Login
Help 
Documentation Insurances and taxes
You and your family need to have proof of health insurance cover for the duration of your stay in Munich or in Germany. Without such proof, you may not obtain a visa if you come from a country outside Europe or you might not be given a residence permit on your arrival in Germany if you are planning to stay here longer than 3 months. If you are a European citizen, failure to be in possession of adequate health insurance is a breach of the regulations governing free movement of citizens of EU member states.
In the following please read only the information that corresponds to your personal situation. During your stay at TUM you will be:
§ Staff member of the TUM as you receive a working contract with TUM
§ A scholarship holder or guest that comes from a non EU member state
§ A scholarship holder or guest that comes from a EU or EFTA member state
When you join the staff of TUM, i.e. sign an employment agreement with TUM, you are obliged, regardless of which country you come from, to choose a compulsory public health insurance (with one exception: namely, if your contract with TUM stipulates a gross annual salary of more than 49,500 EUR and you are able to prove that your annual income has exceeded this amount also last year and you have been insured with a public health insurance company in your home country. If this is the case, you are also entitled to take out a private health insurance policy.). All the compulsory public German health insurance companies are accepted and currently charge a uniform rate of 15.5%. Out of the 15.5% your employer will pay 7.3% and you will pay 8.2% of the total contributions. Your employer will deduct the health insurance contributions straight from your gross salary and pay them to the public health insurance company of your choice. As a rule, accompanying members of your family are also covered by your public health insurance policy free of charge as long as their regular monthly income does not exceed 360 EUR, for low-wage employments according to German law 400 EUR (Geringfügige Beschäftigung) and the children have not reached a certain age limit. Please click here for an overview of compulsory health insurance companies. Most health insurance companies offer facilities to register online via their website, otherwise you can write to them or go along to one of the branches to register in person. Registration can possibly be completed before you set off, but this is not absolutely necessary: another option is to register with a public health insurance company within a few days of your arrival. The following compulsory health insurance companies have special advisers for international researchers to TU München:
§ AOK München, Landsberger Str. 150-152, 80339 München
Contact person: Frau Andrea Wurzlbauer, Room B522, Tel.: +49/89/5444-1473, Fax: +49/89/5444-11601971
E-mail: M-Studentenservice@by.aok.de
§ AOK Freising, Wippenhauserstr. 6, 85354 Freising, Tel.: +49/8161/182137
§ Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), Elisenstr. 3, 80335 München
Contact person for Munich, Garching, Freising: Mr. Andreas Werhahn, Tel.: +49/89/49069-817
E-mail: andreas.werhahn@tk-online.de; Availability at Campus Garching every Tuesday and Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the entrance hall of the cafeteria in Garching, Lichtenbergstr. 4 or upon appointment
Registration forms for the Techniker Krankenkasse are available from us upon request.
If you have not registered with a public health insurance company prior to your departure, please make sure you have taken out adequate travel and/or health insurance to cover your journey and the first few weeks of your stay in Germany/Munich including stationary hospital treatment/emergencies. You can choose between an insurance company in your home country or in Germany. Please read the notices and information published by the German diplomatic mission or consulate that issues you with your visa. See below for a specimen insurance policy:
If you are undertaking research at TUM as a scholarship holder or guest, are not already insured through the funding body concerned and are not a citizen of an EU member state, you will almost certainly have to take out private health insurance for yourself and your family.
If you already have health insurance cover in your home country, please check whether the policy also covers any doctor's fees incurred during your stay in Germany or hospital treatment in full. If this is the case, you do not need to take out another insurance policy. Your insurance company must, however, issue a written confirmation in either German or English that you have insurance cover for Germany, that all medical expenses incurred here will be recognised and that you are entitled to full compensation. As a general rule, most health insurance companies only uphold this commitment if there is a social insurance agreement between your home country and Germany. Please check with your local authorities and health insurance companies whether a social insurance agreement of this kind exists.
If you are unable to obtain such evidence or your home country does not have a social insurance agreement with Germany, or if you have not had a health insurance policy in your home country so far, you must take out private health insurance cover for yourself and all accompanying members of your family. Click here for a selection of insurance companies which offer special rates or insurance package deals for visiting scientists from overseas:
The group insurance of the German academic exchange service (DAAD) offers a combined health, accident and third party liability insurance that you and your family are also entitled to, if you research at TUM. It will cost a monthly premium of 123,00 EUR per person for a man or a woman and 199,50 EUR for a child up to the age of 18 years. It is absolutely mandatory that you register with this insurance before your arrival in Germany. If you would like to do that, please contact me. I will send you the registration form together with the insurance policy.
There are a lot of other private insurance companies in Germany, of course. Please look up details on the Internet.
If you are undertaking research at TUM as a scholarship holder or guest, are not already insured through the funding body concerned and are not a citizen of an EU or EFTA member state (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland), you can choose whether to retain your health insurance in your home country or take out a compulsory or private insurance policy for yourself and your family in Germany.
