Best Broker for Expats Leaving Germany — 2026 Guide

You have planned the move, the boxes are packed — and three weeks after deregistering, an email arrives from your broker: "We are terminating the business relationship." No joke. It happens constantly, and we have seen it for over 11 years with our customers.

Most German brokers are simply not built to serve clients without a German residence. The moment you deregister and become a non-resident for tax purposes, you turn into a compliance problem — and many brokers, especially the neobrokers, solve that with a cancellation. This guide covers which brokers actually keep expats, when you need to act, what exit taxation puts at stake, and how to transfer a portfolio cleanly.

Based on our experience from over 40,000 supported deregistrations since 2014.

Why your broker drops you after deregistration

German brokers are regulated for clients with a German address. There are concrete reasons:

• Regulation. German brokers operate under BaFin supervision. Foreign clients trigger different regulatory requirements that many providers will not take on.
• Tax reporting. While you live in Germany, your broker withholds capital-gains tax automatically. For non-residents the reporting gets complicated and depends on the double-taxation treaty with your destination.
• Compliance cost. For a neobroker running on thin margins, building extra compliance processes for a handful of foreign clients simply does not pay.

The result: once you report your change of residence, you get a notice period — often 30 to 90 days — to sell or transfer your securities. Under time pressure, mid-move, unprepared. That costs money and sometimes real returns.

"The most common cause of financial problems on emigration is not a lack of money but a lack of planning." — Oliver Frankfurth

Brokers that work for an EU move

If you stay inside the EU — Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands — you have the best odds. Several brokers are internationally set up and accept EU residences without trouble.

Brokers that cancel even on an EU move — plan around them: Trade Republic, Scalable Capital, ING, DKB, Smartbroker, Flatex, Consorsbank. Most accept German residents only.

A warning for Cyprus, Ireland and Malta: even with written confirmation that your account continues, many customers report a cancellation in the following quarter, because the compliance check often runs only after the address change. Get promises in writing — and plan for the worst anyway.

Brokers that work worldwide (non-EU move)

Switzerland, the USA, UK, Canada, Thailand, Dubai, Singapore, Paraguay — once you leave the EU the field narrows sharply. Most German brokers cancel a non-EU move without discussion.

Our recommendation: CapTrader (ad) is a German-speaking reseller of Interactive Brokers (ad). You get a professional platform with support — and the decisive advantage: if you later move from the EU onward to a non-EU country, you can keep the account. No second switch.

Exit taxation: the one that bites company shareholders

Most expats with a plain ETF or stock portfolio do not trigger exit tax. But if you hold 1% or more of a corporation (GmbH, AG, or a comparable foreign company), Germany applies exit taxation under § 6 AStG (Außensteuergesetz): on the day you give up German tax residency, the law treats your shares as if you had sold them, and taxes the unrealised gain — even though no money changed hands.

This is not a do-it-yourself topic. We cannot recommend specific tax advisors — that requires its own licence and liability — but if you hold a significant stake, speak to a tax advisor specialising in cross-border cases before you deregister. The exit-tax point is timing-sensitive and expensive to get wrong. Our broader tax obligations after leaving Germany guide covers the wider picture.

Transfer or sell? And the timing

Two clean options before you go:

• Transfer the portfolio in kind to an expat-friendly broker (e.g. CapTrader/Interactive Brokers). This keeps your positions and their purchase dates intact — no forced sale, no realised gains purely because of the move.
• Sell and rebuild later only if a transfer is impossible. This realises gains and the tax that comes with them, so it is the weaker option for most people.

The rule is the same as for bank accounts: act before deregistration. Open the new account while you still have a German address, start the transfer early (in-kind transfers can take weeks), and confirm everything has arrived before you cancel the old depot.

Frequently asked questions

Related: Best bank account for expats · Tax obligations after leaving Germany · Leaving Germany checklist