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Studying costs.
In order to be able to afford rent, food and books, around three quarters of German students work on the side.
In doing so, they have to fight their way - mostly unprepared - through a jungle of rights, salary limits and tax regulations.
How much can and may I earn as a student: in?
What taxes do I pay for a mini job or working student position?
And what about insurance?
The most important rules at a glance.
Mini job - what does it mean?
One of the most popular working models for students is the mini job.
Mini-jobs are uncomplicated and popular, primarily because of the low tax and insurance charges.
The general rule here is: gross equals net.
The term "mini job" summarizes two forms of employment:
EUR 450 mini-jobs
: The average monthly salary is a maximum of EUR 450.
The upper earnings limit is therefore 5400 euros per year.
Be careful, this also includes Christmas and vacation pay!
Short-term mini-jobs
, also known as short-term employment: Instead of 450 euros per month, the work is limited to either three months or 70 working days per year.
The amount of the salary does not matter at first.
What do I earn with a mini job?
With 450-euro jobs, the name says it all, whether at the hardware store, as a tutor or in the catering trade.
Of course, the statutory minimum wage applies.
The fact that this is increasing continuously has an impact on the possible number of hours: the more mini-jobbers earn per hour, the less they are allowed to work.
With the traffic light coalition, that could change in the future.
According to the coalition agreement, the new government wants to raise the earnings limit to 520 euros in the future.
The minimum wage is also to be raised: to 12 euros per hour.
The number of hours would hardly change as a result, it would then be a maximum of 43.333 hours per month.
Even short-term employment must adhere to the minimum wage.
During the corona pandemic, the time limits for this form of employment were temporarily raised: Between February and October 2020, short-term employees were allowed to work for five months or 115 days.
Between March and October 2021 it was four months or 102 working days.
Do I pay taxes on a mini job?
And what insurance fees do I have to pay?
The great advantage of mini-jobs compared to working as a student trainee: in or freelancer: in: The person who is doing the job pays no taxes and very few insurance fees.
Flat-rate contributions to pension and health insurance are paid by the employer;
there are no costs at all for long-term care or unemployment insurance.
Mini jobbers: you can combine any number of activities, as long as the salary from all jobs remains below 450 euros per month.
Bafög and child benefit are also no problem.
Mini-jobbers: those under the age of 25 can also stay with family insurance or take out student insurance for around 112 euros per month.
How do mini jobs affect retirement?
Since 2013 there has been an exception to the tax exemption for 450 euro mini-jobs: the compulsory contribution to pension insurance.
"A total of 18.6 percent of the salary is incurred - 15 percent is taken care of by the employer and 3.6 percent by the job seeker himself," says Christiane Krüger, spokeswoman
the mini job center at Knappschaft-Bahn-See.
This 3.6 percent is deducted directly from the salary.
So whoever earns 450 euros a month pays around 16.20 euros to the pension insurance.
In the case of non-commercial mini-jobs in private households - for example as a cleaning assistant or gardener: in - it is a little more.
But: "You mustn't forget that you also acquire pension insurance time with it," says Krüger.
The employment time of a mini job therefore counts in full to the waiting time for old-age pensions.
The working years of a mini job are also added up for the basic pension and disability pension.
Can I get exemption from pension insurance with a mini job?
Anyone who does not want to pay their own pension insurance contributions can be exempted from them by submitting a written application.
Individual advice options on the effects of pension law are available from the information and advice centers of the Deutsche Rentenversicherung.
But what if 450 euros a month is not enough?
Anyone who works for more than three months at a time alongside their studies and earns more than 450 euros can be employed as a working student: in.
The advantage: more salary.
The prerequisite for this, however, is that the job plays a subordinate role compared to studying.
There are two ways to do this:
20-hour limit
: The working time of 20 hours per week is not exceeded.
The amount of earnings does not matter.
26-week rule
: The working time of 20 hours per week is exceeded on the weekend, during the night or during the lecture-free period.
The working student status is retained if the period is limited to 26 weeks per time year.
As a working student, do I pay: in insurance premiums?
Even as a working student, employees have to pay into the pension insurance.
In contrast to a mini-job, you cannot be exempt from this contribution.
However, they are also exempt from long-term care and unemployment insurance.
Which health insurance do I need as a working student: in?
If you want to stay in family insurance, you also have to stay as a working student: in below an income limit of 470 euros per month.
In most cases, the student tariff of a statutory health insurance company is an alternative;
the 20-hour limit applies here again.
The contribution is usually around 112 euros per month.
As a working student, do I have to: Pay in taxes?
Whether working students have to pay taxes depends on another limit: the tax-free allowance.
This is the so-called basic allowance that applies to all taxpayers, including students.
"Anyone who has a taxable income of less than 9744 euros a year as a single person in 2021 remains tax-free and does not have to pay any taxes," explains Jana Bauer, a consultant at the Federal Association of Wage Tax Assistance Associations.
According to Bauer, an annual employee is deducted from the gross wage: a flat-rate amount of 1,000 euros for internal workers and an annual special expenditure flat-rate amount of EUR 36;
plus advertising costs, special expenses and, if necessary, extraordinary burdens.
Anyone who earns more than the basic tax allowance after all these deductions must pay income tax.
If you add that up, students can usually earn an average of around EUR 898.30 per month tax-free.
By the way: "As soon as you have paid taxes as a student, it is definitely worth filing a tax return," advises Bauer.
Can I combine a mini job and a student job?
It gets complicated when a working student position is combined with other part-time jobs.
If only a mini job is added as a second job, single working students are still assigned to tax class I, where small deductions apply.
The additional mini job is tax-free and runs outside the tax brackets.
The situation is different if, in addition to the working student job, another part-time job is carried out that is not a flat-rate taxed mini-job - for example, a second working student job.
The additional employment is then assigned to tax class VI, where the deductions are particularly high.
The first job remains in tax class I. This combination is usually not worthwhile for students.
Even with a student trainee job and two other mini-jobs, the third job slips into tax class VI.
So it gets more expensive with:
two or more different working student positions.
a working student job in combination with at least two mini jobs.
Important: In order to retain the status of »working student: in« with the social security system if you have several jobs, the combined hours of all jobs should be based on the 20-hour limit or the 26-week rule.
What else are there besides mini-jobs and working student positions?
Employment relationships that are also favored in terms of taxes and insurance contributions are positions as exercise leaders or other paid positions in voluntary work.
Students who work as freelancers generally have to adhere to the same hourly and tax rules as employed working students.