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Here is some basic information on how to complete your tax report.
Most of the info was kindly provided by Steve Boudreault
(status June 2009).
But there is also updated information.
The main point is that you pay tax for your accumulated income for
a fiscal year Jan 01 - Dec 31.
The tax that is subtracted each month assumes that you have the same salary
every month.
Thus, if your monthly income changes over the year, you should do the tax report.
Your will get back some tax in two cases that may be typical for PhD students:
(i) you start your PhD mid of the year (and thus have had NO salary before),
(ii) you end your PhD mid of the year and have a much higher salary later.
In both cases your yearly income is less than your monthly income x12.
In addition, you may always claims costs that you had in order to perform your job
(kind of investment, "Werbungskosten"),
e.g. a laptop, daily travel to work, a conference that is not payed by the employer.
However, you must have had costs above a blanket allowance ("Pauschbetrag") of
about 1.000 Euros, and that is somehow difficult to reach.
Here is a pdf
that provides the translations of the text in the German
tax form - line by line.
Then,
here is a pdf
in German that provides a list of things you need to collect before you
fill the tax form.
The links to the tax forms are given below for the year 2008. Thus the link
has a "..._08.pdf".
For other years, 20xx, change to "..._xx.pdf",
e.g. for 2019, change to "..._19.pdf".
Steve has collected the following information:
Tax refund only applies to PhD students with a work contract.
You might have the impression that this look like a "cooking recipe", and that
there are things that you don't need to do (for instance, to give the
"Lohnsteuerbescheinigung"), but this is how I did it and it always worked out.
I will first start with 2 frequently asked questions :
Can I get some money back ?
Example : I started my contract on 1st of July, so I was paid for 6
months. The trick is the following : there is a threshold (10000 +/-
2000 euros, I don't know) in a fiscal year in which if your income is
lower then that, then *all* taxes you have paid are given back to
you. In my case, I got all my money back for the fiscal year 2005, but
not for 2006 and 2007. Of course, that sucks for people starting their
contract on January, but that's the way it is.
Should I *really* do the tax report ?
As you can see, for 2 questions, there is a lot of "case-by-case"
details (and legal stuff) so to put everything together for a webpage
is quite challenging for me alone.
Therefore, if YOU can bring more informations, please do so.
The tax reports have to be submitted to (you may also put it
into their mailbox directly):
Finanzamt Heidelberg
You should have the following documents for the year 20xx:
- a covering letter
As I pointed out above, some could argue that some documents are not
needed, and some could need other documents (e.g., if you have
child?), but then just add the informations here on the WiKi. Also, if
someone sees a mistake in this "to do list" please make the
modification.
At the end, I will give you some information on what happen with your
contribution to retirement and social security. This will also depend
on where you come from. Therefore, I wrote the relevant
information for Canadians and *YOU* could add information on the
country where *YOU* come from.
Have fun !!!
======== THE TAX REPORT =======================
(1) a covering letter
There is no need to do this, but I think it is normal (and polite) to
give a cover letter when you send forms. I wrote the covering letter in English.
(2) the form "ESt 1 A 200X" (the tax report itself)
Now the fun starts. If you like to get the "ESt 1 A 2008" form, do
" https://www.formulare-bfinv.de/printout/034037_08.pdf"
The web page may change from year to year. Then, you just need to look
for the Einkommensteuererklaerung 2008 (or 2009 next year).
PAGE 1
- item 1 : put an "X" in "Einkommensteuererklaerung".
PAGE 2 [this will depend on what you put in the tax report]
- put the "Steuernummer" in the top (if you have already done a tax report)
PAGE 3 [again, this will depend on what you put in the tax report]
- put the "Steuernummer" in the top (if you have already done a tax report)
PAGE 4
- put the "Steuernummer" in the top (if you have already done a tax report)
That's it. It always worked fine for me and and also for other people, hopefully
it should work fine for you as well.
(3) "Anlage N 2008" (things you needed to pay for your work)
Go get the "Anlage N 2008" form :
As for the form the form "ESt 1 A 2008", the web page may change from
year to year. Then you just need to look for
Einkommensteuererklaerung 2008 (or 2009 next year).
As far as I understood, this form is to reimburse the money your paid for
your work (e.g., fuel for the car, sommester ticket, etc.). I was
inform that someone also put down a new laptop they bought. Of
course, if your buy a laptop for work, and they find out that it's
filled with games, movies, porn, and music, then it's your
problem. You will not get all this money back, but it will lower your
"threshold" I was talking about in <
PAGE 1
- item 1 and 2 : your name
PAGE 2 [here you put the money you needed to spend in order to be able to work]
- put the "Steuernummer" in the top (if you have already done a tax report) and your name
PAGE 3 [I don't know all the details for this page. Please double check with an Germany speaker.]
- put the "Steuernummer" in the top (if you have already done a tax report) and your name
(4) "Lohnsteuerbescheinigung fuer 2008"
As pointed above, some could argue that the "Lohnsteuerbescheinigung"
is not needed here. However, I always submit a copy and it always worked
fine for me.
(5) "any receipts relevant for Anlage N 2008"
Here I added the receipts relevant for the tax report (for me,
university registration receipt and "semester karte" receipt). Again,
some people informed me that it is not needed. I just decided to send
it, so then they have everything.
======== CONTRIBUTION TO RETIREMENT ==============
INFORMATION FOR GERMANS
INFORMATION FOR CANADIANS |