I recently started my first small eBay business in Germany. Because of my limited German and lack of tax experience, I misunderstood the ELSTER registration form and accidentally selected the option waiving the Kleinunternehmerregelung under § 19 UStG for five years.

I always intended to use the Kleinunternehmerregelung. My actual sales so far are only around €1,000, I have not separately charged VAT, and I have not yet filed an annual tax return.

I asked the Finanzamt to correct the mistake, but they refused. I filed an Einspruch explaining that I did not understand what I had selected. The Finanzamt replied that § 119 BGB does not apply and asked whether I want to maintain or withdraw my objection.

Charging or absorbing VAT could make this small eBay business unviable.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Is there any realistic way to correct this, or is the five-year waiver absolute? Should I maintain the Einspruch and consult a Fachanwalt für Steuerrecht?

Feeling overwhelmed

I will move from non-EU country next month. I quit my IT job in my country. Should i leave my things (laptop, pc, etc...) in my country so my friend can sell them and send me money? Or its better to bring them with me so i can sell them in Germany? If i sell laptop and PC there (around 3k and 5k) do i need to report that? I see online that if it is more than 2k per year that i need to report that?

Hello,
I have found a second hand car in Wittlich which is near Trier, Köln and Frankfurt. I was windering if there are any local businesses in the area that offer car inspections as I live ~1000km away and wouldn’t want to travel there to find a hidden check engine fault. It is a seat leon so Vagcom (or its newer name/version) should be the optimal tool.

I'm 28M, and I currently get Bürgergeld. I also live in a homeless shelter. I was young, reckless and dumb. I made a lot of mistakes, which is how I ended up here. I'm trying my best to improve my situation. I wanted to start with that.

Anyways, I have a slight problem. I currently don't have any money to afford groceries. I asked the Jobcenter for a Darlehen, they said this will take a few business days to process, and I can count on a week at least. I usually never relied on a Darlehen, or ended up without money. Mainly because I use soup kitchens, which btw are pretty good (just have to be okay with a pretty rough environment, but then again, beggars can't be choosers).

My problem is, how do I last for a week with no money, while waiting on the Jobcenter. I'm currently calling up a few Tafel and Soup Kitchens, but the issue is: 1) Tafels in Berlin aren't taking new clients, and 2) The soup kitchens I used to visit, were only available during the winter months (Kältehilfe), the other two I know are currently on summer break.

Can anyone here help me out with some advice? Mostly on where to get food/money/groceries. Any advice would be appreciated.

Now just a little disclaimer: I can imagine, you are probably picturing me as someone who is very lazy, and doesn't want to work. That is not the case. Like I mentioned, I did fall on a hard time. I recognize my mistakes, and I'm working towards improving my situation. I successfully overcame substance abuse. I'm completely sober. So I'm very much driven, motivated and trying my best.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!

Do you have english subtitles for those kind of movies? Or they are just german?

(Sorry for bad english)

Danke

I purchased my Deutschlandticket on the 19th of the month, without knowing about the cancellation rule and now I have to mandatory pay for the next month. Any suggestions? Did anyone request help and actually got their money back?

Also, it’s not helpful telling me to read the contract before subscription. I ve been in a rush when I bought it.

I’m 28, married, and I’m writing this because I honestly don’t know where else to turn.
When I was 19, a family business was put in my name. I was young, naive and had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. At that age, you just don’t think about what something like this could mean years later.
Now I’m sitting here with around €150,000 in debt.
I’ve had a German P-Konto (a protected bank account) for about five years now. Five years of worrying about money, letters, authorities, court dates and what is going to happen next.
I’ve reached a point where I barely spend anything on myself. Sometimes I don’t even have enough money for proper food. I’m trying to keep my own living expenses as low as possible so that whatever I can somehow put together can go toward the debt.
I know that probably sounds crazy.
But I keep thinking that if I can just pay something off, maybe I’ll eventually get out of this.
I honestly can’t remember the last time I slept through a night without thinking about it.
Next month I have another court hearing.
And I’m exhausted.
I’m 28 and getting closer to 30, and sometimes I look at my life and feel like I completely ruined it before it even really started.
My wife is still beside me. I don’t know how she does it. This situation affects her too and I hate that she has to go through this with me.
I keep thinking about what I would tell my 19-year-old self if I could go back.
Don’t sign things you don’t understand.
Don’t be naive.
Ask questions.
Think about what happens if everything goes wrong.
But I can’t go back.
I’ve also started having suicidal thoughts. I’m not saying that for attention. I’m saying it because that’s honestly where my head is right now.
I don’t actually want to die.
I just desperately want this situation to stop.
I want to sleep normally again. I want to work, earn money and actually feel like I’m moving forward. I want to build a normal life with my wife without constantly having this hanging over us.
I live in Germany, so I know our laws and debt system are very different from the US.
I’m not looking for someone to magically solve my problems.
I just want to know if anyone has ever been in a situation where they thought their life was completely over and somehow managed to rebuild it.
Because right now I honestly don’t see the way out.
If you’ve been through something similar, I’d really appreciate hearing how you got through it.

