Cross-border commuters for tax purposes are persons who are employed in one country and live in another. There are regulations for cross-border commuters in the double taxation agreements (DTAs) with Switzerland, France and Austria.
As cross-border commuters are foreign nationals, in these cases the supporting documents for Annex N-Gre must be submitted directly with the income tax return (obligation to submit supporting documents).
If you live in Germany and work in Switzerland, you are a cross-border commuter. Your salary is generally taxable in Germany. Switzerland is entitled to deduct a withholding tax of 4.5 percent. To avoid a higher tax deduction in Switzerland, you need a certificate of residence issued by the tax office. This is usually renewed automatically every year.
Interesting facts about the taxation procedure:
You will receive a questionnaire at the start of your cross-border commuter activity. Please answer the questions completely and accurately. Your answers are an important basis for rapid processing and correct tax treatment by your tax office.
After submitting the questionnaire, you will be assigned a tax number.
The tax office will make quarterly advance payments (10.03., 10.06., 10.09. and 10.12., § 37 Income Tax Act) if the domestic tax is higher than the deducted withholding tax of 4.5 percent.
You will receive a notification of the advance payments to be made.
I recommend the direct debit procedure for payment transactions with the tax office
Cross-border commuters must submit an annual income tax return. Please use Annex N-Gre for your Swiss salary(Tax forms > Income tax > Annex N-Gre 2024 Cross-border commuters)
You can also submit your tax return via ELSTER submit. The N-Gre attachment is also available there.
Tax returns must generally be completed and submitted by 31.07. of the following year. Due to the pandemic, the deadlines have been postponed as follows
Income tax return 2023 submission deadline until 02.09.2024
Income tax return 2024 submission deadline until 31.07.2025
If you do not submit your income tax return to the tax office within the specified submission deadline, reminders will be sent and, if necessary, enforcement measures and
estimation of the tax bases will be carried out. If the tax return is submitted late, a late filing surcharge may be imposed (Section 152 of the German Fiscal Code (AO)).
Submit the required documents and information in full with your tax return. Please note that there are extended obligations to cooperate in the case of foreign matters (§ 90 Para. 2 AO). Please enclose at least the following documents with your return:
- Wage statement including additional or supplementary sheets in the original,
- Certificate from the pension fund showing the amount of employer and employee contributions to the mandatory and extra-mandatory scheme,
- Certificate of contributions to foreign health insurance,
- Proof of the employer's contribution to daily sickness benefits insurance (KTGV) and non-occupational accident insurance (NBUV),
- in the event of termination of cross-border commuter employment, the pension fund termination statement and proof of the whereabouts of the vested benefits.
Once your tax return has been processed, the annual tax will be assessed with a tax assessment notice. If necessary, the advance income tax payments for the following calendar years will also be adjusted.
The advance payments made and the withholding tax of up to 4.5 percent levied in Switzerland will be credited against the annual tax.
Please inform the tax office of any changes in your personal circumstances, e.g. income, marital status, address, bank details, without being asked.
It is important that you inform the tax office of such changes immediately. This will help you to avoid "unpleasant" additional payments or avoid excessive advance payments.
If you stop working as a cross-border commuter, please inform the tax office immediately. Future advance payments can then be canceled or reduced in good time.
You can ELSTER for notifications to the tax office.
The relevant exchange rate for income tax assessment is (based on CHF 100):
- € 104.50 for 2024
- 102.50 € for 2023
- 99.00 € for 2022
- 92.00 € for 2021
For specific individual questions, please contact your tax advisor or your local tax office.
For cross-border commuters who live in Germany and work in Switzerland, the home office regulations that applied before the coronavirus pandemic will apply again from the beginning of July 2022. The rules that applied during the coronavirus pandemic expired on this date. Anyone who continues to work mainly from home but regularly visits their place of work in Switzerland can still retain cross-border commuter status. "Regularly" means that the employee travels to and from Switzerland to work at least one day a week or at least five days a month. The cross-border commuter status is then retained.
