Are you married?

The marital status has an impact on tax assessment and thus on the tax calculation. If you are not married, your income will be taxed according to the basic rate; if you are married, however, income tax will be calculated according to the significantly more favourable splitting rate.

Gross annual wage

Please enter your gross annual salary including Christmas and holiday pay and any bonuses you may have paid.

Travel allowance

The commuting allowance in German income tax law takes into account the costs for journeys between your home and primary workplace. It is a flat rate of 0,30 Euro per kilometre of one-way distance per working day.

Bereits ab einer einfachen Wegstrecke von 18 Kilometern und 230 Arbeitstagen im Jahr wird die allgemeine Werbungskostenpauschale von 1.230 Euro überschritten. Die Entfernungspauschale kann damit zu einer spürbaren Steuerminderung führen.

Note: From the 21st kilometre, the allowance increases to 0,38 Euro per kilometre (section 9 (1) no. 4 EStG).

Church tax liability

If you are a member of a religious community (e. g. Roman Catholic Church, Protestant regional churches, free religious communities, etc.), you must pay church tax.

The amount of church tax depends on your place of residence. If you live in Bavaria or Baden-Wuerttemberg, you pay 8 percent of income tax or wage tax, and 9 percent in the other federal states.

Federal state

Please indicate the federal state in which you live and file your income tax return.

The income tax rate is the same in all federal states, but there are differences, for example, in church tax.

Number of children

Please indicate the number of children in your household for whom you are entitled to child benefit or child allowances.

You are entitled to child benefit for your biological and adopted children. For foster children, you can apply for child benefit if they live in your family and have a long-term relationship with your family and if they are supervised, cared for and educated by you.

If your child is already of legal age, he or she can only be included in your tax return under certain conditions, e. g. if he or she is unemployed (up to 21 years of age) or in vocational training (up to 25 years of age).

Disabled children may also be considered beyond the age of 25 years if the disability occurs before the age of 25.

Childcare costs

Childcare costs can be claimed as special expenses if they are solely for the care of the child. These include, among others:

• Care in kindergarten, day-care centre or after-school care
• Care by childminder
• Babysitters, child carers or educators in the household
• Au pairs and domestic helpers, insofar as they look after children
• Travel expenses for the carer
• Free board and lodging, if no wages are paid

The condition is that the child has not yet reached the age of 14 and the childcare costs were paid in a non-cash form. In addition, invoices or contracts must be available that clearly show the childcare.

Childcare costs of up to 6.000 Euro per year can be claimed per child. Of this amount, the tax office will recognise 80 per cent, i.e. a maximum of 4.800 Euro, as special expenses from the 2025 tax year.

Non-deductible costs particularly include meal expenses and costs for tutoring, music, sports, or leisure activities.

Household services

Tax-deductible services include, for example

• Cleaning the flat, windows, staircase and other common rooms,
• Garden maintenance (e. g. lawn mowing, hedge trimming),
• Removal services by private individuals (less reimbursements by third parties).

Income tax is reduced by 20 percent of expenses (maximum 4.000 Euros).

Craftsmen's services

Within the scope of the craftsman's services, all expenses for renovation, maintenance and modernisation measures for the apartment used for one's own purposes (apartment, house, rented apartment) are subsidised. These include e. g.

• Work on interior and exterior walls, roof or facade
• Painting, repairs to doors, windows, wall cabinets, fitted kitchens, radiators and heating pipes,
• Work on floor coverings (e. g. carpet, parquet, tiles),
• Refurbishment of the bathroom,
• Repairs to washing machine, dishwasher, stove, TV etc.
• Garden design activities, pavement work
• Inspection work (e. g. chimney sweeping, lightning protection, fire extinguishers and detectors).

Reduction in income tax by 20% of expenses, up to a maximum of 1,200 Euros.

Donations

In the tax return you can declare donations and membership fees for

• Church or social organizations
• Political parties
• Independent electoral associations and
• Foundations

Membership fees for sports, homeland, animal breeding, singing clubs etc. are not tax-deductible.