German tax returns: when filing is compulsory — and the deadlines

Last checked against the official sources: 29 August 2026

The rule most employees have never been told runs the opposite way to the folklore: where your income consists wholly or partly of employment income already subject to withholding, as a rule no annual assessment is carried out at all. § 46 does not impose a return; it lists the cases in which an assessment happens — and outside them there is no duty. The most valuable item in that list is number 8: you may apply for the assessment yourself — the route that refunds over-withheld wage tax.

The rule runs the other way — and that changes everything

The wording of § 46(2) is decisive: where income consists wholly or partly of employment income from which tax has been withheld, “an assessment is carried out only…“. The legislator treats wage-tax withholding as sufficient and final, and the file is reopened only for one of the listed reasons.

The practical consequence: an employee with a single income and nothing else is under no duty to file. The idea that an annual return is compulsory for everyone is simply not the rule.

The cases that reverse the rule

1. The €410 line. An assessment follows where the positive sum of taxable income not subject to wage-tax withholding — reduced by the corresponding amounts under § 13(3) and § 24a — or the positive sum of income and benefits subject to the progression proviso exceeds €410. The second limb is the one that surprises people: unemployment benefit, sick pay and parental allowance are not taxed, yet they raise the rate applied to the rest of your income and thereby trigger an assessment.

2. Several employers. Anyone who drew wages from more than one employer at the same time is assessed compulsorily — unless the wages were aggregated for withholding under the specific provision allowing it.

3. Refunded insurance contributions. Where health or care insurance contributions were refunded to you in excess of €410, and the year’s wages exceeded the sum of the basic allowance, the employee lump sum and the special-expenses lump sum — or the doubled figures for jointly assessed spouses.

4. Class V, VI, or the factor. Where jointly assessed spouses both drew wages and one was taxed under class V or VI — or the factor was recorded in class IV — an assessment is mandatory. This is the hidden price of opting for classes III and V.

5. A recorded allowance. Where a tax allowance was recorded on your withholding features and the year’s wages exceeded those sums, an assessment follows — because the allowance lowered the monthly withholding and the balance must be settled.

Narrower cases sit alongside them: tax on an exceptional payment computed in a particular way, or an employer computing tax on an exceptional payment without taking earlier employment in the same year into account — the situation marked with the letter S on the annual wage statement.

Number 8: the route that returns money

The most valuable thing in the whole section is a short sentence: an assessment is carried out “where it is applied for, in particular to credit wage tax against income tax”. The next sentence fixes the form: “the application is made by filing an income tax return”.

There is no separate application form and no justification to give: the return itself is the application. This is the route by which most employees recover tax withheld in excess — because of work-related expenses, a change of class, or part-year employment.

A complementary number 9 exists too: where the number 8 application is made together with a request to be treated as an unlimited taxpayer within § 1(3) — the route for people working in Germany whose household or base is abroad. Jurisdiction there lies with the tax office of the employer’s place of business.

Deadlines: seven months — and four years

For those obliged to file: § 149(2) AO lays down the general rule — returns relating to a calendar year are to be filed at the latest seven months after the end of that year, unless the tax laws provide otherwise.

Where a tax adviser is instructed, extended deadlines follow from paragraph 3 — but note the express carve-out: returns falling under § 46(2) no. 8 are excluded from that extension. A voluntary return does not benefit from the adviser’s deadline.

For voluntary filers the framework is different altogether: there is no filing deadline, but an assessment period. § 169 sets it at four years for taxes generally, and § 170(1) starts it at the end of the calendar year in which the tax arose. Where a filing duty exists, paragraph 2 defers the start to the end of the year the return is filed, at the latest to the end of the third calendar year following the year the tax arose.

For completeness: the period becomes ten years where tax has been evaded and five where it was recklessly understated.

A request from the tax office overrides everything

§ 149(1) carries three rules that are widely unknown:

• anyone the tax authority requests to file becomes obliged to file — even where the tax laws impose no duty on them;
• that request may be made by public announcement, not by a personal letter;
• the duty to file persists even where the authority has estimated the tax bases under § 162. An estimated assessment does not release you; the return is still owed.

That last point catches many people out: an assessment with an estimated figure arrives, the file is assumed closed, while in fact the duty stands and the figure can be corrected by filing.

Practical steps

1. Check the five cases before assuming you are obliged. No assessment is the default, and the exceptions are written out.
2. Add up progression-proviso benefits and compare with €410. Untaxed benefits can still force an assessment.
3. If you opted for classes III and V, know that filing became compulsory. The statute links the two expressly.
4. Not obliged? File voluntarily anyway. The return is the application, and the stated purpose is crediting wage tax.
5. Count the open years carefully. Four years, starting at the end of the year the tax arose where no filing duty applies.
6. Never ignore an estimated assessment. The filing duty survives it, and the return is what corrects the figure.

Frequently asked questions

Must every employee file a return?

No. As a rule no assessment is carried out where tax was withheld from wages; it becomes compulsory only in the cases listed in § 46(2).

Do benefits such as parental allowance force a return?

Yes, where the sum of benefits subject to the progression proviso exceeds €410. They are untaxed but raise the rate applied to the rest of your income.

What is the filing deadline?

At the latest seven months after the end of the calendar year for those obliged to file. Instructing an adviser brings extended deadlines — but voluntary returns are expressly excluded from them.

How far back can I file voluntarily?

The assessment period is four years, and where no filing duty applies it starts at the end of the calendar year in which the tax arose.

I received an estimated assessment — is that the end of it?

No. The duty to file survives an estimate under § 162, and the return is what corrects the figure.