This article focuses on social security. For any questions regarding your taxes, feel free to visit our partner’s page: https://frontaliers-grandest.eu/accueil/salaries/france-allemagne/fiscalite/ ask their chatbot (located at the bottom right of their page), or contact them directly via the contact form!
Which Social Security System?
You are subject to the European social security regulations EC 883/2004 and EC 987/2009, which establish a simple but mandatory principle: a person can only be affiliated with one country and must contribute to only one social security system on all of their income. Priority rules have been set up to determine the competent country.
If you are receiving a pension in France while working in Germany, you must contribute in the country where you carry out your salaried activity, which is Germany. Social contributions are due on your total income.
Sick Leave and Combining It with a Full Pension
The general rule in Germany is that the right to receive sick pay (Krankengeld) is excluded as soon as a person receives a full statutory pension. This applies both to German pensions and to comparable full foreign pensions.
In the event of incapacity for work, a retiree is therefore not treated as an active worker who loses their salary, but as a retiree. The only income during sick leave will be the pension.
Sick Leave and Combining It with a Partial or Early Pension
In Germany, it is possible to take early retirement from age 63 under certain conditions. If you engage in professional activity alongside your early or partial retirement, you are generally considered an active worker for that activity. In the event of sick leave, you are entitled to continued payment of your salary by your employer (Entgeltfortzahlung) for the first six weeks. After these six weeks, if your sick leave continues, sick pay (Krankengeld) may be paid by the health insurance (Krankenkasse).
- Note: the amount of sick pay depends only on your salary, not on your pension.
Can I Take a Mini-Job?
If you combine a pension with a mini-job, you must, in principle, be affiliated in Germany (the country of employment). The issue is that you cannot be covered under the mandatory system as a regular employee (because there are no health insurance contributions on mini-job income). You will therefore need to voluntarily join the statutory health insurance yourself.
Be aware that social contributions involve a certain cost, which can even exceed the income earned from the mini-job.
