A few years ago credit cards were not particularly popular in Germany, and many shops still do not take them.  Many people only have them for ordering goods on-line, so they do not get that much use.

One of the main reason for their popularity is probably the fact that it is considered safe, because if something goes wrong you can call the credit card company and get their help to sort it out.  This makes it better than a bank transfer, cheaper than ordering something to be delivered as “Nachnahme”, and avoids giving out bank account details for a direct debit payment.

Of course, the credit card companies have an interest in making their system safe, and so they introduced a new set of digits on the card.  For most cards, this is on the reverse side, so it is not visible if the card is simply photographed or photocopied.  It is also not raised, so it would not show up on a simple old-fashioned card swipe. But otherwise, what use are a few more numbers?  Anyone who is going to steal and misuse credit card information, is going to try and get those as well, aren’t they?

So now there is something new, and it is basically a password that you use when you pay for something on-line.  Depending on your credit card, the name varies.  MasterCard call it the SecureCode(TM), for example.

You set the password once, and then when you use the card again the website forwards you to a secure site belonging to the credit card company in order to enter the password.

Personally, I find the system a nuisance.  At first I could simply say that I didn’t want to set a password, and the payment would still go through.  Then one day, I had to set it in order to complete the payment.  So all of a sudden I had to come up with a secure password, when I was not prepared to do so.

But worse still, it is yet another password that I have to remember.  It’s important, because some website will not accept my credit card without it, but it’s not exactly something that I need every day.

Having a password that is not printed on the card may make it more secure, but passwords that are complicated and not used very often tend to get written down.

So aside from any technical criticism of the system, the fact that card users now have to remember a new password does not make it that much of an improvement.

Just more complicated.

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• Using the U-Bahn at the Hessentag

It all has to do with the VAT (Value Added Tax) system within the European Union.  Put quite simply, if you buy something in a shop or pay for a service, then you pay VAT.  For consumers, that’s the end of the story.  The shop owner or service provider pays the VAT on to the tax office.

But if the customer is a business as well, they usually have a way to claim that tax back again from their local tax office (although there are some exceptions).

In Germany, at least, the VAT system means that a business only actually pays the difference between the VAT they have to pass on from selling goods to the consumer, and the VAT that they can claim back from their own purchases.  A new business making a loss may even get VAT repaid from their tax office.

Except that the system normally only allows EU businesses to do this within their own tax system.

Now apparently there are ways and means to claim back VAT from another country, but it’s not something that I’ve ever done because on the rare occasion it has applied to me (eg. a hotel bill or filling up with petrol), the amount has been fairly small and not warranted the effort.

It’s a different matter if the figures are higher or the payments are more frequent.  And so, under certain circumstances, companies are allowed to use something called the “reverse charge” arrangement.

Under the agreement, business who writes an invoice for another business can leave the VAT off the invoice by citing the agreement and both company’s tax numbers (in Germany that’s called the USt-IdNr.)  The company doing the selling then declares this on their own VAT return.

Sounds complicated?  Believe me, it is.  And to keep tabs on it all there is, in Germany at least, a national tax office that also needs to be told of any income you receive under this system.  That office is in a town called Saarlouis near the French border.  And the form to fill in to let them know how much you earned, is called the Zusammenfassende Meldung.

All of this would probably not bother many small businesses if they are only selling within their own markets.  Except for the fact, that at least two major players on the internet advertising front use it.  They are also the reason that I have to fill one out on a regular basis.

They are Amazon (with their associates programme) and Google (with AdSense).

Both pay out to website owners on a commission or per click basis.  And both pay out to business website owners using the reverse charge system.

So if you have a website in Germany with Amazon advertising on it, you can probably expect (or should that be hope?) to come into contact with the Zusammenfassende Meldung at some time.

But if you’re not self-employed and don’t own a business (and don’t work in the finance department of one), then you may never see one!

This article is intended to be an overview of what the ZM is and should not be considered as binding tax advice.  For more information, please contact a German tax adviser (Steuerberater).

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• Leasing a car in Germany (and why you might want to)
• E10 in Germany – is your car compatible?
• Blogging in Germany: Personal, Business or Journalist?

