The German Hub is an office community between eight German organizations in the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District. In this series, we want to introduce the organizations and their valuable services to our transatlantic community.
Interview with Jörg Kemkes
Tax System in Germany and more – made easy!
What do companies need to know before venturing into Germany? What are payroll, HR and tax regulations like? Joerg Kemkes, Partner at the German CPA firm Rueter und Partner is part of our German Hub office community and has all the answers to your questions. In this interview, he explains more about the decision to open up a presence in the Bay Area and why his expertise is so valuable to our transatlantic community.
GACC West: What exactly does Rueter und Partner do?
Joerg Kemkes: Rueter und Partner is a full-service German CPA firm, supporting their clients with payroll, HR services, accounting, tax structuring, tax compliance and much more, since 1983.
What prompted the decision to open up an office in the Bay Area? What is the advantage of having a presence here?
Joerg Kemkes: Over the years, the Bay Area, with a special focus on San Francisco and Silicon Valley has become home to our strongest and most important client base. In order to be closer to our clients and render our expertise in the same time zone, we decided to open up a physical presence here. At the same time, this has helped us to raise awareness about our services to more companies and address their needs better when they consider an expansion into Germany.
Which USP does Rueter und Partner provide to the transatlantic community? What do you think has been your impact over the last 7 years?
Joerg Kemkes: First and foremost, we are the only German CPA firm on the ground, at least in the Western part of the US, whose focus is to help with German payroll, HR services, accounting and tax advice, according to my knowledge. Supporting U.S. companies in Germany either with their expansion plans or ongoing operations, while helping them to grow in Germany, is our main focus.
What makes our services stand out is that we don’t only provide first-hand, decade-long expertise in the German payroll and tax system but we also have developed a deep understanding of the American market and the individual needs of our clients.
Being located in the Bay Area for almost 10 years now has helped us to know exactly where our clients are coming from and what their biggest pain points are when venturing into Germany, despite varying in size and industries. Because of our long and thorough experience we are able to make sure that an expansion into Germany or the support of ongoing operations are seamless and smooth, in a way that our clients can focus on what is important to them, growing their business, but not being challenged with administrative burdens.
Joerg Kemkes provides over 25 years of tax consultancy in the areas of international tax, transfer pricing, real estate taxation and tax compliance. He has been a Partner with Rueter und Partner for more than 22 years as a Steuerberater and is an expert in German-related international tax matters. Joerg Kemkes’ success includes representing companies in matters ranging from full tax advisory services, payroll and accounting support up to representation before the German tax authorities. Joerg Kemkes is also a founding member and the Managing Director of Rueter Partner Steuerberatungsgesellschaft mbH.
In January 2014 Rueter Partner Steuerberatungsgesellschaft mbH expanded their U.S. operations by opening a permanent office in San Francisco.
What trends do you see in the German tax system?
Joerg Kemkes: That is difficult to say at the moment because a federal election is coming up in September and in case there will be a change of government, this could impact the tax system. The COVID crisis has been expensive of course, but Germany has the resources to weather this quite well.
Since a worldwide minimum tax is most likely going to be implemented, Germany will become more attractive, because extremely tax-friendly countries like Ireland or the Netherlands might lose their appeal.
Structures that are expensive to entertain might become obsolete and the companies will be more focused on where their customers are and where they can attract talent.
Why did you decide to join the German Hub? What is your personal value of this office community?
Joerg Kemkes: We are proud that our offices are in the German Hub because very often clients have questions or issues, which are outside of our area of expertise and due to the close and excellent collaboration with the other agencies there, we can offer a solution for most issues. In addition, it is a very collaborative atmosphere, living diversity and tolerance, and always happy to support each other with great team spirit and a customer-centric mindset.
And what does the future hold for Rueter und Partner?
After the end of the pandemic, we will of course once again strengthen our visibility through events and speaking engagements, also together with the other members of the German Hub.
Thank you for the interview, Joerg. We’re looking forward to hosting events again with you and the rest of your team at Rueter und Partner, bringing together our transatlantic community.
If you are thinking about venturing to Germany and would like to get some advice, don’t hesitate to contact Joerg and his team.