Cross-border commuters who regularly visit their place of work in Switzerland lose their cross-border commuter status if they do not return to their place of residence for more than 60 working days after finishing work. Full-time working days spent at the place of residence do not lead to non-return days and therefore not to the loss of cross-border commuter status.
However, if the commute is not regular, the right to tax income from employment is no longer based on the cross-border commuter rule. Instead, the following applies: Switzerland has the right of taxation for days that the employee works in Switzerland. Germany has the right of taxation for working days in the home office in Germany.
Further information:
During the Covid-19 pandemic, many employees remained permanently in the home office due to the measures taken to combat the pandemic; regular commuting in the sense mentioned above therefore did not take place. To ensure that these measures did not lead to the loss of cross-border worker status, Germany had concluded an intergovernmental agreement (so-called consultation agreement) with Switzerland: For cross-border commuters, this consultation agreement faked the performance of work for home office days in the contracting state in which the otherwise usual place of work would have been without the pandemic-related restrictions, and assumed a regular return to the place of residence for these working days. This consultation agreement was valid from 11.03.2020 to 30.06.2022. This fiction no longer applies for the period from 01.07.2022.
For the special regulations, see: Covid-19 pandemic DTA Switzerland mutual agreement decree
Practical information:
Certificates of residence (Gre-1 and Gre-2) can no longer be issued for employees who lose their cross-border commuter status in the future. The certificates of residence serve as a template for the Swiss employer to limit the withholding tax to 4.5% of the gross salary (Art. 15a para. 1 sentence 3 DTA-Switzerland).
If employees no longer qualify as cross-border commuters, they no longer have to complete the N-Gre annex in their tax return. Annex N and N-AUS must be completed for the allocation of the right of taxation according to the place of work principle under Art. 15 para. 1 DTA-Switzerland. For 2022, this means that taxpayers for whom the cross-border commuter rule will no longer apply from July 2022 will have to enter their salary for the period January to June 2022 in Annex N-Gre and their salary for the period July to December 2022 in Annexes N and N-AUS. From 2023, only Annex N and N-AUS would have to be completed if cross-border commuter status is lost.
A cross-border commuter according to Art. 13 para. 5 DBA-France is a person who works in the border area of one contracting state and has his permanent residence, to which he generally returns every day, in the border area of the other contracting state.
The status of cross-border commuter is generally lost if
- the cross-border commuter does not regularly return to his place of residence or
- he is also employed in municipalities outside the border zone
However, short-term non-fulfilment of the requirements (up to 45 days or up to 20% of the total annual working days in the case of employment relationships during the year) is not harmful. France and Germany have agreed on this in a mutual agreement.
The border area for cross-border commuters living in Germany comprises the towns and municipalities whose territory is wholly or partly within 20 km of the Franco-German border.
At the beginning of your cross-border commuter activity in France, you will receive a questionnaire. Please answer the questions completely and accurately. Your answers are important prerequisites for rapid processing and correct tax treatment.
After submitting the questionnaire, you will receive a tax number.
You must also make quarterly advance payments on the expected annual tax (10.03., 10.06., 10.09. and 10.12.) (§ 37 Income Tax Act). You will receive a notice of the advance payments to be made. The direct debit procedure for payment transactions with the tax office has proved extremely successful and is recommended to you.
If you are a cross-border commuter, the French employer does not have to deduct tax at source from your wages if the employee has a certificate of residence.
For this purpose, the cross-border commuter must submit this application using form S2-240.
The German cross-border commuter fills in Section I of the three copies of the form. He submits the three copies to his French employer, has the latter issue the certificate provided for in Section II and then submits the three copies to the tax authority responsible for him in Germany. After issuing the certificate in Section III, the latter keeps the second copy of the form and returns the other two to the frontier worker, who gives the first copy to his French employer and keeps the other.
