We get tax back for married couples in Germany

We can apply for your German tax refund as soon as the tax year ends.
If you are applying for a refund from the last five years, we can apply for your refund now.

The amount of money you get back will depend on your individual circumstances but we guarantee to get you back the maximum legal tax refund possible. On average married couples claim back €1,950.

On average it takes about 2 – 4 months to get your German tax back.

Sometimes the tax office will demand that you send additional documents, or there may be a backlog of applications at the office. If you are missing documents, we will let you know immediately so we can speed up the process. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do about delays at the tax office. The only thing we can do is contact them regularly and encourage them to hurry up – and we will do this, so don’t worry!

You can watch the step-by-step progress of your application on your online account. We’ll set you up with this when you register.

For tax refunds from Germany, we charge 16.5% + handling fee of the refund received, subject to a minimum fee of €50 + handling fee. However, our tax calculator is available to you as a free, no obligation tool for estimating your tax back. Check it out.

We will need your Lohnsteuerbescheinigung and your Steuernummer or Steueridentificationsnummer along with your tax pack.

If you’ve applied for a tax rebate in Germany before, you’ll have a Steuernummer. This iss a tax number issued by your local tax office in Germany. Even if this is your first tax refund application ever in Germany you will have a Steueridentificationsnummer; it lasts for a lifetime and doesn’t change no matter how many times you move or leave Germany.
If you have any of these numbers it can speed up your tax back application so make sure you tell us about it. You’ll find it on your documents from the tax office.

To get a tax refund, you must be a non-EU citizen who has worked in Germany. If you are you will probably have paid into a pension fund at a rate of 9.75% of your salary. Our average German pension insurance refund is €5,410 so it’s worth checking if we can claim this back for you.

Yes, it will probably increase the refund you receive. Just let us know how much rent you paid in Germany and send us your rental contracts from both countries and we will use this information to increase your refund as much as we can.

Yes. You need to tell us about all your earnings for the entire year – including earnings outside of Germany. This doesn’t mean that your foreign income will be taxed in Germany. The German tax authorities require this information to assess correct tax rate.

Yes… you could apply by yourself. But German tax refund applications can often be tricky. If you’re not fully confident on how to claim your tax back or what you’re entitled to claim, we recommend that you apply with Taxback.

The tax year in Germany is from 1 January to 31 December.

A tax return is document which declares your liability for taxation while a tax refund is the money you get back if you’ve paid too much tax. We file your tax return in order to apply for your tax refund.

We receive your documents and our certified accountant checks them to make sure they comply with German tax law. We then send them to the German tax office. This process typically takes a week.
Once the tax office have your application, it takes them between 7 and 15 weeks to process your application and release your tax refund to us. As soon as we have your refund, we will contact you to arrange the best way to send it to you.

1. Register online
2. Send us your documents and signed forms – we then give you your own online account.
3. Sit back and relax while we do all the work and get you the maximum tax refund possible.

Thousands of people choose our service because:
• You get the maximum legal tax refund
• Free online refund estimations
• You get your own online tracking account where you can follow the process of your tax return.
• You can be sure your tax return is compliant with German tax law.
• If you’ve lost your documents, we can find them for you.
• You get 24-hour customer support and tax refund help
• You can talk to us in any language
• Your refund can be sent anywhere in the world in any currency.

Our fee allows us to offer you all the valuable Taxback services you enjoy using, such as:
• Customer support
• Online tracking service in seven languages
• Free phone and free fax
• Local staff to help you in 18 offices worldwide
• Tax technicians
• Researchers to identify new legal developments to maximise your refunds
• Money sent worldwide and in your local currency.

This is the official government form that you receive from each of your employers at the end of the tax year. It outlines your earnings and the amount of tax you paid in that year.

Don’t worry about it, email germany@taxback.com to let us know and for a small fee, we’ll find your documents for you.

To get a tax back, you must be a non-EU citizen. We can apply for pension refunds from the past fifteen years, but we’ll need your payslips for every year.
Other requirements are:

1. That you paid pension insurance for less than five years.
2. You’ve been out of the country for more than two years.

A rental contract is the agreement between you and your landlord.

Even if you were the only taxpayer in the family, there is higher tax-free allowance and lower taxes for married couples, so it’s worth asking your spouse to sign the forms so you can file a joint tax return.

No, it’s not guaranteed. However, our estimate is based on years of experience in dealing with the German tax authorities. Plus, when you apply with Taxback you are guaranteed to receive your maximum legal tax refund.