Brian Cahill
Brian Cahill
Arturo Castro Nava
Arturo Castro Nava
MCAA Management
Career Choices Seminar
German Chapter of the MCAA invites you to attend a Career Choices Seminar between 10:00 and 16:30 at the TU Darmstadt on 10th June 2015.
The focus of the Seminar is dealing with the choices that our members face after finishing their PhD or Postdoc. The program of the Seminar is:
09:00 – 10:00 Registration
10:00 – 10:15 Activities of MCAA and the German Chapter, Dr. Brian Cahill, Chair of the German Chapter
10:15 – 11:00 Publishing : an editorial perspective, Prof. Dr. Cameron Tropea, TU Darmstadt
11:00 – 11:15 Tea break
11:15 – 11:45 Constructive Communication, Dr. Natalia Balcazar, ENVIROpro
11:45 – 12:30 Mobility-relevant tax issues in Germany, Mrs. Liselotte Wurster, Persaldo Steuerberatung in Aschaffenburg
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 14:00 The EXIST program for developing a business idea, Mr. Deniz Bayramoglu, Patent and Innovation Manager at the HIGHEST Business Startup Centre in Darmstadt.
14:00 – 14:45 The DFG’s Emmy Noether Programme and some do's and don'ts on how to write a proposal, Dr. Anjana Buckow, DFG
14:45 – 15:00 Tea break
15:00 – 15:25 Academy to Industry Shift: Some Experiences in Coordinating MC Projects, Prof. Dr. Zoran Andjelic, POLOPT Technologies
15:25 – 16:00 Services provided by Euraxess, Mrs. Katrin Schaarschmidt, Euraxess Germany
16:00 – 16:30 Discussion among members and Conclusion
A small participation fee of 20€ is necessary to cover catering costs.
The Seminar is open for registration. Just fill out the following Google Form.
The seminar will take place at the Lichtwiese Campus of the TU Darmstadt in Room 11 of the building L5|06 (Bauingenieurwesen Institutsgebäude2). The address is Franziska-Braun-Straße 3, 64287 Darmstadt.
9 Comments
Hi Suresh,
we will ask the speakers to provide us with their presentations and then post them on the website.
Regards,
Brian
Thanks Brian for your kind gesture. I look frward to the conference.
best wishes,
Suresh
Hi , I am a marie curie alumni from India worked in Germany.
will it be possible to provide me access to the seminar material.
please advice
I asked to the financial office of my University (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), which, in turn, asked to the financial office (Finanzamtes) of the the city of Berlin
The answer is "Yes: the Mobility allowances are subject to taxation (steuerpflichtig)". You can read the official answer in German below. As I am not a native speaker of English or German I cannot bear the resposibility of translating the message, but perhaps native speakers can help.
Zu Ihrer Frage liegt uns bereits eine Antwort des Finanzamtes für Körperschaften III vor nach der wir an der HU Berlin verfahren.
Bei dem Mobilitätszuschuss handelt es sich um einen pauschalen Reisekostenersatz.
Pauschalvergütungen, die als monatlicher Zuschuß oder als einmaliger Betrag gezahlt werden, sind stets steuerpflichtiger Arbeitslohn. Die Höhe der Pauschalvergütung ist hierbei unerheblich. Der Arbeitnehmer muß in diesen Fällen seine Aufwendungen als Werbungskosten geltend machen.
All the best
Hi Michele,
I am not a native speaker but speak German well.
They say that the Mobility allowance is a flat-rate payment for travel costs. According to their decision, flat-rate payments must be considered part of taxable income. The size of the payments is unimportant in itself. They recommend that the employee declare the costs as a tax-deductible expense (in their tax declaration).
The recommendation is quite similar to what we are doing in the career choice seminar as a practical solution to the problem. If fellows have costs that are recognized by German tax law as tax-deductible expenses, they should make a tax declaration and claim a tax refund. For example, moving expenses that are caused by taking up a new job in Germany may be deducted from your taxable income. Every new fellow has at least some moving expenses and some people have quite sizable moving expenses.The costs of (i) a trip to Germany to find an apartment, (ii) a moving van or (iii) an airticket to Germany are all tax deductible. I installed a new kitchen in my fully unfurnished apartment and that was accepted as a moving expense.
Personally, my knowledge of German tax is limited to my own limited experience. Therefore I asked a tax advisor with more extensive experience to speak to us in Darmstadt on June 10th.
As I replied to Reddy below. We are looking to form the Working Group on Taxation of Mobility Allowances so that the MCAA has competent people that can negotiate with all the relevant partners on matters such as these. In particular the REA must see what they can do about this issue.
Warm regards,
Brian
Hi Michele,
I sent the response of the tax office to the tax advisor who will speak at our seminar. She will have a look at it and give her opinion at the seminar.
All the Best,
Brian
Dear all,
Thanks a lot for good suggestions and useful feedbacks. Unfortunately the discussion is taking a new direction instead of finding a solution. The actual problem is not taxation since it is our responsibility (in any country). As per the Research Executive Agency (REA) guidelines, the taxation for MCF fellows is not correct. Did the financial officers know the REA guidelines? For example, the relocation allowance of the researcher from his/her origin to host country is included in Mobility allowance. The amount what we used for relocation is already taxed by respective counties. Now, we are again paying the tax for that amount. It seems the taxation policy for MCF fellows is not appropriate. At this situation, only REA has the power to solve the problem. So we have to think about the possibilities to convey the issue to REA.
I hope we will get some solution in future.
Best wishes,
Reddy
Dear Reddy,
Our Chapter exists since January 2015 and is trying to deal with this issue that is of relevance to all current fellows. The NCP and employers have already negotiated the template for contracts for H2020 without any representation from the side of current fellows at all: http://www.kowi.de/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-266/1013_read-931/. The contracts say that “the obligation to contribute to social insurance and to pay taxes (health, nursing, un-employment and pension insurance) is based on relevant regulations”. The H2020 contracts were finalized in March of 2015.
From the REA: the “Guide for Applicants” for H2020 says that the allowances “may be taxable depending on the country in question”. Previously the Commission said that the allowances should be tax free. The implication here is very clear. This phrase was absent from the FP7 "Guide for Applicants".
The only way for the MCAA to deal here is to be a serious partner for negotiation with the NCP, employers, tax authorities and the Commission.There is an open call for a Working Group on Taxation of Mobility Allowances with a deadline on May 11th. This Working Group will form a core of MCAA members who will develop the competence to discuss these issues with the partners: REA, NCP, employers and tax offices.
We can work within the system and we can work to change the system at the same time. The German chapter is trying to detail how in the short term individual fellows can work within the system to claim tax refunds by making a tax declaration in the conventional German way. The Working Group on Taxation of Mobility Allowances can work with policy makers and institutions to change the system in the medium term.
All the Best,
Brian
Hi , I am a marie curie alumni from India worked in Germany.
will it be possible to provide me access to the seminar material.
please advice