What does it mean to claim something on my tax return?

After the start of the new year, the annual wage tax assessments (Lohnsteuerjahresbescheid) are slowly but surely coming in. This contains information on wages, church tax, wage tax, and many other items for which either the employer or the employee himself has posted expenses or income.

Important forms should always be filed. The same goes for the income tax certificate (Lohnsteuerbescheinigungen). It will also help you to prepare your income tax return (Steuererklärung). It is the only way to get hundreds of euros back from the state.

In this context, one often speaks of “von der Steuer absetzen”. But what exactly is that? How does it work and can anyone get money back from the state by filing a tax return? We have looked at the phrase and have the answers.

Don’t be afraid of “deducting taxes”

Not everyone can explain what the “tax deduction” is all about. But don’t fret! There’s nothing to hide as the tax official examines the income tax return. They add all expenses together and deducts them from the income. The difference must be taxed. With deductible items, however, the amount can be influenced in favour of the taxpayer.

Items that can be deducted from tax

Many expenses incurred within a calendar year can be claimed in the tax return. These can be divided into several categories.

The three most relevant deductible categories are

• Business expenses (Werbungskosten): these are expenses incurred in the course of a professional activity, such as travel expenses, application costs, further training, etc.
• Special expenses (Sonderausgaben): private costs can also be claimed for tax purposes; e.g. school fees, donations or insurance contributions.
• Exceptional charges (Außergewöhnliche Belastungen): Medical costs, nursing home costs, maintenance payments, etc. all fall into this category.

Create your tax return with germantaxes.de

Our tax tool, specially tailored to the needs of employees, navigates easily and safely through the tax return. The aim is for employees to save time at germantaxes.de and get as much money back from the state as possible.

While you enter your data into our easy-to-understand templates, our tax calculator shows you how much tax you will get refunded at all times. In this way, you can efficiently make more net from gross.

Further advantages are

• No complicated tax forms
• Data is automatically inserted into the form
• Best suited for those who have little time and are hardly familiar with the topic
• Consideration of all costs and lump sums (Pauschalen), which result from occupational reasons
• germantaxes.de is recognized by all German tax offices