The French employer must attach the first copy of the form to the annual declaration of wage/salary payments in which the German frontier worker is listed.
The application must be resubmitted annually. If the German cross-border worker changes his French employer, a new application must also be submitted, even if he remains a cross-border worker.
As a cross-border commuter, you must submit an annual income tax return. For your French salary, please use the N-Gre annex for the relevant year.
You can also submit your tax return via ELSTER submit. The N-Gre attachment is also available there.
Tax returns must generally be completed and submitted by 31.07. of the following year. Due to the pandemic, the deadlines have been postponed as follows
Income tax return 2023 submission deadline until 02.09.2024
Income tax return 2024 submission deadline until 31.07.2025
If you do not submit your income tax return to the tax office within the specified submission deadline, reminders will be sent and, if necessary, enforcement measures and
estimation of the tax bases will be carried out. If the tax return is submitted late, a late filing surcharge may be imposed (Section 152 of the German Fiscal Code (AO)).
In the case of foreign matters, there are extended obligations to cooperate (Section 90 (2) of the German Fiscal Code). You must submit the required documents and information in full with your tax return.
Once your tax return has been processed, the annual tax will be assessed in a tax assessment notice. If necessary, the advance income tax payments for the following calendar years will also be adjusted.
You must inform the tax office of all changes, such as income, marital status, address, bank details, etc., without being asked.
It is important that you inform the tax office of such changes immediately. You can do this either by telephone or in writing. This will help you to avoid "unpleasant" additional payments or avoid excessive advance payments.
If you end your cross-border commuter activity, you should also inform the tax office immediately in writing. Future advance payments can then be canceled or reduced in good time.
The border area for cross-border commuters who have their permanent residence in a municipality in the Haut-Rhin, Bas-Rhin or Moselle departments includes, on the German side, the towns and municipalities whose territory is wholly or partly within 30 km of the Franco-German border.
Employees who are not self-employed in Germany are subject to limited income tax liability in Germany. Your employer must therefore withhold income tax from your income and pay it to the tax office. For cross-border commuters who live in the border region in France and regularly work in the border region in Germany, the employer can only refrain from withholding German wage tax if he has received an exemption certificate from the competent German tax office. This must be applied for by the cross-border commuter using form no. 5011 (for non-borrowed employees). The application must be submitted in good time so that the employer is in possession of the exemption certificate before the remuneration is paid. Form no. 5011 only applies to cross-border commuters who are in a permanent employment relationship with a German employer and are not temporary workers.
The cross-border commuter fills in section I of the three copies of form no. 5011. He submits the three copies to his German employer. The employer completes Section II. The cross-border commuter then submits the three copies to the Chef de Centre des Impôts responsible for him in France. After issuing the certificate in Section III of the form, the Chef de Centre des Impôts keeps the first copy. He returns the other two copies to the cross-border commuter. The cross-border commuter gives the second copy to his German employer and keeps the third copy. The German employer sends the form to the tax office to which he would have to pay the wage tax. In the form, the employer requests that an exemption certificate within the meaning of Section 39 (3) in conjunction with (4) no. 5 EStG be issued. As soon as the employer receives this certificate, the wage tax deduction can be omitted for the wage payment periods specified in the certificate.
The exemption certificate is generally issued for 3 years if the employer is not changed. However, the cross-border worker must have the information in Section II of the first copy of the form confirmed by the employer each year. They submit this to the Chef de Centre des Impôts responsible for them in France. The application must be resubmitted if the employee changes employer and also meets the requirements for the cross-border commuter scheme in the new employment relationship.
The employer may only refrain from deducting wage tax for a French cross-border commuter as long as the conditions for cross-border commuter status are clearly fulfilled for the employer and an exemption certificate is available. If an employee exceeds the 45-day limit in the course of a calendar year, cross-border commuter status no longer applies. The employer is then obliged to withhold the wage tax that has not yet been levied for the previous wage payment periods of this calendar year with the next subsequent wage payment.