If you are still registered with the health insurance company in your home country and continue to pay the premium there, and provided you are in possession of a European health insurance card, you can also use this to go to a doctor here in Germany, if necessary. The procedure in this case is for you to pay the medical fees yourself and then have them refunded by the insurance company in your country. It is advisable to contact your local health insurance company beforehand, however, to check whether you can really claim for all doctors' fees and hospital treatment that might be incurred here in Germany. If this is not the case, it might be possible to arrange supplementary private health insurance just to cover those medical service charges that cannot be refunded. We attach a specimen insurance policy of this kind:
To be on the safe side, however, you can also register with a German compulsory health insurance company. The German public health insurance company will base your premium on your monthly income from the scholarship. Please click here. for an overview of public health insurance companies. The following compulsory health insurance companies have special advisers to look after the needs of TU München's international visitors and to provide a comprehensive consultancy service:
§ AOK München, Landsberger Str. 150-152, 80339 München
Contact person: Frau Andrea Wurzlbauer, Room B522, Tel.: +49/89/5444-1473, Fax: +49/89/5444-11601971E-mail: M-Studentenservice@by.aok.de
§ AOK Freising, Wippenhauserstr. 6, 85354 Freising, Tel.: +49/8161/182137
§ Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), Elisenstr. 3, 80335 München
Contact person for Munich, Garching, Freising: Mr. Andreas Werhahn, Tel.: +49/89/49069-817
E-mail: andreas.werhahn@tk-online.de; Availability at the campus Garching every Tuesday and Thursday from 10:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. in the entrance hall of the cafeteria Garching, Lichtenbergstr. 4 oder nach Vereinbarung
Registration forms for the Techniker Krankenkasse are available from us upon request.
In addition, you can take out private insurance cover for yourself and the accompanying members of your family for the duration of your stay. Visit the site given below for a selection of insurance companies that offer special rates or insurance package deals for visiting researchers from overseas:
The group insurance of the German academic exchange service (DAAD) offers a combined health, accident and third party liability insurance that you and your family are also entitled to, if you research at TUM. It will cost a monthly premium of 123,00 EUR per person for a man or a woman and 199,50 EUR for a child up to the age of 18 years. It is absolutely mandatory that you register with this insurance before your arrival in Germany. If you would like to do that, please contact me. I will send you the registration form together with the insurance policy.
Everyone living in Germany is liable for damage that he/she inflicts on others. In a big city like Munich it is very easy to cause other people loss or damage. Should you ever be responsible for some mishap, either intentional or unintentional, you may be liable for the rest of your life for the loss or damage incurred. For this reason, we strongly advise you to insure yourself against these risks.
Third party insurance
Please begin by checking whether you already have some form of personal liability insurance for yourself and your family in your home country which might also cover you during your stay in Germany, or whether you can upgrade your existing insurance policy to include this item. Please note that, depending on the loss or damage caused, the level of claim may be higher here in Germany than the maximum sum insured stipulated in the insurance policy taken out in your home country. In Germany, a total policy value of 3 million euros is normally recommended.
If you have no personal liability insurance as yet, we urge you to insure yourself against this risk. With most insurance companies you can arrange cover either online or in person on your arrival in Munich. Most banks, where you can open a bank account, can also make you an offer for this insurance. To find out which insurance company and which policy meet your needs and suit your particular circumstances best, please click here for free information. The costs involved are mainly determined by the parameters of maximum sum insured, amount of excess and effective term of the policy. The annual premium is somewhere in the region of:
§ 55 EUR/year (1 person/single)
§ or about 80 EUR/year (for a family)
Please note that some landlords/landladies in Munich stipulate that their tenants must be protected by third-party insurance. In this case, you should make sure your personal liability insurance also covers damage to rented property. So be sure to check your existing or new insurance policy very carefully, as damage caused by tenants is frequently not automatically included in the policy.
Occupational liability insurance – employee's liability
If you have the status of a member of TUM staff, i.e. by signing an employment contract with TUM, you are insured against any damage that you might inflict on your employer while carrying out your professional tasks, except in the case of malicious intent or negligence.
If you are not given an employment contract by TUM but conduct research/teach at TUM in your capacity as a scholarship holder or guest, you are not protected in this way. So it is all the more important to take out personal liability cover! Please ask the person responsible/your mentor at the Faculty whether certain risks, such as laboratory damage or work involving patients within your area of responsibility is covered by insurance for the duration of your stay, or whether you should arrange suitable cover yourself. If necessary, you should make enquiries with your current insurance company, or before taking out a new insurance policy, to what extent your personal liability insurance covers these particular risks. If they are not included in the policy, you should consider taking out a special supplementary insurance to cover these contingencies.
„Deutscher Ring“ for example, will insure you against laboratory damage.
Needless to say, there are numerous other insurance companies in Germany.
The Internet is the best place to find out about the various options available.
Accident insurance
Statutory accident insurance
If you are an employee of TUM, the statutory accident insurance will provide compensation in the event that you have an accident on the way to or from work at TUM, or during working hours at TUM. In this example, the cost of convalescence or follow-up costs resulting from the accident (bodily injury) are covered. Please see here for further details on the claims payments honoured by the statutory accident insurance.
If you research at TUM with a scholarship or as a guest, you are unfortunately not covered by the statutory accident insurance against accidents sustained on the TUM campus or within the organisational structure of TUM. We therefore strongly advise to take out a personal accident insurance.
Personal accident insurance
You can find out here the details on which insurance policy matches your requirements.
As an employee of TUM you are free to take out supplementary private accident insurance to cover casualties and personal injuries of all descriptions, especially those sustained during recreational activities.
If you are employed by TUM, you have to pay tax on your salary in Germany. In the same way as your compulsory health insurance contributions, the tax due is deducted from your earnings straight away and paid to the tax authorities. The amount of taxes to be paid by you depends on the tax bracket in which you will be categorized which depends on your personal situation. Click here for further details on which tax bracket applies in your case. From January 1st 2011 onwards you will have to apply for a income tax statement (substituting the former tax deduction card) at your respective tax authority after registration with the local citizen's office. The application form in German can be downloaded/printed out here. Upon receipt, please give the income tax information to your employer, precisely the personnel department for your campus. Adresses, opening times and contact persons at the tax authorities or their service centers can be found for the different locations in the following:
§ Adress and contact details Munich and Garching, opening hours of the service center, contact persons
§ Adress and contact details Freising, opening hours of the service center, contact persons
Print