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Can you keep your German company while staying longer than 180 days outside of Germany, specifically while living in Thailand?

German Residency Freelancing DTV Visa Company Registration Taxes Living Abroad Work from Thailand Business Management

Mar 16, 2025

a month ago

Anonymous *************

ORIGINAL POSTER

Is anyone know if you can keep your company if you would stay longer than 180 days outside of Germany? Or will there be any problems with the main residence or what could happen if you stay longer abroad, like in Thailand with DTV Visa. I'd like to have a German customer with a freelancer company to live and work from Thailand as long as I can. And then repeat

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TLDR : Answer Summary

The discussion revolves around maintaining a German company while being outside of Germany for more than 180 days, particularly in Thailand. It appears feasible to keep the company as long as you maintain a correspondence address in Germany. However, considerations include the potential bureaucratic and tax implications of operating a German business versus forming a foreign entity, such as an LLC in the US, to possibly reduce tax burdens. Overall, careful attention to tax obligations and residency regulations is essential for expats working remotely.

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Kat *****

You can also give up your German residency, have an LLC in the US and legally don’t have to pay the high taxes in Germany anymore 😛 why pay to the German system if you plan to not be in Germany anymore.. also Health insurance will be much cheaper.. Also, LLC is no problem for German customers

a month ago

Nathan ****

@Kat ****

Why would anyone give you their residency? Strange response.

a month ago

Christian ******

@Nathan ***

Residency and nationality is something different. I thing you mean the nationality.

a month ago

Dany ********

@Nathan ***

most expats do that go abroad for a long time

a month ago

Kat *****

@Nathan ***

sure, you do not loose the citizenship, only residency.. if I ever decide to move back to Germany, I can any time.. but then I would have to pay tax again in Germany which are quite high and health insurance is expensive for people with own business

a month ago

Kat *****

@Nathan ***

giving up residency means „abmelden“ for Germans.. means you don’t have an official home there anymore. Hope that explains (sorry I am not a native English speaker)🙂 I left Germany for good 4 years ago, so I „gave up my residency“ when I quit my rental contract, moved out, sold all my stuff etc

a month ago

Nathan ****

@Kat ****

and what if you want to return? You can?

a month ago

Reply to

Nathan ****

Robin *********

Just pay taxes and everybody will be happy ... but you quite a bit more poor 😁

a month ago

Anonymous *************

ORIGINAL POSTER

@Robin ********

,yeah that's what we thought first too, but Germany could have other plans 😮‍💨

a month ago

Reply to

Anonymous *************

Stefan ******

You can keep a German company with 0 days in Germany as long as you have a company correspondence address in Germany address which is usually easy to set up. But depending on what you do exactly a German company can have higher taxes and/or higher bureaucracy than even if you would do the exact same thing in Germany with a foreign company. But I understand some clients may prefer a local company for various reasons.

a month ago

Christian ******

@Stefan *****

1. Wird es wohl nicht möglich sein, als IT-Developer oder Consultant freiberuflich tätig zu sein, da es keine Katalogberufe sind. Somit wird das Finanzamt das nicht durchgehen lassen.

2. WENN man als „richtiger“ Freiberufler tätig ist, dann muss man auch keine Firma gründen. Das ist ja gerade der „Witz“ am freiberuflichen Arbeiten.

a month ago

Anonymous *************

ORIGINAL POSTER

@Stefan *****

The plan for my husband is to register as a freelance ("Freiberufler") - IT developer and consultant - and later take his current German company as a client, with their support. However, his German tax consultant mentioned that this could be problematic because his main residence would shift to Thailand, potentially causing issues. To avoid the risk of "Betriebsverlegung" after a prolonged stay abroad, he should consider setting up his business in Thailand from the beginning. However, this wouldn’t be possible with the DTV visa.

He will have his first discussion with the tax consultant next week and would like to gather some real-life experiences.

If you have any tips, insights, or concerns about this plan -- specifically about living in Thailand long-term and working as a freelancer with only German client(s) while on a DTV visa -- we would really appreciate hearing them.

Thanks for your time and help! We truly appreciate it!

a month ago

Reply to

Anonymous *************

What are the tax implications for a DTV visa holder staying in Thailand for over 6 months?

106 comments

a month ago

Can you maintain your company while staying longer than 180 days outside of Germany?

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a month ago

What tax implications should I be aware of as a German expat after obtaining a DTV in Thailand?

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2 months ago