Yes. A U.S. citizen can collect Social Security while living in Germany, with no time limit and no requirement to return periodically to the United States. Germany sits on the Social Security Administration’s list of countries where payments continue indefinitely, and it participates in International Direct Deposit so funds can land in a German bank account.1Social Security Administration. International Programs – Country List 1 The harder questions are how the benefit is taxed, what happens to your health coverage, and what the SSA needs from you to keep the payments coming.
Who Can Keep Collecting in Germany
If you’re a U.S. citizen, retirement, disability, and survivor benefits follow you to Germany for as long as you remain eligible. There’s no clock and no re-entry requirement.
Non-citizens face tighter rules. Continuing benefits abroad depends on citizenship, benefit type, and U.S. ties. Many non-citizens must have lived in the U.S. for a minimum period or hold citizenship in a country with a totalization agreement. Germany has had one with the United States since 1979, which helps non-citizen residents keep their eligibility intact.2Social Security Administration. U.S. International Social Security Agreements
To qualify for retirement benefits in the first place, you generally need 40 work credits, or about ten years of covered employment. In 2026, one credit takes $1,890 in covered earnings, capped at four credits per year.3Social Security Administration. Benefits Planner – Social Security Credits and Benefit Eligibility If a split U.S.-German career left you short in either system, the totalization agreement lets each country count the other’s credits when deciding eligibility. You need at least six U.S. credits before German credits can be combined with your U.S. record. Credits don’t move between systems; each country simply looks at the other’s record. When a U.S. benefit is granted this way, the SSA calculates it as if your whole career had been in the U.S. and then reduces it in proportion to the share actually worked under the U.S. system.4Social Security Administration. International Agreements – International Programs
One note if you also draw a German pension: the Windfall Elimination Provision, which used to cut U.S. benefits for people receiving a pension from work not covered by U.S. Social Security taxes, was addressed by the Social Security Fairness Act, and the SSA began adjusting affected benefits in February 2025.5Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act – Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) If your check was reduced because of a German pension, ask the SSA whether it has been recalculated.
Getting Paid Into a German Bank
Federal law requires Social Security payments to be electronic.6Social Security Administration. Direct Deposit You have two workable options in Germany: keep the money flowing to a U.S. account and pull from it, or use International Direct Deposit to receive euros in a German account. Germany is an IDD country.7Social Security Administration. List of International Direct Deposit (IDD) Countries
With IDD, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City converts your payment from dollars into euros before it reaches your German bank.8Social Security Administration. Payment Operation for International Direct Deposit (IDD) Your benefit is calculated in dollars, so the euro amount you actually receive rises and falls with the exchange rate. The SSA does not adjust for currency swings. Some retirees keep both a U.S. and a German account so they can move funds in batches when the rate is favorable.
How Your Benefits Are Taxed
Under the U.S.-Germany tax treaty, Social Security benefits paid to a resident of Germany are taxable only in Germany. The treaty exempts German residents from U.S. tax on those benefits.9Internal Revenue Service. United States-Germany Income Tax Treaty Germany then treats your U.S. benefit as if it were a German social security payment for purposes of German tax.
If You’re a U.S. Citizen
Citizens file a federal return no matter where they live. You can claim the treaty exemption on that return to exclude your Social Security from U.S. tax. Without the exemption, up to 85 percent of benefits could be taxable when combined income exceeds $34,000 for single filers or $44,000 for joint filers.10Internal Revenue Service. Publication 915 – Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits Your other worldwide income remains reportable.
If You’re a Nonresident Alien
The SSA automatically withholds a flat 30 percent tax on 85 percent of the benefit, or 25.5 percent of each monthly payment.11Social Security Administration. Nonresident Alien Tax Withholding Because Germany has a tax treaty with the United States, you can apply through the SSA for a reduced rate or full exemption. The default withholding will keep coming out of your check until you file for the treaty rate.
Foreign Account Reporting
A German bank account almost certainly triggers U.S. reporting. If your foreign financial accounts together exceed $10,000 at any point in the year, you must file an FBAR with FinCEN. If your foreign financial assets exceed $200,000 on the last day of the year, or $300,000 at any point, as a single filer living abroad, you must also file Form 8938 under FATCA. Joint filers get $400,000 and $600,000 thresholds.12Internal Revenue Service. Summary of FATCA Reporting for U.S. Taxpayers Penalties are steep and this is one of the most frequently missed obligations for Americans abroad.
Medicare Will Not Cover You in Germany
Medicare almost never pays for care received outside the United States.13Medicare.gov. Medicare Coverage Outside the United States The narrow exceptions involve emergencies near a U.S. border or while traveling through Canada between Alaska and the lower 48. None of that applies to daily life in Germany. Medicare drug plans also cannot cover medications bought abroad.
Some Medigap plans cover foreign travel emergencies, but only for the first 60 days of a trip, only for emergencies, and only up to a $50,000 lifetime cap after a $250 deductible.13Medicare.gov. Medicare Coverage Outside the United States That is not a substitute for real coverage when you live somewhere full-time.
Germany requires all residents to carry health insurance, whether through the statutory public system or a private insurer.14Bundesministerium für Gesundheit. Statutory Health Insurance (SHI) American retirees typically enroll in private coverage, since eligibility for the public system depends on employment and residency history. Plan on it as a fixed monthly cost that replaces Medicare while you’re there.
Whether to keep paying the Part B premium while abroad is a judgment call. Dropping it saves money now, but re-enrollment later carries a permanent penalty of 10 percent for each full 12-month period you went without it. If a return to the U.S. is possible, that penalty compounds.
What You Have to Report to the SSA
The SSA verifies periodically that you’re still alive, still eligible, and haven’t had a change that affects your benefit. Ignoring their requests is the quickest way to have payments suspended.
Report promptly:
- Address changes, including moves within Germany
- Marriage, divorce, or the death of a spouse
- Work activity, especially before full retirement age, since earnings above a threshold can temporarily reduce benefits
- The death of any beneficiary, which family or representatives should report immediately to prevent overpayments
Every one to two years, the SSA mails a Foreign Enforcement Questionnaire to beneficiaries abroad. If you don’t return it, payments stop.15USAGov. Getting Social Security Benefits If You Are Living Outside the U.S. Treat it like a bill that’s due.
You can handle SSA business through the Federal Benefits Unit at the U.S. Consulate General in Frankfurt, through the SSA’s Office of Earnings International Operations, or directly with Social Security. Reporting on time matters because overpayments from unreported changes must be repaid, sometimes out of future checks.16Social Security Administration. Your Payments While You Are Outside the United States
One Benefit That Does Not Travel: SSI
Supplemental Security Income is a separate, needs-based program, and it is not payable to anyone living outside the United States. Moving to Germany ends SSI payments regardless of citizenship, and no totalization provision changes that. If SSI is your main income, relocating means giving it up.