ECB daily reference rate
Day-specific conversion using published euro reference rates from the European Central Bank where a reference rate is available for the currency and date.
Practical guide · foreign currency & German tax records
Convert foreign income to EUR for German tax documentation
Living in Germany while receiving income from abroad? Whether you are an international professional, a returning resident or someone with foreign investments, documenting each foreign-currency receipt in EUR can be time-consuming. Foreign Income FX helps you organise the original amount, date, rate method, source and EUR result.
Who it helps
Foreign income, German tax records: a familiar expat problem
You may live and file taxes in Germany but still receive foreign-currency payments: salary or freelance income from abroad, investment distributions, rental receipts or other cross-border inflows. Different income categories can have different tax rules. Foreign Income FX does not classify the income or calculate tax due; it helps you keep the currency-conversion documentation organised.
If you have only one amount, a calculator may be enough. If you have dozens of receipts across several dates and currencies, keeping the rate, source and EUR calculation next to each payment becomes more useful.
Looking for the right exchange rate? Read our dedicated English guide to exchange rates for German tax returns before selecting a method.
Several foreign-currency receipts? Start with Free.
Download Free →Document up to five receipts, keep rate sources and export CSV — locally, with no account.
Exchange-rate method
Which exchange rate should you use?
The appropriate exchange-rate method depends on the specific tax situation. A documentation tool should therefore not pretend that one rate method is automatically correct for every type of foreign income.
BMF monthly rate
Monthly VAT conversion rates published by Germany's Federal Ministry of Finance. Whether a BMF monthly rate is appropriate for a specific income-tax case should be assessed separately.
Documented manual rate
If another rate is used, Foreign Income FX lets you document that rate and its source instead of losing the basis for the conversion.
Important: Foreign Income FX is a conversion and documentation tool. It does not provide tax or legal advice and does not determine which method is legally required in an individual case.
Date instead of annual totals
Why the receipt date matters
German income-tax records can depend on when income is received. For foreign-currency amounts, that individual date can also provide the time reference for the exchange rate you choose to document.
A single annual conversion can hide this information. Foreign Income FX therefore stores each inflow with its own receipt date and keeps the selected exchange-rate method with the entry.
Example
Documenting several USD payments
Suppose you receive several payments in US dollars during the year. Rather than storing one annual USD total, each inflow can be recorded separately so the conversion remains traceable.
Example documented entry
Receipt date15 Mar 2025
Original amount1,250 USD
Rate methodECB
EUR valuedocumented
For larger sets such as 20, 50 or 200 inflows, the Pro version removes the five-inflow limit and adds XLSX, print/PDF and local project backup/restore. This is where structured documentation becomes much more useful than repeated manual calculations.
Traceability
What should an FX record contain?
For each entry, you should be able to trace at least the receipt date, original foreign-currency amount, currency, exchange rate, rate method or source and resulting EUR value.
Foreign Income FX combines these steps
You can enter inflows manually or import them by CSV. The tool supports ECB daily rates, BMF monthly rates and documented manual rates. You can then export a structured EUR overview. Your entries and calculations are processed locally in your browser; exchange-rate lookups may contact the rate service. Financial entries are not uploaded to our server as part of the normal conversion workflow.
Official references
Where do the exchange rates come from?
ECB reference rates are published by the European Central Bank. German monthly VAT conversion rates are published by the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF). Which method is suitable depends on your circumstances; see our exchange-rate explainer for the distinction.
Use the records to support your own review or to share a documented calculation with your tax adviser. The software does not certify a tax return or guarantee that a particular rate is accepted.
Free & Pro
Start small. Use Pro for larger records.
Both versions use the same local-first FX workflow. Free is for testing the workflow with a small set of entries; Pro is the full version for ongoing use.
Free · €0
Up to 5 inflows. ECB daily rates, BMF monthly rates, documented manual rates, CSV import and CSV export.
Pro · €19.90 one-time
Unlimited inflows plus XLSX export, print/PDF and local JSON project backup/restore. No subscription. Currently available only with a billing address in Germany.
Secure Stripe checkout · one-time payment · German billing address required.
Same core purpose: conversion and documentation of foreign-currency inflows for German tax records. Neither version provides individual tax or legal advice.
Not sure which version you need?
Start with Free for up to five inflows. If your records are larger, Pro removes the inflow limit and adds the extended export and backup functions.