Tax residency in Germany: what its law actually says
Low confidenceReviewed in September 2026
Our approximation, not the law
183days in rolling 12 months
- Window
- Rolling 12 months
- How it counts
- Any presence during the day
- Direction
- Reaching the threshold makes you resident
How the days are counted
Germany does not count days in a year: it asks whether one continuous stay lasted more than six months, and that stay can cross 31 December. Short interruptions do not break it, they are added in. This counter of 183 days in twelve months is a ceiling: it fires before the law does, never after.
And staying under it is not enough, because with a dwelling available to you in Germany you can be resident with no minimum number of days at all.