Claiming a tax refund as a seafarer in Germany

We can apply for your German tax refund German income tax refund on 31 December, the end of the German tax year. If you’re applying for a refund from the last four years you can apply for your refund now.

We will claim back as much overpaid tax for you as we legally can. Exactly how much you can claim back will depend on multiple factors, including but not limited to:

• Your earnings
• Your expenses – You can claim up to €1,000 of work expenses without receipts
• The earnings of your spouse
• Your foreign income

The average refund we get for our German sailors is €2,750. Use our free online tax refund calculator now to see how much cash you could get back.

Once we receive your documents our certified public accountant checks them to make sure they’re compliant with German tax law. After that your tax declaration is prepared and sent to the German tax office along with your supporting documents. Once it’s processed they’ll release your refund.

The best way to see what’s happening with your application is by emailing your account manager directly or checking your online account.

For tax refunds from Germany, we charge 16.5% + handling fee of the refund received, subject to a minimum fee of €50 + handling fee. Our tax calculator however, will always be available to you as a free, no obligation tool for estimating your tax refund.

When submitting a tax return, it’s possible to take advantage of many different types of tax deduction in order to boost your refund due. With this in mind, it’s important to note that tax consulting fees (such as the fee paid by Taxback customers) are eligible to be deducted on your German tax return.

To claim your German tax refund we’ll need your Lohnsteuerbescheinigung. This is the official government form that you receive from your employer at the end of the tax year. It outlines your earnings and the amount of tax you paid in that year.

If you’ve misplaced your Lohnsteuerbescheinigung, or you never received it, our document retrieval service can sort out replacements for you.

Try not to panic; just email germany@taxback.com to let us know and for a small fee we can find them for you.

Technically you could, but it’s not always as easy as it looks. It’s no fun spending time sitting at a computer screen searching for forms, decoding complicated tax law and ringing up tax help lines to get answers. That’s what’s great about using Taxback – you don’t have to do any of this! We’ll fly through all that boring paperwork to file your tax return quickly and easily so all you have to worry about is what you’re going to spend your tax refund on!

Our estimations are based on the information and documents that clients provide to us. While we can’t guarantee that final refund amount will match our estimation, we can guarantee that you receive your maximum legal tax refund by thoroughly analysing your case and applying all the deductions and benefits you’re entitled to.

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

It normally takes between 4 to 6 months to get your German tax back. However, it may take longer if there are delays at the tax office.

1. Get started by using our free refund calculator or filling out our short registration form.
2. We will give you your own personal online account so you can keep up to date with the progress of your refund application
3. You send us your expense receipts and documents to ensure you receive your maximum refund amount
4. Relax while we do all the work and get you the maximum tax refund possible!

There are numerous advantages to using Taxback.com. These include:

• You’ll get your maximum legal refund
• You get a 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 payment 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

You will need:

1. Your Lohnsteuerbescheinigungs
2. Your Steuernummer

If you’ve applied for a tax rebate in Germany before, you’ll have a Steuernummer, It is issued once you file a tax return. The Steueridentifikationsnummer is your personal identification number. It is only issued once and is unique to you. This is your personal tax ID number for the rest of your life and is given to you when you register. Having these numbers can speed up your tax refund application so make sure you let us know about them. You will find your number on your documents from the tax office.

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 and the German tax authorities require this information to assess the most proper tax rate.

A tax return is document declaring your liability for taxation while a tax refund is the money you get back if you’ve made an overpayment for a particular tax. We file your tax return in order to apply for your tax refund.

Yes, we have to include the amount you earned in every jurisdiction in your tax return.