Tax Authorities in Germany have carried out raids on Ryanair pilots homes
 

Tax Authorities in Germany have carried out a number of raids on the private
homes of Ryanair pilots who are operating on Brookfield/ Storm McGinley
contracts.
The home raids were carried out under Court Order which the Tax Authorities
served on the pilots before entering their homes.
On each occasion, a number of personnel from the Tax Authorities questioned
pilots for several hours before seizing their personal computers, files and
documents for further inspection and investigation.
Given the current investigations by Tax Authorities in Italy, this latest situation
in Germany reflects a particularly serious and worrying development. It is
completely unacceptable that pilots should need to worry about their homes
being raided.

http://ryanairdontcarecrew.********....ny-raided.html

https://www.ryanairpilotgroup.com/pu...y%20150313.pdf

Pilots Homes Raided - Radio Interview with IALPA President
Pilots Homes Raided - Radio Interview with IALPA President - YouTube

As I understand it the Ryanair pilots won their earlier tax case in Germany. So at least they did not get done for large amounts of back tax, which seems fair given there was genuine doubt about what was due.

Subsequently I heard the loophole was closed and that they were now expected to pay going forward, which does not seem unreasonable given that everyone else living in Germany is expected to pay tax.

What is clear is that the taxman in Germany has started to focus on pilots and not just Ryanair pilots. There have been similar cases with people in the sandpit who really were not living in Germany. One guy said he had separated from his wife, who lived in their house in Germany. But photos showed them on holiday together. He had to pay up.

So the word is if you are in Germany be careful, which in most cases means you need professional advice (e.g. a Steuerberater). I know this is not what most people want to hear. But I hope it stops people planning unrealistically and ending up with bigger problems later.

Germany is really strict about taxes and has surprisingly high fines (even high jailtime) for not paying them. Get pro advice of those "Steuerberater". They will pay for themselves. There are many smart and legal ways to reduce your taxes only these people know about.

THis sort of thing will continue until the tax situation is harmonized across Europe, I have no doubt pilots on contracts are paying there tax in Ireland, the problem is that each EU state has different rules and the local tax authority's want to enforce these local rules.

There should be no double taxation inside the EU but some of the authority's are very strict about the interpretation of residency the Danish are especially vigorous about this, I know of one Danish pilot who has property in Denmark but lives and pays tax in another EU state who was presented with a tax demand from the Danish authority's for tax as if he was resident in Denmark, if this demand had not been quashed his total tax burden across the two EU states would have been 120% of his income !

What is needed is a united front from the all the EU tax authorities towards people within aviation who work across the EU, all we have at the moment is some half hearted social tax legislation centered on the crewmenbers nominal base and NOT their state of residence.

Tax uniformity?
 

I sincerely doubt that a tax uniformity is going to happen in near future. Partly because of the events now happening in Cyprus which a test on the "glue" of EC. Secondly, if you have a common tax it's only fair that you have common social benefits. A lot of work would have to be done to standardize everything.

Krueger
 

I have ( Unfortunaly ) no reason to disagree with your assessment of the situation.

There is no such thing as 'double taxation' in Germany. Meaning that Germany has mutual agreements with a bunch of countries (including Ireland or Switzerland, for example) where they recognize taxes already paid somewhere else.

The infamous 'Steuerberater' (if she / he is a knowledgeable one, that is) pays for himself.