Last 26 months i have been paying my arbeitslose insurance and I do have PR(Permanant Recidency) from Germany. For some good reason I am getting the opportunity to start the contracting job (selbständig) in Munich.
To start with I am getting 4 monhts contract and if things goes well it may extend beyond.
So I have decided to quit my job and start the contracting job.
In case if i am not able to get the extension after 4 months, am I eligible for the Arbeitslosengeld(Unemployment benifit money).

It would of great help if someone can guide me on this before I take the decision.


Indram

Hi INDRAM,

Yes, you will be eligible for ALG after 4 Months of workign as selbstandig.

What Arbeitsamt does is they check last 24 months netto and your ALG is calculated based on that.

In your case, when you are selbstandig, it might be that are not obliged to contribute to arbeitslosenversicherung, but could always do that on a projected income - Accounts to certain contribution to this per month. but at the end of 4 months , you should have all your income declared for those 4 months and then you might be eligible for ALG for 24 months calclulation ( IF the necessary insurance is paid for ) else 20 months (i.e 24 - 4 months of selbstanding) and then a percentage of half of this netto income is paid as ALG to you.

Check the calculators availble on internet to calculate what you get for ALG1. It depends on the Tax class, Family Status, Number of Kids etc..

I am not sure if arbeitsamt checks into your savings on what you have for determining your ALG as is in UK for example. For this i would wait for replies from experts here.

Above is my opinion only and does not have any legal binding!

@Indram

Yes, you are elgible for ALG I but you need to register and pay " Freiwillige Arbeitslosenversicherung " which will be 17,89. you can get the required forms from Arbeitsamt on phone or personally which has to be filled from your ex-employer.

You have to inform the Arbeitsamt about you contract or else u get "sperre" for 3 weeks.

Gruß

Hello issues/krishi2605,

That was a very quick response and I really appreciate that. lets see what experts have to say on it.

note : its self resignation, not employer asked to leave.

Indram

Hi Indram,

In that case - You would need to respect the Kundigungsfrist period, else you are bound to be blocked by arbeitsamt for ALG1. ( which i assume you would dont need to care at all because you take up the selbstandigkeit ).

BTW, out of curiosity : Kranken versicherung , Are you private or GKV versichert ?.

private

Hello,

After you get the contract as a freelancer, you can go to the Arbeitsamt and ask for a "freiwillige Weiterversicherung". You will be asked to provide some documents. If the "Arbeitsamt" decides to approve your query, you will need to pay a monthly fee of about 17 Euros, independent by your incomes.

As far as I know that's possible only until at the end of the year, afterwards the german government will stop to provide this "freiwillige Weiterversicherung".

Regards,
Marius

It is really an interesting topic if you like decide on freelancing.
i too thinking of taking up freelancing and have a couple of questions that needs to be cleared before.

1. If we bound to the Kündigungsfrist and resign from the current job, will there still be Sperrzeit in regarding the Gründungszuschuss? Its for sure if you resign or Aufhebugsvertrag will land you up in Sperrzeit which is 3 month.
2. Is the Gründundungszuschuss is same as the ALG 1, i mean the health insurance contribution also paid towards the Krankenkasse, until we begin with the freelancing contract.
3. Anyone had experience freelancing in Switzerland. what are the best ways to work as freelancing in Schweiz as I do not want to move completeley from Germany.

Thank you all for your forecoming answers.
regards,

Hi Issues,

You have said in your first reply that I will be eligible for ALG after 4 Months of workign as selbstandig.
For a situation explained below, would you or any one in this forum be kind enough to comment on it.

note : self resignation.
Assume that my last working day as an employee is 31st july 2010.
1 sep 2010 I start my contracting job and that got ended on 31st dec 2010.
From 1st jan 2011 I have nothing in hand to work.
In this situaion from which month I will be eligible for the arbeitlossengeld.

Once again thanks a lot for every one who have given their valuable comments /suggestion/information.

Indram

@Indram

Hi, Did you recieve the Gründungszuschus? Can you please let me know how this is calculated and from which month are you eligible to get and how long? I am working for the past 8 years as a full time employee, changing one job in between and for the current company i am employed for 5 years. i have plans of starting freelancing, and very new to this topic. can you also share your phone numebr or email id, so that i will get in direct touch with you.

regards

Hi SSDKSSDK,INDRAM,

This is a very interesting topic and please let us (Forum Members) know the info as well. Efforts from Detlef have helped build confidence in the forum and information and expertise has been shared to quite an extent and it in fact had helped a lot of active , passive members as well.

I hope you guys share the information and help build the community of global Experts and not start a separate private email - Telephone channel , communication.

