Citizens' income recipients may also be required to submit a tax return.
What needs to be considered – an overview.
Neustadt ad W. - Hartz IV - officially known as unemployment benefit II - has been replaced.
The traffic light coalition introduced the new citizens' income on January 1, 2023.
For unemployed people, this means: They generally receive more money per month and more subsidies from the state.
The Lohnsteuerhilfeverein Vereinigte Lohnsteuerhilfe e.
V. (VLH).
Citizens' income and tax returns: This applies to recipients
Basically, anyone who has received more than 410 euros in compensation benefits per year must submit a tax return.
Compensation benefits are financial benefits that are paid instead of salary - for example parental allowance, short-time work allowance, sickness benefit or unemployment benefit.
Those who receive unemployment benefit I usually receive 60 percent of their salary, with children it is 67 percent.
For recipients of citizen money, the benefits have increased by 53 euros to 502 euros per month and there are more grants than before.
However, it is still the case that every euro counts for recipients of unemployment benefit and in particular citizenship benefit.
Partial payment: In some cases, income tax can be repaid
Anyone who receives citizen benefit does not pay any taxes on it, since it is a so-called basic security benefit.
It is also not subject to the progression proviso, such as unemployment benefit, short-time work benefit or maternity benefit.
Thus, it does not increase the personal tax rate.
Anyone who only receives citizen income in a year usually does not have to submit a tax return.
Only in rare cases can there be a duty to pay a fee.
Under certain circumstances, it can also make sense to submit the tax return voluntarily - namely if there were expenses for further training, retraining or for applications.
Recipients of citizens' income should check this or have it checked by an income tax assistance association or tax consultant.
Tax refunds are offset against citizen income
If an employee did not receive citizen income for the entire calendar year, but only for a few months and was otherwise employed, he or she usually paid income tax.
Part of the tax paid can be reclaimed if the employee submits a tax return listing all deductible expenses.
In addition, citizens with low incomes in particular should check whether they are entitled to the mobility premium.
Tip from the wage tax assistance association: those affected should collect all receipts for professional expenses and enter the sum as income-related expenses in Appendix N of the tax return.
These include, for example, application costs, training costs, expenses for office supplies or travel expenses to work.
Reimbursement will be offset against the citizen's income
If you receive a tax refund and at the same time receive the citizen's income, the refunded money will be offset against the citizen's income.
The decisive factor is the time at which the refund arrives in the unemployed person's account and not the year for which the tax refund applies and the month in which the tax assessment arrives.
Ideally, the tax refund comes in a month in which no citizen benefit payments are received.
(dpa/lf)