The work of temporary workers is characterized by a frequent change of location that cannot be determined in advance - even outside the border zone. It is therefore generally not possible to predict in advance whether the temporary worker will meet the requirements of the cross-border commuter regulation. French temporary workers are therefore generally not exempted.
This does not apply if there is a reasonable assumption that the French temporary worker will meet the requirements for cross-border commuter status. The French temporary worker can therefore be exempted from wage tax deduction for one year under the following conditions:
- The temporary worker submits a completed application using form N 5011 A "Cross-border commuters (who are temporary workers)",
- the temporary worker worked exclusively for the same employer (lender) in the previous year. He intends to work exclusively for this employer (lender) in the current calendar year as well,
- the temporary worker fulfilled the requirements for cross-border commuter status in the previous year. The employer (lender) intends to continue to employ the temporary agency worker exclusively in the border zone in the current calendar year and
- the employer (lender) undertakes to notify the permanent establishment tax office if the employment relationship is terminated or if the temporary worker no longer fulfills the cross-border commuter requirements.
Temporary workers who were not exempt from wage tax deduction in the previous calendar year can apply for the application of the cross-border commuter regulation and the associated tax exemption from German income tax. This is only possible by submitting an income tax return for persons with limited tax liability in accordance with § 46 Para. 2 No. 8 EStG. This also applies to a cross-border commuter for whom income tax has been withheld by the employer despite being a cross-border commuter because no exemption certificate has been applied for from the local tax office or this has been refused in advance. The tax return must be accompanied by exemption applications (5011 or 5011 A for temporary workers) and a list of the places of employment during the entire calendar year.
You will receive a questionnaire at the beginning of your cross-border commuter activity. Please answer the questions completely and accurately. Your answers are important prerequisites for rapid processing and correct tax treatment.
After submitting the questionnaire, you will be assigned a tax number.
Advance payments are levied quarterly (10.03., 10.06., 10.09. and 10.12.) on the estimated annual tax (§ 37 Income Tax Act).
You will receive a notice of the advance payments to be made.
The direct debit procedure for payment transactions with the tax office has proved extremely successful and is recommended to you.
In Austria, if you are a cross-border commuter, no withholding tax is deducted on presentation of the certificate of residence.
Upon request, cross-border commuters from Austria will receive an exemption certificate for domestic wage tax deduction.
As a cross-border commuter, you must submit an annual income tax return. For your Austrian salary, please use Annex N-Gre for the relevant year
You can also submit your tax return via ELSTER submit. The N-Gre attachment is also available there.
Tax returns must generally be completed and submitted by 31.07. of the following year. Due to the pandemic, the deadlines have been postponed as follows
Income tax return 2023 submission deadline until 02.09.2024
Income tax return 2024 submission deadline until 31.07.2025
If you do not submit your income tax return to the tax office within the specified submission deadline, reminders will be sent and, if necessary, enforcement measures and
estimation of the tax bases will be carried out. If the tax return is submitted late, a late filing surcharge may be imposed (Section 152 of the German Fiscal Code (AO)).
With regard to the obligations to provide evidence and cooperate, it should be noted that there are extended obligations to cooperate in the case of foreign matters (Section 90 (2) of the German Fiscal Code). The required documents and information must therefore be submitted in full with the tax return.
Once your tax return has been processed, the annual tax will be assessed with a tax assessment notice. If necessary, the advance income tax payments for the following calendar years will also be adjusted.
You must inform the tax office of all changes, such as income, marital status, address, bank details, etc., without being asked.
It is important that you inform the tax office of such changes immediately. You can do this either informally by telephone or in writing. This will help you to avoid "unpleasant" additional payments or avoid excessive advance payments.
Please inform the tax office immediately if you end your cross-border commuter activity. You should do this in writing. Future advance payments can then be canceled or reduced in good time