Hi there,

Christmas markets are back! I use this calendar and this map to discover new ones.

Big changes coming in 2026

New year, new laws, new prices. These are the big changes I noticed while preparing All About Berlin for 2026:

• 💺 More expensive public transit: €63 Deutschland Ticket, €4 AB ticket, €5 ABC ticket

• 🍽️ Reduced VAT in cafés and restaurants: previously 19%, now 7%

• 💶 Higher minimum wage: previously €12.82, now €13.90 per hour

• 👷‍♀️ Higher minimum salary for Blue Cards: previously €48,300, now €50,700

• 👨‍💻 Higher income requirement for freelance visas and student visas.

• 🩹 More expensive health insurance; the starkest price hike in years. Use my health insurance calculator to see the new prices. Ask my health insurance expert if switching to another insurance makes sense.

You can find a longer list of changes with explanations on my personal blog.

Nebenkostenabrechnung deadline

If you don’t receive your 2024 Nebenkostenabrechnung by December 31, you can ignore it. Your landlord can’t make claims after that date.

These Nebenkostenabrechnungen often contain errors and invalid claims. If you are in a Mieterverein or you have legal insurance, you can get yours checked for free. You can also use legaltech services like Mineko.

Pay less income tax

December is the time to max out your pension contributions. If you had a good year, put some of your income in a pension before the end of the year. Pension contributions are tax-deductible, so they lower your taxable income.

For example, if you earned €100,000, and you put €20,000 in a Rürup pension, your taxable income is €80,000. You would pay €9,700 less income tax.

You will pay income tax on your retirement income. Your income after retirement will be much lower, so you will pay a lot less income tax then.

Lots of Kita spots

Finding a Kita used to be damn near impossible. Children were put on waiting lists before they were even born. A cottage industry helped parents spam every Kita with a request for a spot.

Now, there are too many spots, and not enough children. Some Kitas must even lay off staff or close.

I have updated my Kita and Kitagutschein guides. Two experts will review them this week.

Immigration office wait times

Since last winter, I collect feedback from residence permit applicants. This helps you predict Ausländerbehörde delays and plan around them. In September, I started measuring citizenship processing times too.

Last week, I made the page easier to read and added two useful pieces of information:

With this information, I can send you instructions just before your residence permit expires. I can also recommend health insurance that the immigration office is guaranteed to accept. Health insurance is one of the main reasons for freelance visa rejections.

Coming soon on All About Berlin

I am writing a checklist for leaving Germany. There are many little details that are not covered elsewhere: how to close your business, get your money out, receive your pension abroad, etc.

I got access to a lot of housing data from Stekkies and Homeboy. I want to create helpful tools and visualizations to help with your apartment search.

A question for parents

Where do you get help? Which parenting resources and communities do you recommend? You can simply reply to this email.