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Woman at the desk (symbolic image): The declaration for 2021 has (theoretically) until New Year's Eve 2025
Photo:
Ivo Gretener/E+/Getty Images
For several years now, the tax office has been giving all taxpayers who have to submit a return significantly more time.
The offices are heavily burdened because of the digital conversion and the corona crisis, the tax consultants and income tax assistance associations even more.
That is why this year does not have to be submitted in July, but only at the end of October.
Many taxpayers like this too, as they can postpone the chore a little longer.
The average reimbursement of 1050 euros for the declaration ends up in the account a few months later.
According to the latest official statistics from 2017, almost 90 percent of all taxpayers get money back after a statement.
This year the situation is different.
We have high inflation and interest rates on loans are also rising again.
But waiting for a later tax refund is not a good financial idea with around eight percent inflation.
Anyone who could now half fill their oil tank with the 1000 euros from the tax office should do so.
There is a high probability that it will not be cheaper in a few months.
On the contrary, the tax refund loses a lot of value due to inflation, you can buy significantly less with it later.
What applies to half of taxpayers who have to file a tax return also applies to the other half, who can only do so voluntarily.
In recent years, it has been a good tip for such taxpayers to file their tax returns a few years late.
You can still submit the declaration for 2018 until the end of the year.
The declaration for 2021 even has until New Year's Eve 2025.
Reorganization of interest rates
Why is it worth working on the declaration if you don't have to?
Those who do not have to make a declaration are also exempt from the obligation because the state assumes that no additional tax payments are to be expected.
On the contrary: a refund is more likely - and the state is not very interested in that.
But there was a good reason to delay the tax return.
That was the interest.
If you were entitled to a repayment and you submitted the declaration voluntarily late enough, there was an additional 0.5 percent interest on your tax refund every month from 15 months after the respective tax year.
So six percent interest a year!
With negative interest on the bank account and inflation of one percent, that was a very good deal for taxpayers.
So it was worth the wait.
There was nowhere else where there was a six percent risk-free return.
This summer, however, things are fundamentally different.
The Federal Constitutional Court has meanwhile declared the six percent interest rate to be unconstitutional (file number 1 BvR 2237/14 and others).
Of course, the traffic light coalition follows the verdict and sets the interest rate retrospectively from 2019 at 0.15 percent per month, i.e. 1.8 percent interest per year.
The tax offices are already doing this for the time being.
The Bundestag and Bundesrat still have to approve the new regulation.
Maybe you could use the money from the tax office right now.
Let's go.
Doing the tax isn't rocket science.
I'll list the most important savings opportunities for you and with good tax software you can easily do it yourself.
Who has to file a tax return anyway?
You are liable for tax, for example, if you have chosen a tax class as a married couple and are not both taxed according to tax class IV.
You must also submit a declaration if you received more than 410 euros in short-time work benefits, (child) sick pay or any other wage replacement benefit in 2021.
Even the self-employed and traders almost always have to submit a
tax
return.
Most of you pay taxes because you work.
This is also where the greatest potential for tax savings lies.
If your advertising costs, i.e. costs that you incur for work and that the state recognizes as such, were more than 1000 euros in 2021, you can deduct these costs from your income on your tax return and automatically pay less tax.
For example, if your marginal tax rate is 40 percent, you will get 40 cents back from the tax office for every additional euro in costs that you can state here.
to the
advertising costs
traditionally includes the cost of commuting to work.
For journeys between home and work, you can apply a distance allowance of 30 cents per kilometer distance between home and office for each working day.
Long-distance commuters can deduct 35 cents from the 21st kilometer.
The income-related expenses also include the expenses for a work room required for work and in 2021 also the home office flat rate if, for example, you had to work at the kitchen table at home because of Corona.
Or costs for further training, specialist books and a new desk can be deducted in this way.
The cost of household-related services is also a major tax-saving item.
Pensioners who have to submit a tax return can also claim this.
Here the state also uses tax law to combat undeclared work.
The tax advantage roughly corresponds to the VAT that you have to pay on many invoices.
If, for example, you hired a gardener to trim the hedge last year or the neighbor's daughter to walk the dog, received an invoice for this and transferred the money, you can classify such costs as
household-related services
deduct and get 20 percent of the labor and travel costs (not the material costs) back from the state.
There is a long list of possibilities here.
And you can claim a maximum of 20,000 euros a year and save 4,000 euros in taxes.
The same model also works for
craftsmen
's bills around the household - for example for the plumber, the carpenter or the painter who have brought your apartment into shape.
The tax office accepts up to 6,000 euros in labor and travel expenses - which saves you 1,200 euros in taxes.
If an accident, corona or other adverse circumstances cost you a lot of money in 2021, you may also be able to claim this.
The tax office calls this extraordinary burdens.
These are the costs you incur as a result of illness, accident, caring for your parents, flooding, a funeral or other personal disaster.
It is important that there is a threshold that the costs must exceed: the so-called reasonable burden.
It depends on your income, marital status and number of children.
Classic examples are the high dental bill for several implants or care costs, but also tests, disinfection or masks because of Corona.
The tax office also recognizes those
extraordinary burdens
that depend directly on your life situation and can be claimed for tax purposes from the first euro.
These include maintenance for people in need, the training allowance and lump sums for the disabled.
After all, the tax office also helps because you pay something for
your old-age provision
and into the pension fund and other social insurances.
Such expenses are called special expenses.
Incidentally, this also includes the church tax.
It also falls into the same tax category if you make a financial
social commitment
.
Contributions to parties, trade unions and associations as well as donations are tax deductible.
Overall, you can most likely get hundreds, possibly even thousands of euros back from the tax office.
