It is January again, and it is the dance of many updates for any knowledge base related to Germany. 2025 is no exception. Here is a selection of important changes relevant to anybody living in Germany:
Health insurance
- Public insurance threshold (Versicherungspflichtgrenze): The compulsory insurance limit in statutory health insurance is raised 73.800€ per year (source). Above that number, you are free to pick a private health insurance if you want to. In most cases, that’s not a good idea.
- Maximum public insurance contribution (Beitragsbemessungsgrenze): This is the maximum salary amount used to calculate health insurance contribution: 66.150€. (source)
- Minimum public insurance contribution: This is the minimum income that is used to calculate the contribution – even if you have less or no income at all. For self-employed people, the minimum income is 1,248.33 euros per month with a contribution set around 215€/month, depending on your Krankenkasse.
Taxes & jobs
- Minijob salary: raised to 556€ (source)
- Minimum hourly salary: raised to 12,82€ (source)
- Tax thresholds and child exemption: first income tax bracket raised to 12.096€ & 9.600€ respectively. (source)
Social benefits
- ALG2/Hartz 4/Bürgergeld: it remains unchanged at 563€/month for 2025. (source)
- Child allowance (Kindergeld): increased to 255€/month (source)
Immigration
- Minimum income for blue card applications: raised to 43.759,80€/year for shortage occupations & 48,300€ for everbody else (source)
Bureaucracy
- E-invoicing: Freelancers sending bills to businesses now have to be able to send their invoices in an e-invoice format.
- Electronic patient record (elektronischen Patientenakte (ePA): is introduced by Jan. 15. A revolution in data-privacy kingdom of Germany: the file makes it possible to store medical data centrally and facilitate the exchange between different healthcare providers. (Source)
- SCHUFA: Negative entries related to one-time delayed payments will be removed from your Schufa record after 18 months, compared with 36 months previously.
- Property tax: the Grundsteuerreform introduces new valuation methods for properties replacing outdated ones to ensure more equitable property tax assessments. This probably means rent increases for tenants. (more info).
- Mietpreisbremse: All currently running rent cap in 13 federal stateswill expire by December 31, 2025 at the latest. (source). Good for existing tenants but with negative side-effects for future tenants.
- Wohngeld: increased by 30€ on Jan 1. (source)
Utilities & other services
- Slower & more expensive letter delivery: From 2025, Deutsche Post will extend standard letter delivery times to two working days (from one) to cut costs and improve efficiency. Postage prices will also rise, with standard letters and postcards increasing to 0.95€. (source)
- Parcel price hikes: Starting January 1, 2025, parcel prices within Germany will rise (e.g., small packages from 3.99€ to 4.19€). Parcels over 10 kg must clearly state their weight to enhance delivery staff safety, as required by the new postal law.
- Increased CO₂ compensation: The CO₂ price will rise from €45 to €55 per tonne, leading to higher costs for gasoline, heating oil, and natural gas. (source)
- Electricity surcharge: Electricity surcharges will increase to 3.15 cents per kilowatt-hour, contributing to higher electricity bills. (source)
- DeutschlandTicket: The monthly subscription will cost €58 per month from January instead of €49 (source)
Wishing you all the success in 2025! Let me know in the comments if there are any big 2025 changes for Germany that I have missed.
Bastien
Credits: Photo by Viridiana Rivera on Pexels.