The process in itself is no more or less difficult than completing a tax return in most other developed countries which have complex but well defined tax codes. For employees who do not have any income from other sources such as self-employment or capital gains beyond a certain threshold, the simple answer to the question is that NO, it is not mandatory. Tax office (Finanzamt) has given a free allowance on tax card, Married couples when both of them employed and have opted for tax classes 3 and 5 in the tax cards.

For example, income-related expenses (Werbungskosten), special expenses (Sonderausgaben) or exceptional expenses (außergewöhnliche Belastungen) – you can find more information on this below. e.g. However, with that said, it does depend on the complexity of your own tax situation. An important part of learning how to file taxes is to start the tax-filing process early through the year. Once you start earning money in a full time or a part-time job and you earn more than € 450.00 per month, you must pay taxes which are deducted directly from your salary. So in Current Year 2020, it is possible to apply tax return … In 2019, this was € 9,168.00 for singles and € 18,336.00 for married or registered partners. There are many more avenues which are mostly applicable for consultants and other working class, but for practically purposes not listed here. This will tell you how much you owe or how much your rebate will be. For simple, straightforward tax returns, it may not be that much cheaper than what you would pay a tax advisor for his time.

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. You‘ll need to speak German or take someone along with you who can. So in Current Year 2020, it is possible to apply tax return of year 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. and hence eligible for deduction (, You have changed your tax class during the year because you got married. you do not have property holdings or different sources of income, are a freelancer or self-employed, you can easily do your tax return yourself and save money. However, another, less costly and time-consuming option is to use online services. The more conditions you satisfy, the more are the chances of getting refund. Elterngeld, Mutterschaftsgeld etc. ("Bescheinigung für der lohnsteuerabzug" has these details), (If you have filed your German tax return previous year, you can find it on your Assessment order (. Maintenance payments to needy persons (Unterhaltsleistungen an bedürftige Personen), Money support provided to parents/parents-in-laws/grandparents/spouse/children in India who need support. If the tax return is not filed on time, there will be late filing penalties. The time taken from submission to receipt of your statement is highly dependent upon which Finanzamt is processing it. ), Flight tickets and Boarding passes for which you have paid, German Rent agreement / Rent receipts / Bank statement showing payment of rent. Some individuals may feel more comfortable reaching out to a Steuerberater for the first time they complete a return, whereas others my feel confident enough to go it alone first time around. To do this, you can either download all the necessary tax return documents and fill them in yourself, or you can hire a tax consultant.