The numbers 1 to 6 roughly correspond to A to F in the British system as well, although 5 is usually the lowest that will be given for anyone actually completing the work or a test, with 6 reserved for those who don’t do it at all.  There are also the + and – grades in-between.

But how do the marks get decided for each child in the first place?

One possible answer to that question, and probably the most plausible in many subjects, is be the teacher making the decision.  This does, of course, require a competent and fair teacher, but having heard horror stories of parents going in to schools to demand that their children get better grades (in some cases where the child had not actually done the work or even attempted a test), I had hoped not to end up in that situation myself.

Except that there are other ways to decide the mark a child receives, such as settings bands for each mark and converting the number of right answers in a test to the final mark that way.  So you might have 59 possible points available, and set 53 to 59 points to be a 1 (A), 45 to 52 to be 2 (B), 37 to 44 to be 3 (C), and so on.

I have it on good authority and from multiple sources that such tables exist, and are in some way standardised.

However despite my initial hope, I got to a point where I could not always understand why marks were being awarded that didn’t fit into this schema.  So in the end, I asked (at an Elternabend).

It turns out that regardless what may exist at a higher level, there are schools that unilaterally decide to use a different scale, at least for certain subjects.    So in my example above, a score of 52 out of 59 may get you a “2″ in one subject, but  it only be enough for a “3″ in another, even within the same school!

But it doesn’t stop there, because in some cases it appears that a type of “quota” system is in place, which can result in children being moved up or down a band if the quota is full.  Whether this definitely goes in primary schools I cannot say for sure, although I think it’s pretty unfair on the children if they learn for a test only to be marked down if everyone does well.  In secondary education the system does, however, seem to be in place in some schools.

It’s that type of system that seems to take away the merit of the individual child, and instead moves the emphasis onto their ranking within the class.  At the end of the day, this can not only demotivate the child, but if the class always has the same number of children attaining each of the grades awarded, then any deficit the class may have as a whole could possibly go undetected.

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• German Schools and Modern Teaching Methods
• Elternabend – parents’ evening German style
• Worldfest at Frankfurt International School

Since I recorded that podcast there has been a change in the way that the insurance works, as I found out when I changed my car last year.

One of the best things about the German registration system is that you must arrange insurance for the car before you go to the Zulassungsstelle to register it.  If you do not, then you will either not receive any number plates to put on the car, or at the very least they will not have valid stickers on them, making uninsured cars very easy to spot on German roads.

So before you go to register the car, you used to call your insurance company and they would send you a white card called a Doppeldeckungskarte.  Originally this consisted of two identical parts, hence the Doppel in the name.  When you registered ownership of the car, one part stayed with the registration office and the other was used to notify the insurance company that you had been there and completed the process.

The card also had some insurance implications, such as 3rd party cover for the journey to and from the registration office.

The format of the card changed slightly in 2003, when the Doppel part got dropped, and was replaced with an electronic system.  But you still needed the single white card to register the car.

Now (and apparently since 2008) everything is electronic.  When I called my insurance company last year, they just dictated a code to me over the phone consisting of numbers and letters.  This is called a VB-Nummer, and it replaces all of the paperwork that used to take place between the registration office and the insurance company.  Everything happens electronically, so the only piece of paper involved was the one that I noted the code on!

Needless to say that after registering the car you still need to sign a contract with the insurance company for them to cover the car long-term.  Of course, you can do this on-line as well, but for once I still prefer to go to my agent and actually sign a piece of paper instead.

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• Buying and registering a car
• Leasing a car in Germany (and why you might want to)
• Leb’ wohl, Bio-Ethanol

Kindle books can also be viewed using the software for Windows, Mac, or even with iPad and Android apps, so if you are happy with the restrictions, then you could install one of these and read the book that way and save on the price.  Of course, that also opens up a whole range of other books for you as well, as many classic books are available for the Kindle reading software for free.

Here are the links to the Amazon stores where the book is listed:

• Amazon.com
• Amazon.co.uk
• Amazon.de
• Amazon.fr
• Amazon.es
• Amazon.it

(Thanks to Ben Curtis for his guide on how to publish to the Kindle which was a great help!)

Some other posts on this topic that you might like to read:

• How to write a German CV