sends 18.6% of your gross salary into the statutory pension (Deutsche Rentenversicherung), split roughly in half between you and your employer. If you are leaving for good and you are not an EU/EEA or Swiss national, a large part of that can come back to you — but the rules are specific and worth getting exactly right.

Three conditions from § 210 SGB VI decide it. First, you must no longer be subject to compulsory German pension insurance and have no right to contribute voluntarily — in practice, you have left Germany and the EU pension system. Second, 24 calendar months must have passed since your last contribution (§ 210 Abs. 2). Third — and this is the part that surprises people — you are refunded contributions in the amount you personally bore ("in der Höhe erstattet, in der die Versicherten sie getragen haben," § 210 Abs. 3): your own roughly-half share, not the employer's half. The employer's contribution stays with the system.

There is also a ceiling that works in reverse. Once you have paid in for five years (60 months) — the general vesting period (allgemeine Wartezeit) — you have earned an actual German pension entitlement instead, payable from retirement age even if you live abroad, and a contribution refund is no longer the route. Below five years and outside the EU, the refund is usually the only way to see that money again; above five years, you keep a (small) future pension. Which side of that line you sit on is the single biggest factor in what leaving is worth to you, and it is covered from the pension side in what happens to your Rente as an expat.

Note

EU, EEA and Swiss nationals generally cannot take a contribution refund, because EU coordination rules keep your German contributions on your record and combine them with pension rights in your next EU country. That is not money lost — it is money that follows you — but it does mean the refund route in this section is, in practice, for non-EU citizens moving to a non-EU country.

The application goes directly to Deutsche Rentenversicherung (the relevant form is the V0901 series) and costs nothing to file yourself. Several commercial services will do it for a percentage cut; none of them can get you more than the statutory amount, so for a straightforward case the free direct route keeps the whole refund.

The tax refund people forget to claim

If you leave part-way through a calendar year, your monthly Lohnsteuer was withheld as though you would earn that salary for all twelve months. Leave in June and you were taxed at a full-year rate on half a year's income — which usually means you overpaid. Filing a final German income-tax return (Einkommensteuererklärung) for your last year is how you get that back, and for a mid-year departure it is frequently a refund rather than a bill.

It is not automatic and not guaranteed: income you earn abroad in the same calendar year can raise your German tax rate through the Progressionsvorbehalt, which reduces or occasionally erases the refund. But the return is worth filing precisely because you cannot know the number until you run it, and the overpayment is real money the Finanzamt does not send back unprompted.

Deposits, credits and balances to reclaim

The pension and tax refunds are the large ones, but several smaller balances are yours and easy to forget once you are focused on the move.

What to reclaim	Who holds it	Realistic timing
Mietkaution (rental deposit)	Landlord	Often up to ~6 months after move-out, once the final Nebenkostenabrechnung is settled
Electricity / gas credit	Energy provider	Final bill after your closing meter reading; credit refunded to your account
Health-insurance overpayment	Krankenkasse	After deregistration, if you prepaid or were over-charged
Bank / broker balances	Bank, Depot provider	Immediate, but only if the account stays open long enough to move the money

The pattern across all four is the same: none of them settle on your departure date, and all of them need somewhere to pay the money to. That is why the closing sequence below exists.

Abmeldung: the deregistration that unlocks everything

Before you cancel anything, you deregister your German address at the Bürgeramt (Abmeldung), and you keep the Abmeldebescheinigung — the confirmation slip. That single document is what lets you cancel statutory health insurance cleanly and stop the Rundfunkbeitrag (the broadcasting fee), both of which otherwise keep running. Deregistering is also what formally ends your German tax residency for the period after you leave.

Warning

Do not treat "close everything" as one step done on your last day. Your German bank account is how the pension refund, the tax refund, and your rental deposit will be paid — close it first and you can strand thousands of euros with no easy way to receive them from abroad. The bank account is the last thing to go, not the first.

Close these accounts — and the order that matters

Think of leaving as a sequence, not a checklist you tick in any order. This ordering keeps you covered and reachable until every euro owed to you has actually landed:

Deregister (Abmeldung) at the Bürgeramt and keep the Abmeldebescheinigung — everything below depends on it.
Cancel statutory health insurance using the Abmeldung as proof you have left; keep cover running until your actual departure date, not before.
Stop the Rundfunkbeitrag by deregistering the household — this does not lapse on its own and will keep billing.
Cancel utilities, phone and internet. A permanent move abroad is generally a Sonderkündigungsrecht (special cancellation right) that lets you exit fixed-term contracts early — give the provider your move date and new address.
Cancel liability and contents insurance (Privathaftpflicht, Hausratversicherung) to your departure date; these do not follow you abroad.
Keep your German bank account — and a forwarding address — open last of all, until the pension refund, the final tax refund, and your rental deposit have all been received. Only then close it.

Steps 1–5 stop money going out. Step 6 is what lets money still come in. The gap between them is often a year or more, which is exactly why the account and the address outlive everything else.

A realistic timeline

The hardest part of leaving Germany financially is not the tasks — it is the patience. Some of what you are owed arrives long after you have unpacked in the next country.

When	What happens
Before you leave	Abmeldung; cancel insurance/utilities to your departure date; note meter readings; set a forwarding address
At departure	Health cover ends; last salary and any final employer settlement paid
1–6 months after	Rental deposit returned after the final Nebenkostenabrechnung; utility and insurance credits refunded; file your final tax return
24 months after	The earliest you can apply to Deutsche Rentenversicherung for a pension contribution refund

Someone arriving in Germany sets all of this up in their first weeks, often without realising how much of it they will one day need to unwind — the arrival side of the same story is in the insurances nobody explains when you arrive. Keeping the German bank account you opened on arrival is part of that; the practicalities of holding one, including from abroad, are in banking in Germany for newcomers.

Frequently asked questions

Can EU citizens get a German pension refund when they leave?

Generally no. EU, EEA and Swiss nationals keep their German pension contributions on record under EU coordination rules, and those rights combine with pension entitlements in the next EU country rather than being refunded. The contribution refund under § 210 SGB VI is, in practice, for non-EU citizens who move to a non-EU country.

How long after leaving Germany can I claim my pension contributions?

At the earliest, 24 calendar months after your last contribution, per § 210 Abs. 2 SGB VI. The waiting period is fixed, so it is common to apply from your new country well after you have left. You are refunded the share you personally paid, not your employer's.

Should I close my German bank account when I leave?

Not immediately. Your pension refund, final tax refund and rental deposit all need a German (or at least reachable) account to be paid into, and those can take months to years to arrive. Keep the account and a forwarding address open until every expected payment has landed, then close it.

Do I still have to file German taxes after leaving?

For your final year in Germany, filing a return is usually worth it — leaving mid-year often means you overpaid Lohnsteuer and are owed a refund. Income earned abroad in the same year can reduce that refund through the Progressionsvorbehalt, so the amount varies, but the return is what unlocks any overpayment.

How do I get my rental deposit back after moving abroad?

Give your landlord your new address and bank details before you go. German landlords can usually hold the deposit until the final utility statement (Nebenkostenabrechnung) is settled — often up to around six months — so expect it to arrive well after your move rather than on move-out day.

This article is general information for people leaving Germany and is not individual tax, pension, or legal advice. Statutory references reflect § 210 and § 50 SGB VI current as of mid-2026; eligibility, amounts, and timing depend on your nationality, contribution history, and personal circumstances, and are ultimately decided by Deutsche Rentenversicherung and your Finanzamt. Confirm your own case with them or a qualified adviser before acting. Alle Angaben ohne Gewähr.