🇩🇪 Berlin · Paperwork

Registration, banking and utilities in Berlin

Anmeldung first, because the tax ID, the bank account, the health insurance and the salary all queue behind it — and the appointment itself is the scarce part.

Get started in Berlin

The thing people get wrongBerlin's Bürgeramt appointments are released in waves and disappear in minutes. Check the booking system early in the morning and take any district, not just your own — any Bürgeramt in Berlin can register any Berlin address.

Indicative figures

  • Anmeldung deadline14 daysFrom moving in. The appointment is free.
  • Steuer-ID by post2 – 4 weeksAfter registration; it can be re-requested from the Federal Central Tax Office.
  • Rundfunkbeitrag€18.36/monthPer household, not per person.
  • EU Blue Card salary floor€50,700/year2026; €45,934.20 in shortage occupations and for recent graduates.

Checked . Ranges, not quotes — your Insider confirms the current numbers in Berlin before you commit to anything.

Anmeldung

You are expected to register your address within two weeks of moving in, at any Bürgeramt, with your passport, the completed registration form and the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung from your landlord. You leave with the Meldebescheinigung, which is the proof of address that everything else asks for. If you move within Berlin you re-register; if you leave Germany you deregister, which matters for tax and for the broadcasting fee.

  • Appointments are booked through service.berlin.de; slots open unpredictably, often early in the morning.
  • Any district's Bürgeramt can register any Berlin address — do not wait for your local one.
  • Bring the original Wohnungsgeberbestätigung, not a photo of it. Registration itself is free.
  • Once you hold a German ID card or an electronic residence permit with the online function switched on, later moves can be registered online; a first registration from abroad still means an appointment.

Tax ID, tax class and the payroll

The Steueridentifikationsnummer arrives by post a few weeks after registration and is what your employer needs to tax you correctly; without it you are taxed at the harshest rate until it lands. Everyone is assigned a tax class (Steuerklasse) based on marital status, and married couples can change the combination, which changes monthly take-home considerably. If you are self-employed you also need a separate tax number (Steuernummer) from the Finanzamt and, above a threshold, a VAT number.

  • Steuer-ID arrives by post automatically; you can request it again if it does not.
  • Freelancers register with the Finanzamt using the Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung.
  • The Künstlersozialkasse covers some freelance creatives for social insurance — worth checking eligibility.

Bank, residence permit and the broadcasting fee

Branch banks generally want the Meldebescheinigung, app banks will open an account on a passport, and either way the account gates the rest of ordinary life because so much here still runs on SEPA direct debit rather than cards. Residence permits for non-EU nationals are handled by the Landesamt für Einwanderung (LEA), on its own timetable and with its own queue: apply before your entry visa expires, and keep the confirmation of application, which serves as provisional permission to stay while the case is open. The Rundfunkbeitrag is a compulsory per-household broadcasting fee of €18.36 a month, billed automatically after registration, and it is one per flat rather than one per person.

  • Cards are accepted far more widely than a few years ago, but bakeries, kiosks and small bars still say Nur Bar; carry cash.
  • The LEA is separate from the Bürgeramt and has its own online forms and booking system; Blue Card and skilled-worker applications go through its Business Immigration Service.
  • In a shared flat, one person registers for the Rundfunkbeitrag and the others give that person's contribution number.
  • Rules, salary floors and document lists change every year; confirm with the LEA or Make it in Germany before you rely on a step.

Utilities, internet and the small print

Electricity is contracted by you directly with a supplier of your choice and switching is easy and worth doing annually; heating is usually billed through the landlord in the Nebenkosten and reconciled once a year. Internet contracts commonly run for twenty-four months and installation can take weeks, so order it the day you sign the lease. German consumer contracts of all kinds tend to renew automatically unless cancelled in writing within a notice window — diarise the cancellation date when you sign.

In order

  1. Get the Wohnungsgeberbestätigung from your landlord.
  2. Book and attend an Anmeldung appointment within two weeks of moving in.
  3. Wait for the Steuer-ID by post and give it to your employer.
  4. Open a German bank account with the Meldebescheinigung.
  5. Arrange health insurance and give the employer the membership certificate.
  6. Register for the Rundfunkbeitrag, order internet, and set up an electricity contract.
  7. Non-EU: apply to the LEA for your residence permit before the entry visa runs out.