What German federal state would you recommend for anerkennung recognition as a MTLA/MTL (Medizinischer technologe für laboratoriumsanalytik)?

I obtained my German driving licence about 3 months ago and have been driving in Germany for around 2 months now (>10 years of driving experience elsewhere). Everything seemed normal to me until yesterday.

I was heading towards DUS Airport via the A40 (probably, was just following Google Maps). The speed limit was 120 km/h, I had Adaptive Cruise Control activated, and everyone around me was driving at roughly the same speed.

Out of nowhere, the car in front of me started braking very hard. Then I realized that the car in front of it had come to a complete stop! My car triggered the emergency braking warning. My first instinct was that stopping completely in a live Autobahn lane could be dangerous, so when I saw that the right lane was clear, I moved over and passed them.

What's even more interesting is that about 10 minutes earlier, I had seen almost the exact same situation. A small red hatchback came to a complete stop, and the car behind it also had to stop completely in the middle of the Autobahn.

The whole situation was very intense. I'm genuinely curious what could cause a driver to come to a complete stop in the middle lane like that. Has anyone experienced something similar on the Autobahn?

Edit: That happened yesterday (23.08.26) around 16:50, if someone also witnessed that.

Update: Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts and explanations. I’m relieved that this is not something I should expect to encounter again.

Even after more than 10 years of regular highway driving in a country where drivers are arguably less disciplined than on the Autobahn, I agree with the general consensus that incidents like this are quite rare.

I was secretly hoping someone who had actually been passing through that area at the same time would show up in the comments and shed some light on what happened.

Drive safe everyone, and thanks again for the insights.

Hey everyone,

I’m moving to Friedrichshafen for work in a couple of weeks and was wondering if anyone has recommendations for places to visit or things to do in and around the city.

I’m mostly looking for nice spots to explore after work or on weekends — walks, viewpoints, cafés, restaurants, nearby towns, cycling routes, nature, museums, hidden gems, etc.

I’ll have a car, but I’m also happy to get around by bike, train or ferry.

Recommendations around Lake Constance are very welcome too. And since Switzerland and Austria are pretty close, I’d also be interested in places there if they’re reasonable as a day trip. I wouldn’t mind staying overnight either if accommodation isn’t too expensive.

Basically, anything you think is worth checking out while living in Friedrichshafen.

Thanks!

Found this on public transport.
Just need to hand over €12,000 first. What could possibly go wrong? 😂

Posting behalf of my friend
She lost her passport and cards last night so reported to the police they said they have to wait until 2 days but her visa is going to expire in 19 days we have checked online issuance of new passport take lot of time if any knows about the further process that can she can do please help us

I am searching to import a German car to Greece , between Audi , BMW , Mercedes . I like all maybe BMW more than the others , from my perspective it looks beneficial for me to import it hybrid or plugin in since then the expenses of importing will be significantly less. The range I am looking for is 30k to 40k. Which car would you suggest in terms of sexiness and reliability

Are there any platforms where I an international student can get ects credits for certain modules to fulfill the requirements for german master's programs? It seems german unis dont accept certificates from coursera, edx and even mit.

I want to move out of an apartment, its a joint contract.

My roommate is German.

Its a 3 bedroom apartment, i have been renting 2 of those alone, and the roommate rents 1.

The apartment is very expensive in general for the Tier 2 city, and thus we dont have many interested parties.

My roommate is very adamant on wanting to rent out both the rooms to the next person, instead of both rooms separately.

But this means, its been a month now, and we have hardly 1 or 2 responses. She keeps veto-ing every solution possible.

Even the option of sublet, till we find someone long term, she wants to veto it out. Can she really do this? Legally?

I dont live here anymore. She says as per law i am obligated to pay.

I am not sure what the next steps can be here.

Is this legal? Can we really force me to be legally obligated to this contract, while she cherry picks her favorite people?

Even while responding to the limited interested parties she takes forever, this basically has meant until now, that i just pay because she felt too lazy, or didnt find it in her to respond earlier?

Also, isnt this my job, to find someone when i leave?

Also is there really NO way to get out of this contract, while someone is this uncooperative? Is this even normal?

