#for legal reasons this isn't official tax advice

[abschaumno1]

I'm a tax clerk and this is also true for Germany.

If you're an employee you usually don't have to file taxes because they consider it paid out of your salary but I recommend doing it anyways since the tax deduction from your salary doesn't factor in the 1k automatic deduction you get when you file or your social insurances so you will usually get a refund. (Exceptions apply when you have other sources of income, received unemployment benefits or Kurzarbeitergeld but you will usually be informed if it's either of the latter two).

Also keep your Nebenkostenabrechnung because costs for the chimney sweep or heating maintenance as well as other craftsmen or house cleaning and lawn maintenance are deductible. A lot of property management companies will even have a section telling you what amount you can deduct (it's per paragraph 35 EStG).

If you lose your tax ID the Bundeszentralamt für Steuern has a page where you can request it to be sent to you again here.

If you're not sure which tax office is responsible for you the BZSt also has a page for that here.

Elster is free and made by the German tax authorities. Plus you can request a code that allows you to download your tax information from the tax office to be automatically filled in so you just have to check everything and fill in what they're missing.

Use google maps to check how far your commute is. The tax office does the same. You can use either the shortest distance or the quickest route (even if it's longer). There's 20 work days in a month if you work 5 days a week, so you can declare a maximum of 240 days of commuting. If you declare more they usually ask why and you'll have to explain.

As an employee who doesn't have to declare you have three years to file after all (so for 2021 that means you have until 31 December 2024).

Once you receive your assessment it's worth comparing it to the calculation you got from Elster. If it's different there's usually an explanation at the back right after the long calculation. If there is not or you can prove there is something wrong that would lead to a better result for you take the date at the top right of the page, add three days and from there you have one month to ask them to correct it (so if the date is 11 April 2022 one month from the 14th, which gives you until the 14th of May, if that's on a weekend or a public holiday it's the next work day). For most things you can just call them. You'll be asked for your tax number. Be nice but most tax offices I've dealt with won't bite. Sometimes it's just a calculating error or they have wrong data (in that case you'll be asked to send proof). If they need anything in writing they will tell you. They have to correct your assessment if there's an error and the correction leads to a better result for you.

You also don't have to hand in any receipts anymore. If the tax office needs something they will send you a letter asking for it. They will set a deadline but if you have a good reason for why you can't hand it in by then you can call them and ask for an extension. They should try to work with you, if only because it's less of a hassle to just put it aside a bit longer and wait.

For people with anxiety about filing taxes, here’s what things that happen when you make a mistake on your tax return:

- it gets corrected

- you get a letter in the mail either asking for some additional information or a letter showing the adjustment

- you pay the amount (there’s options for payment plans too!) or get a refund

Things that do not happen

- you’re “in trouble”

- you are charged with fraud

- you go to jail

I know that most people are probably just joking/exaggerating when they say a mistake on their return means they get thrown in jail but when I worked with the public I always would encounter people who believed that would happen and they would be panicking about it. So I like to put this out there every year because if I can even prevent one person from feeling that way, it’s worth it