Hello,

I'm thinking of going with my girlfriend to Darmstadt, Germany for a year. She's going to study there, and I would be playing poker full time there. That would be the plan. I've talked to some german players, and they say some different things about paying taxes there: Some say you must, others say you can just play and don't need pay taxes, and others say that if you don't make regular cashouts (like once a month, or whatever), entities won't come looking for you and ask you why you're not paying taxes when you should.

So if you know anything more about the state of online poker there and tax paying, I'd be thankful to read what you know.


The other question I have is about getting a visa. I'm portuguese, and I want to go to Germany, and both countries have signed the Schengen Agreement, which means I can just travel there, and the fronteirs are opened to any other country on the Schengen Agreement.


However, in order to stay there for more than X days, I'm almost sure I must have some kind of passport/visa, and in order to apply for one, I'm mostly likely going to be interviewed and asked what I will be doing there, and depending on my answer I may or may not be accepted to live there. So the question is, what should I say? I've read about poker players who were going to another country and when asked the reason for their moving, they said they were poker players and their visa was denied, and I've read about poker players who "lied", and said things like they were going to get a job, or they were going on vacation, and got their visa. There are also poker players who have told the truth and were accepted in whichever country they had applied for. So if anyone has any experience on this, I would love to hear about it.


Thank you for reading.

You can live anywhere in the eu if you're from the eu yourself, or am I crazy

You can live anywhere in the EU if you're from an EU country. I believe you will be required to register at the town / city hall if you are planning on staying long term. I'm pretty sure you'll need to have a passport or EU identity card. I actually did not register, which I presume is illegal, if anything happened I would have just said I was on a short holiday.

I don't know what the situation is in Portugal with regards to online poker. I am from the UK and lived in Germany for 3 years. I just cashed all my poker winnings out to my UK bank account and transferred money to a euro account to use in Germany as I needed it. Would something like that be an option? If you open a German bank account it might start raising flags, but I'm honestly not too sure about it as it doesn't really affect me. I do have some friends who are slightly worried about it, but nothing has ever happened to them, so you'll probably be ok.

I wouldn't advise you to say you are playing poker, that would definitely raise some flags. You have the right to live there, so just say you are moving with your girlfriend and you will look for work when you're there if it comes up.

Yeap, that would be an option, I have already informed myself, and I can cashout directly to my portuguese bank account.

Thank you for your time.

Not crazy but not 100% correct either. It's correct for most EU countries but some (Austria for sure, I've read about Netherlands and probably some others too) require you to register and show that you have the means to support yourself if you're going to stay longer than 3 months. Technically you can live anywhere in the EU if you're from the EU yourself but it's not always super easy as a poker player.

Now, many people don't bother with complying with those regulations since they are not always enforced and even penalties if busted aren't crippling but that's not the point.

Then don't open a German bank account and try to find a bank that won't charge you on withdrawals.

You'll need to get health insurance there, and if you register as self employed it can get quite expensive, so make sure you research that too. Your girlfriend will be covered as an exchange student, but you won't.

if in your country money is in euros then bank dont take anything if you pay with card. i was in germany for 10 days and have no extra fees for shopingwith card.

4betboke is spot on and if your gf has an apartment/room in her name then I don't believe there is any need to register or to get a bank account there. As a non resident you will find it tricky to do some things. Join a library, rent DVDs, buy a cellphone. But the lack of any tax or residency related hassle far outweighs those inconveniences. After you have been in Germany for a while you will realise that anything that you can do to avoid paperwork should be your choice and the less the German govt know about you the better. So my advice, don't register, use your Portuguese bank account and ATMs.

Unless you have a medical condition you might want to chance not taking health insurance and just relying on using E111 for emergency care. I mostly live in Berlin and if I need medical stuff I go back to UK. A couple of times I've been to see a Doctor and just paid cash. I do have travel insurance too. That's your choice though. I am lucky and have been healthy.

Thank you very much for your insight.

I talked to my bank, and I can withdraw money from my portuguese bank account there, likely at any ATM, without paying any taxes for doing so. Do you think that doing that for approximately a year would make them suspicious (them being their banks, government, immigration department, etc) and would make them want to try to find out who I am, try to locate where I have been living, etc? Maybe even kick me out? Have you taken any extra precautions besides the one you listed?

Again, thank you for your time.

I wouldn't really worry about that at all to be honest.

The easiest way for you to live would be to not tell the state that you're living there, cash out your poker winnings to your Portuguese bank account, use your Portuguese bank to withdraw money. Health insurance is tricky, I didn't get any health insurance, but I was prepared to pay out of pocket if I had to. Thankfully, nothing came up in the 3 years I lived there, but that was risky.

If you do this you're saving yourself a load of hassle with tax issues. I also wouldn't even feel bad about it, as you won't be claiming any benefits from the government and will likely be spending liberally on German goods / on German services while you're there, so it's not like you're a leech or anything.

Again, someone might give you completely different advice. It's up to you.