As of: February 6, 2024, 12:30 p.m
By: Marco Blanco Ucles
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There are six different income tax classes in Germany.
But what exactly do they stand for?
The overview.
If you take a look at your payslip, you will notice that wage tax is paid to the state every month.
The document also describes which income tax class you are in.
Every employee who is registered in Germany is assigned to a tax class by the tax office.
If you need support with your taxes, you can get it from Income Tax Help.
There are six different tax classes in Germany.
These are defined primarily by the marital status of the respective person.
Employees can save money annually through allowances.
Tax class 1
At the beginning of their careers, the vast majority of employees are placed in tax class 1.
However, this is not based on professional experience.
Rather, according to the Handelsblatt
, this category is aimed
at people who are single, unmarried, divorced or widowed.
Single people with children who do not live in their own household are also assigned to this tax bracket.
Tax deductions are calculated based on the employee's salary level.
Tax class 2
Tax class 2 includes single parents, widows, divorcees or single people with children.
The prerequisite for this is that the child lives in their own household and that no other adult person shares the household.
People in this tax class pay less taxes and are entitled to tax relief – 4,260 euros.
Tax classes 3 and 5 can be used by married couples or registered life partners.
© McPHOTO/IMAGO
Tax class 3
Employees in tax class 3 are people who are married - with a minimum income of 520 euros - and whose spouses have opted for tax class 5.
In addition, people who live in a registered civil partnership or are widowed - in the year of death and the following year - can also be found in this category.
The tax deductions in this class are lower than in 4 and 5. For this reason, couples in which one partner earns significantly more than the other often choose tax class 3 for the higher-earning party and tax class 5 for the other person. According to the
Over 10 million Germans have chosen this tax bracket
.
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Tax class 4
Tax class 4 mainly includes married couples where the income of both parties is approximately the same.
To do this, both spouses must be subject to unlimited income tax.
Married people are automatically assigned to tax class 4 by the tax office.
If you want to change that, you have to actively change yourself.
There is currently a debate about transferring tax classes 3 and 5 to tax class 4, but an exact date has not yet been determined.
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Tax class 5
Only married people or registered life partners can choose this tax bracket.
Tax class 5 acts as a counterpart to tax class 3 and can only be applied for and used in this combination.
The partner with the lower income chooses tax class 5. In contrast to the first four tax classes, neither a basic allowance nor a child allowance applies in the fifth category.
Tax class 6
The sixth and final tax class is aimed at people who receive an additional income tax card for a second employment relationship.
This is where the greatest tax burden arises, as no child allowance, basic allowance or employee allowance can be claimed.
If an employee has a second job or part-time employment in addition to their main job, they are also assigned to tax class 6 in addition to their previous income tax class.
Allowances vary depending on the tax class
In order to provide tax relief for special expenses, such as raising children, there are different tax allowances depending on the tax class.
There can also be tax relief when caring for relatives.
The annual allowance is made up of the different allowances for the individual income tax classes.
An overview:
Tax class |
Basic allowance |
ANPB* |
Child allowance |
Precautionary allowance. |
SAPB** |
1 |
11,604 euros |
1,230 euros |
- |
6,384 euros |
36 euros |
2 |
11,604 euros |
1,230 euros |
4,260 euros*** |
6,384 euros |
36 euros |
3 |
23,208 euros |
1,230 euros |
- |
9,312 euros |
36 euros |
4 |
23,208 euros |
1,230 euros |
- |
9,312 euros |
36 euros |
5 |
- |
1,230 euros |
- |
- |
36 euros |
6 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
Source:
handelsblatt
*Employee flat rate;
**Social spending flat rate (always dependent on gross earnings);
***4,260 euros for the first child, 240 euros deductible for each additional child