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Income Tax Statements: All You Need to Know!

Income tax statements are generally issued at the end of each year and include information about your salary, tax deductions, and social security contributions. You receive these from your employer at the end of February of the following year at the absolute latest. In this article, you'll learn more about what these statements include and why they are necessary.


AT A GLANCE

  • Employees and civil servants receive an income tax statement once a year.
  • This statement contains important tax information about your annual salary and your paid wage tax.
  • Employers transmit the income tax statement to the relevant tax office.
  • You will receive your income tax statement either in print or digitally.
  • You will receive your income tax statement for the previous year by the end of February at the latest.

What is an income tax statement?

As an employee or civil servant, you receive a monthly pay slip (Gehaltsabrechnung) containing information about your salary, wage tax (Lohnsteuer), solidarity surcharges (Solidaritätszuschlag), church tax (Kirchensteuer), and social security contributions. This information is summed up in an income tax statement (Lohnsteuerbescheinigung) once per calendar year.

When will I receive my income tax statement?

Your employer is required to transmit your electronic income tax statement to your local tax office by the end of February following a given calendar year at the absolute latest. In addition, you must be provided with a digital or print out version of your income tax statement.

If your employment is terminated within the calendar year, you will receive your income tax statement earlier and if you were employed by multiple companies throughout the year, you will receive multiple income tax statements.

Note: If you employ someone within the scope of a minijob (geringfügige Beschäftigung) in your private household, you can submit to the tax office instead of the electronic income tax statement a paper certificate according to the officially prescribed pattern.

What do I need an income tax statement for?

Your income tax statement is an important document that provides information on how much income tax you’ve actually paid in the last calendar year, it is also the basis of your income tax return. It is evidence of the actual withholding of income tax, not of the income tax withholding as it should have been. As your employer provides the tax authorities with your electronic income tax statement data (referred to as eDaten), you no longer have to enter it in Form N of your tax return - unless you suspect the data either was not transmitted or is incorrect.

You can also use the income tax statement as proof of earnings when applying for parental benefits (Elterngeld) or for your child’s BAFöG-Antrag.

Can I find my tax number on my income tax statement?

No. You can, however, find your tax number (Steuernummer) on your last tax assessment notice (Steuerbescheid). If you haven’t yet received your own tax number, it’ll come with your first tax assessment notice.

You can find your tax identification number (Steuer-ID) in the left column of your income tax statement, as it must be used by your employer to transfer your income tax statement to the tax office electronically. Tax-IDs have been issued to all German residents from the Federal Central Tax Office (Bundeszentralamt für Steuern) since 2008. Even newborn babies receive their Tax-ID per mail shortly after birth. Tax-IDs are valid for life and serve to simplify communication for all tax matters.

In this article, you can find out all you need to know about tax-IDs and tax numbers.

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Your 2023 income tax statement

This is what the 2023 income tax statement looks like

Here you can download the 2023 income tax statement as a PDF.

In the left column of the statement you will find:

Next to your employer’s address and tax number, you will find your wage tax deduction details (Elektronische Lohnsteuerabzugsmerkmale), ELStAM for short. These details are stored at the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) and determine the tax amount that is deducted from your income. In 2013, ELStAM replaced paper income tax statements which lead to the name “electronic income tax statement.” The details listed include your:

  • Name, address, and birthday
  • Tax ID (Steuer-Identifikationsnummer)
  • eTIN (only up to and including the 2022 income tax statement)
  • Personnel number
  • Tax class
  • Number of child allowances
  • Church tax details
  • Yearly tax-free allowance (if you applied for allowances for your wage tax deductions)
  • Yearly additional income (e.g. if you have several low-paying jobs at the same time)

In the right column you will find more information, including:

  • Duration of employment
  • Periods without wages (e.g. parental leave, unpaid leave for at least 5 consecutive working days)
  • Taxable gross wages (including taxable benefits in kind)
  • Withheld wage tax, church tax, solidarity surcharges
  • Contributions to statutory pension insurance and professional pension schemes (berufsständische Versorgungseinrichtung)
  • Benefits related to pensions (e.g. retirement pension (Ruhegehalt) or widow’s/widower’s allowances)
  • Contributions to statutory or private health insurance (Krankenversicherung)
  • Contributions to nursing care insurance (Pflegeversicherung)
  • Contributions to unemployment insurance (Arbeitslosenversicherung)
  • Wage replaceement benefits, e.g. (Seasonal) short-term work benefits (Kurzarbeitergeld), maternity benefits (Mutterschaftsgeld), compensation for loss of earnings in accordance with the Infection Protection Act, tax-free top-up amounts, supplements for partial retirement, and tax-free supplements that your employer has provided on top of short-term work benefits
  • Tax-free employer benefits (e.g. tax-free allowances for travel expenses or relocation costs in the case of a second household)
  • Severance packages (Abfindungen) or bonuses for several years of service – whether they are taxed at once or according to the One-Fifth Method (Fünftelregelung)

Tax Tip: As part of your tax return, the tax office automatically checks whether the five-percent rule for your severance pay is the more tax-efficient option for you (Günstigerprüfung).

What do the capital letters under number 2 mean?

  • Capital letter F: Tax-free transportation to your first workplace
  • Capital letter S: Your employer has calculated the wage tax on a miscellaneous payment (e.g. a Christmas bonus) and hasn’t included the wages from previous employments in the same calendar year
  • Capital letter M: If you were provided with meals while working away from home/in a second household, these meals are assessed as benefits in kind
  • Capital letters FR: If you are a cross-border commuter who lives in France but works in Germany (e.g. FR2 for employers based in Rhineland-Palatinate)

Certain information on your income tax statement indicates whether you are required to file a tax return. For example: if the capital letter S has been entered, if you received a severance package (Abfindung) taxed according to the one-fifth method, or if you and your spouse have chosen tax classes 3 and 5.

Entries under number 15 of your income tax statement also lead to a mandatory tax return: Wage replacement benefits (Lohnersatzleistungen) such as short-term work benefits (Kurzarbeit), short-term work benefit supplements, unemployment benefits I (ALG I), maternity benefits (Mutterschaftsgeld), and parental benefits (Elterngeld) are listed here. These benefits are subject to the so-called Progressionsvorbehalt.

You can find more information on mandatory tax assessment here.

What to do in case of incorrect data in your income tax statement?

If your income tax statement contains incorrect information, a distinction must first be made:

Incorrect data record with correct wage tax deduction

If the wage tax deduction was correct and only a typo has crept into your income tax statement, then your employer is obligated to correct it according to Section 93c (3) of the Fiscal Code. They must transmit a corrected income tax statement to both you and the tax office, labeling it as “Correction.”

Incorrect wage tax deduction

Your employer is responsible for the correct wage tax deduction (Lohnsteuerabzug) and for the accurate certification and transmission of your wage data to the tax authorities. If they have made errors in the wage tax deduction, they are generally not allowed to retroactively correct the wage tax deduction after submitting the income tax statement. (Exception: In cases of employee fraud, the employer may claim a reduction in the withheld wage tax (resulting from that fraud) by submitting a corrected wage tax declaration (Lohnsteuer-Anmeldung) to the tax office.)

If employers have withheld too little wage tax, they must report this to the local tax office (§ 41c paragraph 4 EStG). This is called a “liability-exempt notification” and exempts them from being liable for the missing wage tax. The tax office then retrieves the missing wage tax from the employee - either as part of your tax return process or (if you do not submit a tax return) through an wage tax demand notice (Lohnsteuer-Nachforderungsbescheid).

If your employer has withheld too much wage tax, you can only reclaim the money through a tax return!

If the wage tax deduction was incorrect, you are not entitled to have the income tax statement corrected. Because it serves as evidence of the actual wage tax deduction, not the correct wage tax deduction. However, this is not an issue because the income tax statement is not legally binding. Only the tax assessment notice is legally binding.

Please note

In case of errors in the income tax statement or in the wage tax deduction, tax assessments can still be amended or revoked. However, we recommend that you always check your income tax statement and your e-data in your tax return!

Should I hang on to my income tax statements?

We recommend that you keep your income tax statements up until you retire. If your pension calculation happens to contain errors, your income tax statements prove the dates and amount of your wages – this is especially useful if you don’t have social security reports for your entire career. It is best to store all of these documents together along with your tax assessment notice of each calendar year.

Lost your income tax statement?

Employers are required by law to keep their employees' income tax statements for at least 10 years. If you lost or misplaced your income tax statement, simply request another print out from your employer or former employer. Alternatively, you can request it from your local tax office.

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