Hi SSDKSSDK,

what i know is that when you register in arbeitsamt for arbeitslosengeld , you could also go ahead and ask for support to setup a business yourself. It could be a 1 man company or a few people company ( Like minded people joining and forming a company ).

Info as far as i get from talking to people + talkign to arbeitsamt is you get a starting lumpsum(grundungzuchuss ) calculated on your netto * X Months + xx.xx Euros and then you cannot claim arbeitslosengeld any more and also you would need to take care of your health insurance as well ( When you are a family - this is a hughe factor)

How Many Months ? : Is a question that i never got a proper answer

Hi Issues,
I had a query for you. see the previous posting from me, it was addressed to you. I kindly request you to comment on that.

indram

@ISSUES
Thank you very much for the information.

I have come across a website giving much more information on freelancing but it is in German. Those who are good at german will definitely benefit with the info available at the site.

http://gruendungszuschuss.de/

SSDKSSDK : Good Link, but let us wait for the practial experiences from people.

indram : Here is my understanding

31.07.2010 : Your last day with the company
August : You plan to work on setting up your business or ?.
01.09.2010 - 31.12.2010 : 4 Months contracting.


You are eligible for ALG1 as such. I am not sure on how the blocking period applies to you. It might not even apply to you also.

Fundamental question : In August you do not have any income, is that true and real ?.

What i believe is before 3 months or applicable Kundigungsfrist( For people on Job ), they should go and register in arbeitsamt that they would be jobless /arbeitssuchende in 3 months time.

In your case , it would be 01.01.2011 onwards you would be arbeitssuchende. Ask arbeitsamt on when is the appropriate time to register for arbeitslosengeld for selbstandige.

The calculation of ALG1 would be as follows
calculating backwards from 31.12.201.
60% or 67%( Depends on Tax Classe) Average Monthly Netto income earned in last 12 months / 24 months would be paid out to you as ALG1 for 12 months.

@ISSUES,

In august there will be no income.

This is the buffer time i am considering for getting releived. some times you ask for one date for releiving but it might end up in another date.
in the above said case if i ask for 31st july2010 as last day but company ends up releiving in august 2010.



indram

Will you be contracting with the same company ?. or with a different company.

if it is the same company , Plan enough Kundigungszeit and then might be ask them to relive you according to your kundigungs period.
then you could let arbeitsamt know that you would be starting the freelancing activity from the following month onwards. You might be even eligible for grundungzuchuss.

eventually after 4 months of contracting , if the contract doesnt get extended you end up in ALG1 and thats okay at least.

so , i would suggest you to plan your next steps.

@issues,

No, its a different company. I have one month notice periods specified in my offer letter.

indram

Hallo

This is my idea... just ignore if i am deviating from the topic


Hope ur problem is that if u don't get extended after four months u will be in critical situation. So u like to be safer.

Y dont you start a company in your own country ( hope u r from India). and employee yourself in that company. So get the four month contract on your company´s name in home country. so u r just an employee. as an employee u r eligible to get all the benefits of ALG. Some times you will pay less tax in your home country which will is an advantage for you.

Hope the experienced guys will throw light on this.


Sudar

@Sudarg & Indram

My feeling : It is not worth the effort

1. For a 4 month Contract !
2. and as long as there is no long term agreement it is not worth the whole setup.

I would only suggest this approach if

1. Long term agreement / Contract with a very good hourly price
2. After a long trust is established - may be yes

Just consider the logistics involved

1. Setting up a company ( India or else where )- Costs involved
2. Setting up a partner branch here in Germany
3. Book keeping in both the countries
4. Transactions involved to have things properly done ( One needs a Proper organisational setup/Support for this kind of activity)
5. Tax Consultants in both the places
6. Annual Accounts declarations in both the places
7. Lastly a work contract for the one man show company

IS IT WORTH THE EFFORT ?.

A Simple freelancing contract would do , or ?.

Open for feedback/suggestions.

@indram : Any update ?.
@SSDKSSDK & @indram : feel free to contact me at kalingaz@yahoo.com

I am also in a situation like INDRAM. i have resigned from my current job keeping the Kündigungsfrist which I have for 4 week(This ends on 31.08). Now i will be getting a freelancing contract starting with a new company from 01.09. In this case, i am eligible for getting the gründungszuschuss with out any sperrzeit.? or am i getting 3 month sperrzeit? if i am getting the gründungszuschuss and losing my freelacing contract after 4 month period, can I apply for a Arbeitslosengeld or not? Or at a time only one support is given either Gründungszuschuss or Arbeitslosengeld?(it is just a curiosity question)

i will be freelancing for a small company which is giving engg services to Industries. in this scenario, what can i apply for with finanzamt as a freiberufler or selbständing. ?

Thank you so much