Taxation

In Germany a tax has to be paid for the income. The amount of such taxes depends on the amount of income earned and on the tax class. The tax class results from the general conditions of life. For example, a single person without children has to pay a higher percentage of his income than a single parent. The income tax is just like the contributions to the health-, long-term care-, unemployment- and retirement pension insurances automatically deducted from the salary before it transferred to the bank account of the employee.

Many persons have to hand in a tax declaration. In this tax declaration the financial situation is exposed to the fiscal authorities whereupon the tax rate is determined. In general, all persons that annually earn more than a certain amount have to hand in a tax declaration (as example for the year 2020 - 9408 € for singles and 18 816 € for married couples). This tax declaration can either conducted in written form or digitally vie the Elster (ELektronische STeuer Erklärung= electronic tax declaration) program. It has to be turned in by the 31^st of July of the following year.

In the tax declaration the personal tax identification number must be stated. This tax identification number is automatically generated by the fiscal authorities when you register your new place of residence at the local citizen registration office. The personal tax identification number is unchangeable and is valid from the point of registration up to 20 years after death. It is assigned to you automatically by the fiscal authorities and will be send to you by mail within three months after registering at the local citizen registration office.