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Income tax – filing a tax return
Your employer deducts income tax directly from your wages with every monthly pay cheque. This part of income tax is therefore known as payroll tax.
Wages include, for example
- cash payments,
- payments in kind, such as board and lodging, and
- other benefits in kind, such as the private use of a company car.
It does not matter whether
- the income is a one-off or a regular payment, or
- whether you have a legal entitlement to them or
- under what name or in what form your employer pays you these benefits.
The amount of income tax is influenced in particular by
- your electronic income tax deduction details (ELStAM) and
- your tax bracket.
When calculating income tax , a number of flat-rate allowances are taken into account without you having to submit an application. These include, for example ,
- the basic allowance,
- the employee’s flat-rate allowance and
- the pension allowance.
In most cases, this concludes the income tax assessment process for you.
You may need to submit an income tax return after the turn of the year if you
- are required to submit an income tax return (mandatory assessment) or
- apply for an income tax assessment yourself (voluntary assessment).
Details
Prerequisite
- You are required to submit an income tax return
- you are applying for an income tax assessment, or
- you have been asked by your tax office to submit an income tax return.
Procedure
It is best to submit your income tax return to the tax office electronically. You have the option of submitting your tax return electronically with authentication. You authenticate yourself using the ELSTER certificate. This acts as an electronic signature and ensures
- confidentiality,
- identity of the sender and
- the integrity of the content
of the data sent.
To obtain a certificate, you must register on the ELSTER online portal. This involves several steps, such as submitting your registration details, receiving a confirmation email via the ELSTER online portal, and receiving the activation code by post. Please complete the registration in good time so that you can submit your tax return by the deadline.
Once you have registered on the ELSTER online portal, you can also take advantage of the pre-filled tax return. To this end, the tax authorities will provide you with, for example, the following data and supporting documents stored in your personal file:
- Income tax certificates submitted by your employer,
- notifications regarding the receipt of pension benefits,
- contributions to health and long-term care insurance, and
- pension contributions, such as Riester or Rürup schemes
If you have registered for the document retrieval service, you can automatically transfer this data into your income tax return.
Please note: You must submit your tax return electronically if you receive or have a share in the following types of income:
- Income from business operations,
- income from self-employment, or
- Income from agriculture and forestry
This applies regardless of the method used to calculate profits for the EÜR (cash basis accounting) annex, the balance sheet and the entire income tax return.
Paper forms are available from your tax office or online. Frequently used forms are also provided by town and local council offices.
You can post the fully completed and signed tax return to your tax office or hand it in there in person.
Please note: The tax office does not accept tax returns by email. You must sign your tax return by hand in order to submit it by the deadline.
Deadlines
- For compulsory income tax assessment for 2025: 31 July 2026
- For mandatory income tax assessments for 2026: 31 July 2027
You may submit an informal request to the relevant authority to have these deadlines extended.
If your income tax return is prepared by a tax adviser, a general extension applies, with the deadline for submission being 28/29 February of the second subsequent year.
- For income tax assessments based on an application for the 2022 tax year: 31 December 2026
- For tax assessments based on a return for the 2023 income tax year: 31 December 2027
- For income tax assessments based on a return for 2024: 31 December 2028
- For income tax assessments based on a claim for the 2025 tax year: 31 December 2029
The tax office cannot extend these deadlines.
Please note: If you submit your tax return electronically but without authentication, it will only be received by the tax office once you have submitted the so-called ‘condensed tax return’ signed by you. In this case, electronic submission alone is not sufficient.
Please bear this in mind, particularly in the case of an application for assessment. If you submit the ‘compressed tax return’ after the four-year deadline has expired, it will be too late.
Required documents
You do not need to submit any supporting documents. It is sufficient to keep them at home.
Costs
none
Miscellaneous
At the end of the year, your employer must issue you with an income tax certificate, either electronically or on paper. The same applies if your employment ends.
They will also submit the data contained therein electronically to the tax authorities.
Detailed information
- Informationen
- zum elektronischen Verfahren ELStAM finden Sie auf den Seiten der elektronischen Steuererklärung ELSTER.
- zu den Steuerklassen finden Sie im Kapitel "Steuerklassen".
- Beispiele zur Pflichtveranlagung finden Sie im Kapitel "Abgabe einer Jahressteuererklärung".
Legal basis
Einkommensteuergesetz (EStG)
Lohnsteuer-Durchführungsverordnung (LStDV)
Release note
machine generated, based on the German release by: Oberfinanzdirektion Karlsruhe als Vertreterin des Finanzministeriums Baden-Württemberg,24.09.2026