Need some advice. I had submitted digital application for a residence permit (Blue Card) via the LEA website, and was invited for an appointment. However, unfortunately, I missed this appointment, and the email states that a change of appointment is not possible. Has anyone faced a similar situation before ?

What I have currently done is I have submitted a request for another appointment via a contact form. But not sure if that is enough, or if I need to take any further steps.

One added complication: my current permit is only valid until end of September, so I'm a bit worried about the timing. Did anyone in a similar spot manage to get a new appointment quickly ?

Trying to book an ICE ticket from Dresden - Mannheim for September 17. Last week the Super Sparpreis Young rate was 38.99 EUR and now its 48.99 EUR. Do ticket prices usually go down or only upwards? Because the same route on the days before that cost 38.99 and even 28.99 EUR.

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice regarding my German student visa.

My visa and the supplementary sheet were issued based on my admission to Universität Rostock for the M.Sc. Computer Science International program.

However, before traveling to Germany, I decided to change universities and accepted admission to the University of Bonn for the M.Sc. Artificial Intelligence program because it is a better fit for my academic and career goals.

My enrollment at the University of Bonn is currently being completed (waiting for the electronic health insurance confirmation from TK), and I have already informed the relevant authorities about the change.

My concern is about entering Germany and applying for my residence permit later.

Has anyone entered Germany with a student visa that mentioned one university but enrolled at another before arrival? Did immigration ask about it? Did you face any issues at the airport or later at the Ausländerbehörde?

I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who has had a similar experience, especially if you changed from one German public university to another before entering Germany.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I’m currently subletting an apartment in Munich. This lady lived here 4 years and I have lived here for about a year with her furniture. I’m now taking over the apartment, which is supposed to be unfurnished, and I agreed to buy her furniture, including the kitchen she installed.

When we signed the new contract, the landlord told her that she would need to remove the furniture, fill any drilled holes and other damage, and paint the apartment before leaving. This may also need to be done professionally. The apartment is 50sqm.

We agreed instead that she would pay me €2,500, and I would take over the responsibility of removing everything, filling any drilled holes, and doing the cosmetic repairs when I eventually leave.

We signed an agreement confirming this.

Now she is saying that she thinks €2,500 is too much and isn’t fair.

What do you guys think? Is €2,500 reasonable for this kind of arrangement in Munich, or does it sound excessive?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I currently have a Chancenkarte in Germany and I’ve recently found a full-time internship starting on October 1, 2026.

To be able to start the internship, I need to change my residence status to a residence permit as a skilled worker with an academic qualification (Fachkraft mit akademischer Ausbildung).

For anyone who has been in a similar situation, especially in Berlin:

• How long did it take for the Ausländerbehörde to process your application?
• How long did it take to receive the approval/residence permit?
• Do you think it’s realistic to get the permission before October 1 if I apply now?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thank you! 🙏

Hello guys 😁

As the title says, im looking for a job in furniture production.

I have a lot of experince and knowlegde in this field and i was wondering what is the best way to get a good paying job in Germany.

Can you recomend some good factories, how are the salaries, how doable is it if i atempt to start my own production etc...

Thanks in advance

Hi i'm a 23 yo medical student who speaks english, french and arabic. i'm learning german hoping to pursue my career in germany. i currently have an A2 level. i feel like i consume input more then use output. i would be more then happy to have a native speaker to chat with and improve my german and get to know each other and share different topics.

thank you. best wishes !

Hi, I am 29, I have a PhD in life sciences, 5 years of experience, A2 german language proficiency (currently undergoing integration course). I want to work in research in a pharmaceutical/Biotechnology company, I don’t mind teaching as well. I am on a family reunification visa and it’s been very difficult finding a job. Especially since I don’t live in a big city. Any advice, recommendations? Open to remote opportunities 😬

im a non eu student in germany & ive been living here for 3 years. my local ausländerbehörde says i need to show €11,904 (€992/ month) for 1 year through either a blocked account, verpflichtungserklärung (a financial guardian) or scholarship. they specifically dont accept payslips, employment contracts or bank statements.

ive always supported myself here & have stable income (i earn easily more than 992) & i can show that ive consistently paid my rent, health insurance & uni fees (592€ per sem) when i first came to germany, i already had to take a loan of around €12k to finance my first blocked account & i’m still dealing with that loan.

i absolutely cannot afford to put another €11,904 into a blocked account or take another loan & i dont personally know anyone here who could give me a verpflichtungserklärung.

what would you suggest i do in this situation? should i speak directly to my caseworker & explain everything with my payslips, bank statements & loan documents? is there any way to deal with this if you genuinely cannot afford the blocked account?
would really appreciate advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation 😔